Oversight

The article 'Examining the role of web site information...' addresses the concern about the informative requirements of public information agencies under the dictates of democratic theory. That this is not clearly defined or expressed is not only concerning, but brings light to some of the flaws that exist in democracy. This leads to the age old question about how much of a role the government should have in the citizen's life and how much invovement the citizens should have in the goverments inner workings. When it comes to web site content, this question is further complicated by easy access and information overload. Web sites do not always follow the same rigid codes of authority and reliable content restrictions that published works undergo. Thus, it becomes difficult to monitor and put full faith into a method of delivery that may or may not always be secure. However, a web site is as reliable, secure, and trust worthy as the creator makes it. The examples provided in the article aid in this theory, specifically the reference to Utah's disease management and Colorado and Wisconsin's web site 'oversight' tendencies.

Provisions have been put into place to avoid instances where appropriate information is mixed up with a falsified counterpart. However, as the article 'Documents for Digital Democracy' points out, there are still organizations that do not always opperated with the filters put into place to make their information and public access attempts more secure. GPO's new content management system is an example of a source that agencies can go through to better and more responsibly publish their informaiton. The digitization process has both increased the opportunity for public access to information and hindered it. Whether through information overload and confusion about what is authentic and certain compnaies inappropriatly limiting the availablity of their digitized materials, there needs to be an active effort to insure information stays in the public domain.