February 28, 1995
General Meeting of the Task Force Chairs and Co-Chairs
International Center for Communications
Attendees: Peter Andersen, Steve Burke, Herman Collins, Jorge D'Garay, John Eger, Joyce Gattas, Joe Giammona, Beth Givens, Kevin Hopkins, Gilbert Huey, Stan Lewis, Holly Mayo, Paul O'Sullivan, John Pavlik, Lee Rizio, Virginia Rybski, Doug Scutchfield, Howard Stapleton.
Welcome and Introductions
The meeting was called to order at 9:10 a.m. by Chairman John Eger. John Eger introduced Kevin Hopkins, Director of Intergovernmental relations representing Mayor Golding. He also introduced Jorge D'Garay representing Mayor Osuna. Mr. Hopkins and Mr. D'Garay both spoke briefly about the importance of the work of this committee to the region. He proposed that, in consideration of Tijuana and other areas associated with the project but not in San Diego proper, the title be changed to Cities of the Future or Region of the Future, and when possible, in the spirit of the effort to "blur the borders," references to San Diego be changed to San Diego/Baja.
San Diego Data Processing Corporation Report
Lee Rizio spoke briefly about the role of the SDDPC and listed the strategic imperatives for the Corporation. SDDPC's competencies should be aligned with the core services that government provides, insuring that it can provide those services, and aligned with the City of San Diego, to insure that it is an effective business partner. The Corporation should participate in future regional joint ventures, maximize public and private partnership opportunities, and be entrepreneurial in the services it provides. SDDPC should be positioned to provide good government "on line and on demand." Rizio indicated that they are in the process of establishing and staffing an Office of Telecommunications that will provide support to each committee.
Howard Stapleton, manager of the Office of Telecommunications o then spoke about the goals of the City of San Diego's telecommunications policy. They are to improve the City's administrative efficiency and reduce budget deficits, to increase participation in local decision making and insure delivery of government services to all constituents, to encourage economic development and reduce environmental impact by promoting telecommuting, and to provide affordable options for all citizens.
Stapleton said we should recognize the significant progress made by the private sector, but stressed that without receiving fair compensation for use of the right of ways, the City would not be in a financial position to bring these telecommunications services to the communities.
Stapleton said a key purpose of SDDPC should be to determine the proper role for the City in creating the Region of the Future. Possible roles could be to own, build, and operate the telecommunications infrastructure, or to provide a private virtual network. The City could advocate greater local discretion in telecommunications, and encourage partnerships with private sector. The City could be responsible for developing content and applications, and could serve as a provider of last resort.
Next, Joe Giammona summarized information gleaned from the RFI issued in May 1994. There were 27 respondents to the RFI, and on site meetings were held with about half of them. These talks suggested possible structures for the RFP, including pure competition between the private groups, a private virtual network with the City as the "anchor tenant," or a city-owned utility. All these options are still under consideration.
The task force is still formulating policy options. When they have reached a decision, their recommendations will be reviewed by the City Manager, and a City Council briefing will be held. The target for releasing the RFP is April 1995.
Health Care Task Force Report
Doug Scutchfield, chair of the Health Care Task Force, began by reviewing the recommendations made by the City of the Future report regarding health care. These recommendations are that the City should create a health care utility with a public and private health care cooperative, incorporating standardization of patient information and billing, work to create an educated consumer, and work to re-define primary care.
The task force has been broken down into an applications and systems subcommittee and a health care cooperative subcommittee. They are currently considering both for-profit and non-profit organizational alternatives.
Scutchfield then listed possible applications for the organization:
The health care task force is currently preparing a review of related literature regarding tele-medicine and tele-health, to be completed within the next two weeks. The task force is also preparing a review of the state of the art, to be completed over the next few months, and a market analysis of physicians, payers, and health plans.
Bringing this overall plan together will require buy-ins by health plans, physicians, public, politicians, and vendors. An infrastructure should be built to manage the program. The applications should then gradually be implemented, and ongoing evaluation and maintenance should be performed.
