But be careful lest people get excited and want touse the information on the Web to actually change a record or take an action. The infomart dispenses information, but cannot listen and change anythingin their lives. The transaction machine can offerthe user practical tools with which to conduct business with government. The government has the opportunity to levy a transaction or conveniencefee, thereby reducing overall costs and making it possible to enlist privatepartners and launch the government onto the high road in the InformationAge. And that is when the transformational portal comes into play.
Many governments are excited aboutthe Web's ability to offer forms online.
Well, there are forms for everything, and they can be downloadedfrom the Web. Fill out informationthey have probably given the government countless times before, then faxor e-mail the form to a government database or employee. That employee then takes the information from the form and updates afile, and slowly the citizen's real goal is reached. A citizen's desireis never to fill out a form but to get something done. Here's an example.