Support research at the Federal, state, and local levels, as well as investigations into intergovernmental and public-private interaction.The Digital Government Program should emphasize the multi-faceted nature of American government and encourage projects that look at every level of government, at multi-level functions, and at programs that link the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.

Attend to issues of "governance" as well as "government" in the digital age. Information technology can play a significant role in transforming not only government services and administration, but also the working of democratic institutions. Projects that focus on the nature and effects of "digital governance," the roles and rights of citizens, and the functioning of civil society should be included in the Digital Government research program.

Encourage both social science and technology research, multidisciplinary projects, and research designs and methods that address service integration and environmental complexity. In order to be successful, the research program will need to address the interplay among technical, management, policy, and organizational factors influencing the information systems that support government operations. With this diverse set of research questions and objectives, the program should encourage research in both social and information sciences and welcome a variety of research methods, particularly ones that directly involve system users and beneficiaries.

Seek innovative funding models that build a larger resource base for Digital Government initiatives. At present, the NSF funds allocated to the Digital Government Program are quite modest and are insufficient to support sustained research into the complex questions posed at the workshop. NSF should consider innovative funding models to increase the amount of resources available to support the program by finding co-sponsors and leveraging complementary investments already being made by other organizations.

Link research and practice in an ongoing exchange of knowledge, needs, and experiences. Given the wide communications gap between the academic and government practitioner communities, and the significant opportunity for improved practices through collaboration, new methods are needed for disseminating research results to practitioners and for infusing research with the problems of practice. NSF should encourage the development of organizational structures, information sharing mechanisms, and funding methods to bridge the gap between these two cultures.

Create a practitioner advisory group for the program and include practitioners in the review panels. If the Digital Government Program is to succeed in integrating research and practice, practitioners must have a major role in setting priorities and selecting projects to be funded. An advisory group made up of practitioners from all three levels of government would assist in program design, in attracting government funding and research partners, and in disseminating results. Practitioners must also participate in reviewing proposals that seek to study their areas of expertise.This will also help insure the relevance of projects, access to venues for field research, and an audience for the research results.