The Impact of Emerging Technology on the Public Sector Essay -- Techno

The Impact of Emerging Technology on the Public Sector The impact of information technology has been tremendous within the public sector. Over the years, the growth and development of technology has caused the public sector to change. One of the most significant changes in technology has been the evolution of the information systems and how their development has reshaped the way the world uses technology. â€Å"It has been just over fifty years since the worlds first programmable computer became operational. It cost millions of dollars to build and processed an unprecedented 5,000 instructions per second. By 1971, Intel was able to pack 25 times that power into a single, two hundred-dollar chip. Today’s personal computers process 400,000 instructions per second and if current trends continue, desktop-computing power will be at 100,000 million instructions per second by the year 2012.† [i] Although the benefits of technology were first realized in the private sector, the public sector has been able to reap some benefits. In addition they have also incurred some of the challenges it has brought. This research paper will discuss the types of technology that are used by the public sector, cost considerations, security and confidentiality issues, the National Public Review and Government Information Technology initiatives and the challenges of training a computer literate workforce. Public Sector Technology Applications Emerging technology is the application of rising or forthcoming sciences to industrial and commercial objectives. These rising and forthcoming sciences have also been applied to the public sector. Technology has impacted the services the public sector provides as well as the internal systems used to support t... ...al, M., (1998) Technology in Government Vol. 5. No. 10., Public Lines up for Service, New York: Columbia University Press Northrop, A., Kraemer, K., Dunkle, D., and King, J. (1990) Public Administration Review vol 5., Payoffs from Computerization: Lessons Over Time, New York: Columbia University Press Reisner, R and Jones-Shearin, C. (1996) Access America Online Magazine, Improve the Public's Access to Government Services-Less Burden more Service www.accessamerica.gov/docs/public2.html {on-line} Thibodeau, P., (1999) CNN.com, Government: US will need 1.3M new IT workers by 2006, www.cnn.com/ting/9907/02/itwirk,idg/index.html {on-line} (1994) The American Heritage Dictionary 3rd Edition, New York, Dell Publishing Thompson, M., (1999) CNN.com, US Miltary Recruits on the Web, www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9904/27/military.idg/index.html {on-line}