Virginia rolls on with tech agenda
- By Dibya Sarkar
- Sep 08, 2000
In a continuing effort to make the state more technology-friendly to residents
and businesses, Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore rolled out two task forces and
unveiled a new Web site at a recent state technology commission conference.
The "Main Street to e-Street" task force will try to pair local businesses
with e-commerce companies through a series of four to six workshops in the
next eight months. The idea is to help businesses use the Internet to improve
their retail or service operations as well as streamline their administrative
and operating costs.
Donald Upson, the state's technology secretary, said Virginia will act
as a facilitator at these workshops with the help of local chambers of commerce.
"We want businesses to enter the 21st century of buying and selling goods
and services," he said.
The other task force, "Building e-Communities" will try to answer, "What
is it that communities want in the Information Age?" Upson said. Representatives
from business, education, government and philanthropic organizations will
help to design principles for Internet offerings for communities of all
sizes. The state hopes to have such guidelines drawn up in nine months,
Upson said.
The new Web site, The Digital Dominion (www.thedigitaldominion.com),
represents where the state is headed in the future, Upson said.
"Digital Dominion denotes the best of what we are and what we want to
be," he said. "We want to take the promise of this technology and opportunity
this technology affords and put it everywhere. We call it blurring the lines
between education, business and the community."