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March Minutes


ITAC MEETING MINUTES
March 19, 2009

Attendees: Darryl McGraw, Vass Johnson, Gloria McNeill, John Killebrew, Dr. Marc Hoit, Robert Michaud, Teresa Justice, Hank Cox,

Wake County: Sean Fiene, Lib Wanner, Chris Smith, Bill Scanlon
Due to work schedules, Reginald Brown and Niamh Darcy could not attend the meeting.

The meeting began at 9:05 a.m.

Lib Wanner welcomed everyone to the meeting and ensured that all members received the proper documents and presentation that accompany the meeting.

Lib introduced to the committee Chris Smith, Web Administrator for Wake County, and Bill Scanlon, IT Manager for Applied Technologies.

Review & Discussion of Web 2.0 & Wake County Presentation
Chris Smith led the presentation by having the group open the Web 2.0 & Wake County Presentation and discussing the history of Web 2.0 and 3.0 and providing examples of the two. Chris Smith gave examples of other government agencies using the different Web 2.0 technologies and how the County could, in turn, incorporate these technologies. Bill Scanlon asked the Committee their thoughts in regards to marketing the technologies to citizens once they have been released. Dr. Marc Hoit stated that the best way is for people to share the videos (YouTube), posts (Twitter), and photos (Flickr) with each other in an almost “word of mouth” sense of marketing. Chris Smith also stated that in November of 2008 there were 400,000 members of Twitter. In November 2009, there were 7,000,000 users, thus showing the immense growth and popularity of these technologies.

In the discussion of Social Networking sites such as Facebook, Chris Smith asked the committee if it is an acceptable practice for businesses and government to join in on this type of technology. Hank Cox believed that the practice is becoming more acceptable, and Dr. Marc Hoit noted that the County will have a more “up to date” look if they use the new emerging technologies.

Lib then discussed the second part of the presentation of what Wake County is going to do with these new technologies. Lib stated that pilot projects will be launched with durations of 6 to 8 months to evaluate risk and reward and develop “parameters of play.” Once the data is collected from pilot programs, Lib will then discuss recommendations to her peers on how/if the County will use some or all of these tools and guidelines.

Bill Scanlon then discussed the starting points for using Web 2.0 in the County. He discussed ideas for use of YouTube, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. The group then discussed in regards to the guidelines of YouTube video accounts for the County and how to properly manage them. Dr. Marc Hoit discussed how taxing it would be to have a sole source uploading video as opposed to having multiple sources uploading approved content. The committee agreed that in order to use such technologies, policies must first be established to ensure proper usage, monitoring and content are all being adhered to. The discussion moved to the County establishing a Facebook page and if the County should have a sole master page or allow for other users to open pages, as well; for example, the EMS Department or Revenue Department. Dr. Marc Hoit explained that while this is a good idea, a policy must be established that all accounts follow in order to properly maintain the site content.

Lib then asked the committee what else should the County look into. Vass Johnson asked if the County has looked into Wiki’s. Lib then stated that the County has used them briefly for the website but will establish a policy for this technology when issuing a pilot program. Darryl McGraw indicated that Wake Tech used Word Press and liked it a lot. Lib also asked what should the County stay away from and why? The group did not give any direction on what to stay away from.

Confirmation of April & May Meeting Topics and Location
The committee then confirmed the meeting time and place for the May meeting and that the directions to the May meeting have been distributed to the committee members.

Other Business
Lib asked if the group had any other information or items they cared to discuss. Lib then stated that the next meeting in April would be used to discuss Information Technology Governance. The group agreed this would be a good topic to cover.

The ITAC members thanked Lib, Chris and Bill for the presentation and materials delivered, and Lib Wanner thanked the group for their input and participation.

Meeting adjourned at 9:55 a.m.