Liz Alexander, the main documents librarian for the state of Illinois, often finds answers to tough questions. But not this time. Not when the question is about public electronic access to Illinois state government information. "I wish I could tell you," she says.

It's not that the state has no computerized records. And not that Alexander doesn't know how to find state information. It's just that no agency has gathered the computerized records into a central source. There is no single index, no encyclopedia. The State Library doesn't have one, the governor doesn't have one, the legislature doesn't have one, and Central Management Services — the state's housekeeping agency — doesn't have one. At least not yet.

That's good, say some, because decentralization enhances privacy and keeps the information mostly within the agency that gathered it. That's bad, say others, because people who know what to look for profit monetarily from information that belongs to the people of Illinois. They buy mailing lists of drivers and vehicle owners, for example, or they gather information and publish books and volumes based on public information.

Several other states are farther along than Illinois in making information available to the public electronically, but the state's entry onto the electronic information highway is beginning

Access Illinois was on display and providing demonstrations last month at the Illinois State Fair, in a booth sponsored by several state agencies. Fair goers had a chance to find out for themselves what Access Illinois has to offer.

to take shape. Instead of using bulldozers, gravel and asphalt, the state is venturing with cables, modems and computers. While the highway analogy may be overused, the issues of who will get the electronic equivalent of bypasses, interchanges and land deals are just as vital. Who will make money from installing a system to transmit data? Who owns the information and who can buy or sell it? Some of the answers lie in computerized systems already in place, systems that could be models for the future.

Some state information became available this spring on Access Illinois, a Springfield- based private company that won a $72,000 contract to put the state's data for small business owners on a computer bulletin board service. Access Illinois subscribers can find phone numbers and addresses for state offices; find lists of contracts up for bid; obtain other information about a number of state agencies; and engage in discussions about public issues on various open forums. Using easy-to-follow menus, they can also read the USA Today newspaper, Board- watch magazine and Illinois Issues magazine. And they can send electronic mail messages directly to Gov. Jim Edgar, Lt. Gov. Robert Kustra and any other Access Illinois subscriber.

The beauty is that a "subscription" to Access Illinois is free (see separate story for more details about the easy registration

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process). Access Illinois has a "gateway" to Internet e-mail, which links thousands of computer networks throughout the world. While Access Illinois hopes to offer complete Internet access someday, e-mail is now the only Internet service available through Access Illinois. But anyone who can send e-mail through the Internet can reach Access Illinois customers. For example, they can send Gov. Edgar a note by writing to: governor.illinois@accessil.com. The only charge for these services is whatever it costs to make a phone call to Springfield.

Access Illinois, while a small service compared to the vast amount of information available on the Internet, is being watched closely by policy makers to see what kind of model it might be for a statewide system open to the public.

A few other states have central computerized access in place. The Kansas legislature in 1990 set up a not-for- profit agency to be the gateway between government and the people. "INK," which stands for the Information Network of Kansas, is the one-stop shop for electronic information in Kansas — from laws to liens to licenses. The state of Oregon's Purchasing Division reports spending $21.5 million less for goods and services than it would have without its computerized bidding service that began in 1992. Larry Herring, manager of the Oregon Purchasing Division, says the Vendor Information System has increased the number and the quality of bids, resulting in lower prices for the state.

Lamont predicts that some centralized plan for public access to Illinois government will be introduced in the legislature in the next legislative session or two

Just this year, California passed a law that requires online access to state legislation. Texas, New York, Hawaii and other states have begun making information available on the Internet. And Michigan's governor has established an electronic interface with his people through the America Online commercial service.

But having a system in place does not mean the information is complete, easy-to-use or up-to-date. "Look at the New York information on Internet. A lot of it hasn't been updated," says Bridget Lamont, director of the Illinois State Library. If Illinois comes up with a central access point, she says, "agencies will have to make a pledge to keep it updated or it's useless."

Lamont predicts that some centralized plan for public access to Illinois government will be introduced in the legislature in the next session or two. "It's incredible that we don't have a plan of action in this area by now," Lamont says, especially given the educational institutions, telecommunications, software and hardware companies and hundreds of government units in the state.

