Adopting innovations in information technology - The California municipal experience

This paper examines how municipalities in California and other areas of the United States are going about incorporating advanced information technology into their civic operations. Whereas earlier cities prospered because of their location as transportation crossroads or as centers of industrial production, today cities are reassessing their role and capacities in relation to the emerging new knowledge-based economy and the needs of their citizens in this new social and economic environment. In this effort, cities are using a variety of new technologies to better prepare citizens to compete in the new economy to help in the delivery of public services, and to enhance the quality of life in their communities. The paper explores the development of the "smart communities" initiative in California and the California municipal experience in the adoption of municipal web sites. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.