Reprinted by permission of the authors. Casting the Net Reinventing the Hotline Using the Internet by Ralph McNamara and Jerry Lawson O nce exotic, Internet e-mail is becoming mainstream. Millions of users of systems like America Online, Prodigy, CompuServe and now the Microsoft Network have access to the Internet.
Many government agencies provide their employees with access to Internet e-mail.
As the number of people with the ability to use the Internet continues to increase, so does the attractiveness of using an e-mail hotline to supplement the conventional telephone hotline. The concept of e-mail hotlines offers Inspectors General a new set of possibilities and challenges not present with conventional telephone hotlines. The possibilities are exciting to those familiar with the technology and the fundamental principles of hotline operation. The challenges strike at the heart of some of the basic tenets of any hotline operation. E-mail hotlines are likely to be more effective than telephone hotlines with the latter personality type.