Education Task Force Report
Steve Burke from Sony, co-chair of the Education Task Force, then spoke about the case study of Nye Elementary School in Paradise Hills, and plans for implementing technology there.
Their research suggests that it is best to implement technology gradually, in order to monitor that the vision of the schools development remains in phase with the reality. The basic plan behind this development is to make Nye a "life site school," which becomes an educational resource for the family and the community as well as children.
They have also found that in schools, "technology does not lead, technology follows," and there is still outdated technology in use at Nye. They hope to install up-to-date technology at Nye, including a video library, a link to home computers, and a link to other local resources like zoos and museums.
Burke stressed that technology must be introduced gradually, in cooperation with teachers and parents, to determine how fast these changes could effectively be implemented while remaining fitted within the school's curriculum. Joyce Gattas, co-chair of the Education Task Force, added that another goal is to develop technology that effectively uses art. Eger concurred, adding that any multi-media presentation must include elements of art and music to hold the attention of viewers.
Privacy, Security, and Intellectual Property Task Force Report
Peter Andersen, co-chair of the Privacy, Security, and Intellectual Property Task Force, then spoke about the development of intellectual property policy. The three vehicles for protecting intellectual property currently being reviewed are patents, copyrights, and trade secret protection.
The Task Force is also considering issues of ownership, access, and protection, since the parameters of all these things must be continually re-evaluated in light of developing technology.
Beth Givens, co-chair also of the same Privacy, Security, and Intellectual Property Task Force, addressed privacy issues. San Diego is unique in having already implemented a set of privacy principles in conjunction with its telecommunications policy:
Givens said the work of the Privacy, Security, and Intellectual Property Task Force is coming to a close, and its members will soon be ready to work with the other task forces in considering privacy issues in their own plans.
Gil Huey, co-chair also of the Privacy, Security, and Intellectual Property Task Force, addressed issues of security. He defined security as the ability of a system to achieve its goal within a given environment, insuring that outside elements, such a hackers and data loss, do not jeopardize those goals.
It is not economical to build security devices into the information network itself, he added. So, to insure that information sent through the network is secure, the data must be encrypted before being sent, so it can not be read or altered before reaching the receiver. It is, therefore, crucial to design an architecture to the information system will support the security mechanisms that will be placed outside the network.
Huey concluded that we must, therefore, enforce a standard format for the data, certification of equipment, and installation of guards and monitors outside of the network, which will also meter the network's use.
InfoSanDiego Report
Joe Giammona then spoke about InfoSanDiego. The goal of InfoSanDiego is to create the "mother of all home pages" that will incorporate all the various San Diego home pages, and will serve as the entry point to all San Diego information.
InfoSanDiego has been broken down into five subcommittees: Legal/Regulatory, Marketing, Applications, Technology, and Economic.
The major issues facing the Legal/Regulatory Subcommittee are legal structure, liability for content, and applicable regulatory jurisdiction.
The Marketing Subcommittee is determining what is the relevant market for this service, who are the potential service suppliers, and how to prioritize the offerings.
The Economic Subcommittee is looking at funding alternatives, methods of commerce, and the likely impact on the regional business climate, both positive and negative.
John Pavlik, co-chair of InfoSanDiego, then spoke about issues facing the Technology and Applications subcommittees.
The Technology Subcommittee is facing six major questions:
Major issues facing the Applications Subcommittee include:
Pavlik suggested that an on-line forum should be created to generate feedback from users. Interim reports from each of the InfoSanDiego subcommittees will be completed by April 1. The final report will be ready by May 15.
Timetable for Task Force Reports
Eger proposed that each task force have draft reports ready by the end of April, and final reports by mid-May. He emphasized the importance of demonstrating forward progress to the City. He also asked that announcements for subcommittee meetings be given ahead of time, so that they may be placed on the bulletin board, and suggested that each task force invite members of other task forces so that they may begin to work together.
Other Business
Another meeting was scheduled for April 27, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Santa Fe facility. This meeting will fall between the completion of the interim report and the final report.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 11:10 a.m.
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