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State Rep. Nancy Kaszak (D-34, Chicago) agrees. "As best I can tell, we're in the Dark Ages," Kaszak says. Regardless of the interest or lack of interest other elected officials show in a centralized electronic system, Kaszak says, "This is my project for the next six months." She seems particularly interested in the Kansas model.

House Democratic staff worker Caleb Melamed predicts legislation will be introduced by January 1995 to set up an electronic gateway to Illinois government information, unless the governor does something before that by executive order to set up a commission.

The governor's assistant for technology, Jim Graham, says Illinois is proceeding only informally with a task force. Graham predicts Illinois will come up with some way for the public to get to electronic information easily and quickly. "All state governments are moving this way," he says.

The secretary of state's office collects mounds of information from and about citizens and the laws and rules of the state, and is charged with publishing much of it. Appointed by Secretary of State George Ryan, and Jim Edgar before him, State Librarian Lamont is responsible for collecting that information. Unable to find out just what was available in electronic form from the scores of agencies, boards and commissions in the state, Lamont called together a "task force" of sorts this spring. "We (the State Library staff) have been watching and tracking for several years to see where the impetus was going to come from for organized, easy-to-use access to information," says Lamont. "We found there is no office in Illinois government that has responsibility in this area. We tried not to step on toes, but because we're a library, and our job is to collect everything that is out there, we say, 'Look, we're going to see what we can find.' So we invited people from agencies to a meeting. We just need to look at this in some organized fashion to make it available."

That initial meeting turned into several during the spring of 1994. "We had to find out if people were intrigued by the topic. Who knew what? Were there agendas out there we didn't know about?" What turned up was that "people were leery of putting too much out on the table without an OK from their directors — either their legislative or constitutional bosses."

Lamont says now she is now going to the offices of governor, secretary of state and lieutenant governor to push along a plan. Lt. Gov. Kustra, under direction of the governor, convened an Education and Technology Summit on April 19 in Springfield that included representatives from education, telecommunications, business and state government.

That summit ended, according to Mary Reynolds, with Kustra saying, "We need to meet again." Reynolds, Kustra's assistant, says she wanted the next meeting to be in early August, but Kustra's resignation announcement in late June and decision to stay on after Gov. Edgar's heart surgery in mid-July left Reynolds "uncertain about the time line."

Numerous Illinois government offices rely on Central Management Services for coordination of computer use. CMS is the agency that serves as the central store for other agencies. CMS shops for the best deals from telecommunications to paper clips and charges the agencies proportionately for what they use.

Bill Vetter, who manages CMS's computers and communications operation, says the agency is "working on providing software for a nice-looking front end" for a computer where agencies can put information for the public to use. A front end is computer jargon for a menu system that lets users choose categories of information without having to learn computer codes or type in a string of commands.

Vetter sees two major items that would have to be addressed before a centralized state gateway could be implemented. The first is that different agencies own the data and update it for different purposes and on different schedules. "We want to use good data and see that it remains good data." The second question for Vetter is "how do we do this as far as cost?"

Vetter says some application forms could be available electronically and pay for themselves — if people use the electronic version instead of getting a paper copy that has printing and mailing costs. But another problem is "certain things that would be reasonable to get electronically aren't available (now) in that form" — such as a duck-hunting application or snowmobile license.

Lyle Neumann, vice chairman of the State Board of Education who also serves as intergovernmental liaison for the director of the Illinois Department of Employment Security, says any system using computers needs to put a chunk of money toward training people, or it won't be used. He himself took an Internet course this summer. "Illinois as a state seems behind in this. But on the positive side, we don't have a lot of old equipment we don't know what to do with," Neumann says.

Jennifer Follis is a lecturer in journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her master's project involved investigating electronic access to state information.

WRITE THE GOVERNOR
Gov. Jim Edgar has an electronic mail address. You can write him at:

governor.illinois@accessil.com. Your letter will get to him through the commercial bulletin board called Access

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Illinois, and anyone with an Internet gateway can also use the address. But that doesn't mean the governor will send you a personal e-mail message in reply. You may get the electronic version of a form letter. So, at the governor's request, be sure to include your postal address in your electronic letter. The governor's reply likely will come via the U.S. Mail, what electronic enthusiasts call "snail mail."

