Patricia Diamond Fletcher is an associate professor in the Policy Sciences Graduate Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). She is studying IRS e-File and FirstGov.gov as part of CTG's New Models of Collaboration project.

One of the most interesting aspects of these studies, according to Fletcher, is how FirstGov was up and running in 90 days. "Anyone in government knows that that's no small feat. Everyone involved worked hard to get it going. and it took a lot of out of the box procedures to get it up and running that fast," Fletcher said.

Fletcher first became involved with the Center in 1997 when she participated in "A Step Beyond Research: Fostering IT Innovations in Government," a workshop that explored the issues and opportunities for applied research to support IT innovation in government. The workshop focused on the sharing of ideas to improve the value of information technology (IT) research to government practitioners. It also sought to establish and strengthen communication and collaboration among government IT researchers.

In 1989, Fletcher conducted the first nationwide study of information resource management in the states. Three years later she followed up that research with a similar study of county governments, which was co-sponsored by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) and the National Association of Counties (NACO). Since then she also conducted a number of information management studies for the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).

"One of the most important things for people to know is what technology can and can't do. It can help a lot, particularly if you thoroughly prepare the way and have an abundance of resources. But that's often not the case, and that's when technology falls short of the promises."

www.gao.gov - The US General Accounting Office (GAO) has thousands of reports on public sector information management.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg/infopoltech.html - The US Office of Management and Budget Web site has a section on Information Policy, IT & E-Gov. They provide documents and reports on information technology issues across government.