UW REQUESTS EXCLUSION FROM PROPOSED STATE ELECTRONIC AGENCY - Because of the University of Wisconsin's (UW) unique mission and circumstances, UW System officials have asked that the system's IT department be excluded from the newly proposed Department of Electronic Government, a department that will organize and facilitate e-government throughout Wisconsin. According to UW System President Katharine Lyall, the rest of the state e-government is transaction-based, while the university IT department is education-based. A UW spokesperson, Kevin Boatright, added that the university cannot afford to siphon off its IT staff to the new department and that if purchasing authority were taken over by the proposed government department, the university might lose out in the area of higher education discounts. Boatright added that, "If there are ways we can collaborate with the state or assist in the e-government department when it's created, we intend to do that." (WI State Journal, 6 Apr 01)

UW-EXTENSION FACULTY CREATE NEW IMPACT SOFTWARE - New software that will comprehensively evaluate the consequences of development on a community has been created by Gareth Betts, UW-Extension, Walworth County community resource development educator and Steve Deller, UW-Madison/Extension community development economist. The software "...provides extensive documentation of the anticipated: 1) economic, 2) fiscal, 3) environmental, 4) social and 5) traffic-related aspects and impacts of a proposed development," said Betts. It makes use of existing information and also employs methods to gather new information. It's also 'user friendly' enough for local professionals to be able to conduct the analysis themselves. The impact assessment evaluates both positive and negative impacts of the proposed development for each of the five impact areas and places a high priority on community values and long-term goals when assessing impacts. It also considers the magnitude of the development proposal, time and resource constraints and then determines how detailed an impact analysis is required - and it's reasonable. While, in the past, consultants performed this service for $30,000, the software, anticipated to be available in early 2002, will cost about $1,000. For complete information CLICK: http://www1.uwex.edu/news/pressrelease/stories/302.cfm

TTT - Articles in this month's issue of Teaching with Technology Today (TTT) include:

* eWEEK Magazine Judges Web Learning Tools at UW-Madison by Jennifer Smith, CLICK: http://www.uwsa.edu/olit/ttt/eweek.htm

* The IDEAS Website: A New Portal for Wisconsin's PK-12 Teachers by John Fischer, IDEAS Project Director, UW-Extension, CLICK: http://www.uwsa.edu/olit/ttt/fischer3.htm

* e-Learning is Work(ing) by Linda H. Straubel, Ph.D., Department of English, UW-Rock County, CLICK: http://www.uwsa.edu/olit/ttt/straubel.htm

(Jennifer Smith, UW-System, TTT editor) UPFRONT - About the FOCUS Author