Not many state offices have electronic mail addresses that go beyond their own office networks. Not yet, anyway. But some systems are accessible to the public with a modem connection.

Here are some sources of information you could try to communicate with and get information from the state and related sources:

USE YOUR MODEM
ACCESS ILLINOIS:
BUSINESS, TOURISM AND GOVERNMENT INFORMATION
Access Illinois is a bulletin board that can be reached by setting a computer modem to dial (217) 787-6255. You can get a free account as long as you're willing to register by providing your name and address. You pay only for whatever a telephone call to Springfield costs. You can send electronic mail to other Access Illinois users and to anyone with an Internet gateway (which is now commonplace on commercial services such as CompuServe, America Online and Delphi). You can also read the USA Today newspaper, Board-watch magazine, and Illinois Issues magazine; find phone numbers and addresses for state offices; find state contracts up for bid; and leave messages for all other users to read in open forums on a variety of topics. Also available is a growing list of tourism information in many parts of the state. The menus are easy to follow if you are generally familiar with computers. The Department of Commerce and Community Affairs is a chief sponsor, responding to legislation that took effect this year that requires a "one-stop shop" for laws and rules governing small business. The Illinois State Chamber of Commerce also is a key sponsor of Access Illinois. The system, only a few months in operation, has about 500 registered users.

LIBRARIES
About ten years ago, the big thing was to make sure every library had a fax machine, according to Kathy Bloomberg of the State Library. Since then libraries in the state have linked their services through "ILLINET Online." You can contact your nearest library to learn the best way for you to connect to the online library system to conduct research about books and periodicals. In some places in the state, you can check out library books from home.

RURAL DATAFICATION
One project working to link computers and people in Illinois and other Midwestern states is called "rural datafication." Named after the plan that took electricity to rural areas in the 1930s, this project would give even remote schools and libraries an affordable hookup to the Internet. The project is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation and is run by CIC- Net, a non-profit regional computer network. The participating state arm is netILLINOIS. Set up as a membership corporation, netILLINOIS provides Internet connections for government, schools, libraries and business. It provides the physical lines between computers, the "telecommunications" end of computer networks. Once rural libraries are hooked up to the system, for example, they may have the option to give residents of their communities a chance to dial in locally and obtain their link to the worldwide Internet.

PRAIRIENET FREE-NET (Urbana- Champaign)
This "Free-Net" is based in Urbana- Champaign. Signing on as "visitor" gives a limited look, but residents of Illinois can get a full account for free. Cofounder Greg Newby hopes people will use the system as an electronic watering hole and exchange views and information as a community. You can read electronic journals, play games or read minutes of the Champaign County Board meetings. Even children can get accounts. Newby has said that some people without Internet accounts may see Prairienet primarily as a way to get to the Internet for free, which it is. The phone number for modem access is (217) 255-9000 (Champaign-Urbana). On Internet, telnet to "prairienet.org."

HEARTLAND FREE-NET (Peoria, Bloomington)
Based in Peoria, Heartland has a state item on the government menu for information from the Department of Employment Security. You can even find out about some job openings. The phone number for modem connection is (309) 674-1100 (Peoria) or (309) 438- 2300 (Bloomington). Or, from anywhere on the Internet, telnet to "heart- land.bradley.edu."

OTHER DEVICES
JOB KIOSKS
The Department of Employment Security is working with IBM to develop a "touch-screen kiosk" that allows users to fill out applications or update records for unemployment compensation. The idea, according to Lyle Neumann, is to put these six-foot computer boxes into public places such as shopping malls so the services of the office are available beyond the usual 8-to-5 hours. Right now the machines are being tested inside the Arlington Heights office of the Department of Employment Security. The next phase is planned for Peoria. The kiosks don't have keyboards. You touch your choice on the screen. Someday, you may be able to sign your name with your fingertip.

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have keyboards. You touch your choice on the screen. Someday, you may be able to sign your name with your fingertip.

