Most of the research currently conducted to support government's transition to the digital age is focused on technology itself. However, given the complexity of the environment, the need for government applications to work well in a variety of settings, and the interdependence of so many players, technology research alone is insufficient. Other powerful factors, discussed briefly below, shape the ability of government to adopt and deploy IT effectively.

The degree to which individuals accept new technologies and the manner in which they learn and adapt to them are all factors to be considered in the deployment of new tools. Recent studies about the success of information systems in organizations suggest that more than 80 percent fail to achieve their objectives or to be implemented at all. The foremost reason for failure is the lack of involvement by system users in design and deployment. Lack of attention to user needs and preferences is a common weakness in the design and deployment of advanced technology.

In government information systems, with their tendency to be used in a wide variety of physical settings by users who may have markedly different levels of interest and skill, this is a particular problem. How can we design technologies or systems that work in both a large urban setting and a small rural one, or in an affluent organization and a shoe-string operation, where the technology tools likely to be available to users are not the same? Beyond questions of design are considerations of user training and support. Too often, new systems are accompanied by one-shot training programs, often out of synch with the actual implementation schedule, that do not provide for ongoing updates or active user support.

Universal design principles have been developed to guide us toward systems that are more useable, more in tune with the way people think and act, and more adaptable to the different ways that people work and learn. These principles, such as the ones developed at the TRACE Center at the University of Wisconsin, focus on such topics as accommodation of a wide range of individual preferences and abilities, ease of understanding regardless of a user's experience or knowledge, and tolerance for errors. Any system could be made more usable by incorporating these principles in design. Moreover, as government moves toward more systems that offer self-services to the public, these design principles will increase in importance.

Just as human factors circumscribe the use of new technology, organizational design and behavior also figure prominently in the adoption and use of new technology. In turn, successful adoption of new technology has a significant effect on organizational viability and performance. While Industrial Age organizational forms are well suited to the technologies of efficiency and specialization, Information Age technologies presuppose organizations that thrive on information flow and sharing, asynchronous communication, and analytical thinking.

The organizations of the Industrial Age had structures and cultures which facilitated hierarchical decision making, specialized and narrowly defined jobs, and efficiency in production. In the Information Age, the structure and culture have evolved to create organizations where decisions and communications can occur anywhere in the organization, jobs are fluid, and flexibility and attention to customers are highly valued. Here, technology is viewed as an enabler to meeting the mission and goals of organizations, rather than as a control mechanism. Automation is no longer an alternative process in organizations; it is a basic process. Indeed, IT is now often considered a strategic asset that adds value to the routine transactions and processes of organizations.

Successful organizations today are characterized by insistence on knowledge, productivity, and innovation. In order to capture the value of these key variables, organizations must engage in constant change. The new models for change reflect the idea that change is discontinuous, that is, it cannot be controlled or anticipated. These models call for organizations to "think outside the box," to improvise, to unlearn the past, and to stretch beyond their current capabilities. Information technology is a necessary ingredient in this discontinuous change environment. Recent history shows that IT can both drive and enable change. The critical factor in these changes is the ability of organizations to select appropriate technologies, implement and diffuse them, and adapt to new ways of working, even when there is little experience and no clear-cut rules or procedures to guide them.

As organizations experiment with new technologies, they change business processes, communications methods, work flows, decision making, and even the basic structure and boundaries of the organization itself. With technology embedded in organizational functions, geography and time are no longer restrictive, nor are traditional hierarchical and departmental barriers. By incorporating information technology into an organization's infrastructure, new options of structure, culture, decision making, teamwork, leadership, and communication become available. Inevitably, organizational norms are reshaped.

People sometimes associate a government program or service with a single public agency. Most everyone expects that the local Social Security Office is the place to file for Social Security retirement benefits; if you need to renew your driver's license, you contact the Department of Motor Vehicles. But what if you want a fishing license or need to find a nursing home for your elderly mother? When you drive to work on a snowy day, who plows the roads you travel or operates the bus that takes you from the county you live in to the one where you work? Who really pays your Medicare claims? All of these public services are offered through a complicated set of public-public and public-private linkages. Some are formal and well- defined, others are more dynamic and ad hoc.

Interorganizational networks are emerging in nearly every dimension of work and society. Traditional theories of exchange and resource dependence, based mostly on private sector research, are inadequate to explain either the partnerships and collaborative models or the mixed models of cooperation and regulation that are becoming prevalent in the operation of government programs. These networked forms of organization are emerging in every domain from health care, to social insurance, to infrastructure. Networked information systems are just one feature of their structure and operation. These organizational entities also encompass new forms of communication, decision-making, financing, and accountability.

Consider the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) in which Federal, state, local and tribal governments, along with the private sector and academia, are working to develop and promote better access to geospatial data. Geospatial data plays a key role in helping communities synthesize information relevant to complex economic, social and environmental issues, but these data are often difficult and expensive to locate, obtain, and integrate. The NSDI features a national data clearinghouse and other activities to help organizations and individuals know the characteristics of data, find and access data owned by others, obtain common sets of data to use as building blocks, and transfer and integrate data among users and providers through the use of data models and standards for common classification systems and content.

In the State of Washington, a high speed Information Network for Public Health Officials (INPHO), allows local health professionals to share information about prevention services, emergency notices, training, and health reports, and gives them the ability to act quickly to solve public health problems. A joint project of the Washington State Departments of Health and Information Services, local health jurisdictions, and the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, INPHO offers access to timely, relevant, accurate and authoritative information to support local decisions and actions. As an example, local officials were recently able to compare DNA samples with others in a national database allowing them to quickly identify and respond to outbreaks of E-Coli.