IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

A PricewaterhouseCoopers survey released Wednesday found that one-third of Americans would be willing to use their cell phone to track health information, and about 40 percent said they'd pay for a mobile phone app that let them refill prescriptions, provided access to health records or nagged them to take their meds. A similar number said they would pay a monthly subscription fee for a product that sent critical health information, like blood sugar levels and heart rate, to their doctor.

Stimulus funding would leverage taxpayer money with private funds and spur investments in technology, networks, and infrastructure. It would create jobs, kick start economic development, and provide long-term benefits to consumers.

But we’re not going to let that stop us from adding one more thing for either President McCain or President Obama to tackle next January: a national broadband policy.

Apart from a few superficial similarities -- they’re both networks, both involve wires of some sort, and both involve billing and maintenance -- broadband information networks are as different from power networks as they could possibly be. Power networks deliver the same service to each user all the time, but the technology-driven services that information networks deliver are dynamic, tailored to the needs and activities of each customer, and constantly adapting to a changing environment.

Once heralded as the solution to most election woes, our affinity for the paperless voting technology has dimmed. Today, experts consider it one of the biggest liabilities, and favor a return to paper ballots.

Before the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) took over as the single biggest threat to the 2020 presidential election, the security of state voting infrastructure was chief among the concerns held by many elected officials.

“Other proposals, including the Connect America Fund, Civic Engagement, and Training Teachers in Digital Literacy, are good concepts but call for additional measures to ensure the needs of all Americans – including vulnerable populations – are met,” said Dr. Alan S. Inouye, director of ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP).

Surveys and studies on telemedicine seem to be surfacing as often as new Republican presidential candidates these days, but one study about public perceptions just might turn a few heads.

According to TechnologyAdvice, consumers are growing more comfortable with certain aspect of telemedicine – but they're still wary of seeing a doctor or getting a diagnosis online.

According to the nationwide Internet survey of 504 U.S. adults, some 75 percent either don't trust a diagnosis delivered through telemedicine, or they'd give it less weight than one made by a doctor in person. In addition, more than half of those surveyed – 56 percent – said they wouldn't be comfortable meeting a doctor for the first time via telemedicine.

Not quite three months after it rolled out an accreditation program for telehealth and providers, the American Telemedicine Association said it has received more than 200 applications to register, while awarding its first accreditation to Amwell.

The ATA launched the effort late last year, with the goal of helping establish more clear standards in the booming telehealth field. The standards were developed by experts and are based on best practices and federal and state regulations The accreditation will last for three years.

“The ATA Clinical Guidelines for Telepathology represent a major contribution to the field of diagnostic pathology,” said Ronald S. Weinstein, MD, past-president of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology and president emeritus of ATA. “Brilliantly conceived and written in crystal clear prose, these guidelines will help unlock enormous pent-up demand for immediate access to subspecialty pathologists. While the U.S. contains four percent of the world’s population, it is home to over 90 percent of the world's subspecialty pathologists. Access to subspecialty pathologists will be essential for implementing the latest trends in personalized medicine worldwide, and telepathology will be one of the keys to success. I see the ATA Clinical Guidelines for Telepathology becoming the bible for organizing subspecialty telepathology services in many laboratories worldwide, in the near future.”

“Digital health” is the new buzzword/term in healthcare. The concept itself has proven to be quite useful, as was especially demonstrated during the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, which demanded new innovation and technology amidst the chaos of social distancing and quarantine. Over the past decade, the idea of digital health has transformed from simple patient-portals and rudimentary EMR systems to a more vast ecosystem, ranging from healthcare devices, telehealth services, artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities, and robust data-science. Indeed, many of these new innovations are revolutionizing the way healthcare is being delivered.

The U.S. government has continued to recognize the role of digital health and innovation in healthcare as an integral part of successful healthcare infrastructure.  In fact, entities such as the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s Digital Health Center of Excellence (DHCoE) reiterate the government’s commitment to digital health, and “marks the beginning of a comprehensive approach to digital health technology, setting the stage for advancing and realizing the potential of digital health.” The organization aims to empower “digital health stakeholders to advance health care by fostering responsible and high-quality digital health innovation…” and ultimately serve “patients, developers, health care providers, researchers, industry, payers, other government agencies, international regulatory bodies, CDRH, and other centers within the FDA.”

Billionaires are planning several cities that don't allow human-driven vehicles.

Over the years, MotorTrend and I have covered enough tech and innovation to be convinced that the remaining barriers to self-driving vehicles are primarily legal or political, and secondarily logistical. A new opportunity proposes a potentially easy shortcut: To build a new utopian "smart city" completely from scratch—from the infrastructure and political landscape up—and allow no human-driven vehicles from the start.

Warren Lemmens, the CTO of Nokia Oceania, discusses Australia's emerging smart city landscape — and what the U.S. can learn from it.

Word from down under: Cities need to get smarter about data, younger people need to lead the charge, and the U.S. is not exactly out front on this stuff.

When Nokia released a detailed analysis on civic tech in the southern hemisphere, titled A new world of cities and the future of Australia — which gives a thorough accounting of the emerging smart city landscape there — we talked to Warren Lemmens, Nokia’s CTO Oceania, about the report's findings and its implications for U.S. cities struggling to get a handle on the smart city landscape.

Maßgebend ist das Federal Communications Commission's Internet Policy Statement, mit dem die Regierung verhindern will, dass einzelne Unternehmen Inhalte blocken oder die Übertragungsrate nach eigenem Ermessen drosseln. Die Richtlinien sehen vor, das den Kunden mindestens ein Downstream von 768 Kbps und ein Upstream von 200 Kbps geboten werden muss.

Projects ranging from the use of AI and machine learning to inspect roadways to a housing rights challenge were among those highlighted as making “unprecedented progress”.

Solutions that address digital equity, accessibility and civic engagement are among those recognised in the IDC Government Insights fourth annual Smart Cities North America Awards (SCNAA).

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched an electronic ratification system with the use of high-quality security tags for the ratification of official documents as well as issuing the Apostille certificate accredited by 107 countries across the world instead of using the traditional monetary stamps.

This is in line with the keenness of the ministry under the vision of the Kingdom of Bahrain and e-government to offer pioneering and outstanding services based on the best international electronic practices.