DRIVER RECORDS
Since 1992, access to statewide drivers' records has been restricted to the individuals themselves and those with a "legitimate business purpose." That was meant to keep out stalkers or other potentially harmful inquirers. Mailorder businesses buy this information directly from the state, and you can check your own record at any full-service driver's license office in the state. You'll have to pay $2. You cannot access driver records from your home computer, and it's worth pointing out that accessibility to driver's license information has been the source of major "privacy" debates related to electronic access to public information.

ILLINOIS on CD-ROM
The Department of Energy and Natural Resources has produced its first- ever CD-ROM. The compact disk has databases from the Illinois State Water Survey, Geological Survey, Natural History Survey, Hazardous Waste Research and Information Center, Illinois State Museum and the Office of Research and Planning. It is designed to be compatible with the Illinois Geographic Information System on a UNIX work station with ARC/INFO software. Anybody can buy the disk for $100, and it is free to units of government.

LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION SYSTEM
This is state law in electronic form and bills that might become law. The system is not exactly user-friendly, but state workers can get access to track pending legislation. The system also can be used in some libraries. One site is the University of Illinois Documents Library at Urbana. You also can call the Legislative Information System directly at (217) 782-3944 and ask a person to look up a bill or statute number for you. If you know the bill number, you can use an automated system at (217)782-3356.

NEXIS-LEXIS or WESTLAW
A subscription here is more than most individuals could pay, but you may have access to a system in your office or in a nearby college library. (Educational institutions get greatly reduced rates.) These full-text online systems have Illinois legislation, Pollution Control Board rulings, and Commerce Commission and attorney general opinions, and a lot of other information.

ACCESS TO OTHER STATES
Some states have information systems that people outside of the state can use. But these systems are under construction, and while the menus are promising, there sometimes is nothing available under a menu topic. And finding a directory of legislators may yield only phone numbers and addresses — no electronic mail address. A print guide would be just as much help.

Even in the often-touted Kansas system, where even a guest user can find a list of day care providers in a particular city or county, all the user gets is a "yellow pages" of sorts with name, address and phone. Chances are a person with a computer and a modem who needs day care in Wichita already has a copy of the Yellow Pages. But systems used by other states give some idea of what Illinois government could provide in the future. If you are on the Internet, you can use "gopher" or "telnet" to connect to the following systems. These are just a few of the states that have some form of public access to electronic information systems.

Computer users familiar with "gopher" and "telnet" commands on the Internet might be interested in these sources of information from other states. ("Gopher"and "telnet" commands are two ways of tapping into computers in other parts of the world, and looking up information made public on those computers.)

GOPHER to:
info.texas.org. From here a user can view Texas legislative information, choose agency information, or see a list of state-run bulletin boards and their phone numbers. Choosing the menu item "Other Information Highways" lets a user tunnel through to other systems in other states. It's a thorough list.

wiretap.spies.com Sounds intriguing. See what this federal system offers. You'll see Illinois shows up with an electronic version of the laws of the state.

marvel.loc.gov This is the Library of Congress, where you can look up references on any book or author in this magnificent library.

unix2.nysed.gov This gopher is for the state of New York.

gopher.ucsc.edu The gopher server at the University of Southern California at Santa Cruz has a government menu for both California and federal government offerings.

gopher.census.gov The U.S. Census Bureau is full of information about the state of Illinois. CD-ROM versions also can be purchased from the U.S. Government Printing Office or used for free at any depository library.

TELNET to:
access.uhcc.hawaii.edu This is the bulletin board system operated by the state of Hawaii. The board is similar to Access Illinois in its layout. Log in as "visitor." You can try to call the system by modem at 1-808-956-5080.

ink.org This gets you to the Information Network of Kansas (INK). The login is "inkguest." Visitors can browse a limited menu at no charge. The subscription fee is $50/year plus 40 cents each minute a subscriber actually uses the system. A toll-free number saves on the phone bill for those who do not have an Internet connection. If you need help, you can talk to someone by calling 1-800-4KANSAS. 

Jennifer Follis

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