05/31/2002

New domain to help local governments on Web

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Manheim is sick of his Web address.

It's long, confusing and embarrassing — particularly because Manheim is a city government official in San Jose, Calif., home to Silicon Valley and the premier tech haven.

"It is very frustrating," Manheim said of the effort to change his city's address, now the awkward ci.san-jose.ca.us. "That doesn't exactly roll off the tongue."

Now the federal government is finishing a plan to make it easier for state and local governments to get addresses ending in .gov — once the sole domain of the feds.

The General Services Administration, which handles the .gov addresses, expects the standards to be in place by mid-October. The process lays out rules for application and format so the thousands of local and state jurisdictions — as well as Indian nations — can claim their .govs.

Marty Wagner, an associate administrator at GSA, said the new rules were sparked by letters and phone calls from local officials.

"You'd go to meetings with state or local folks, and you'd get buttonholed by them saying, 'We're part of the government, too,"' Wagner said.

Some states and cities — such as Connecticut, Michigan and New York City — already have .gov addresses, but not all use them. They got the addresses by asking GSA directly, sometimes waiting months as federal officials dickered over whether the applicant was worthy.

More at: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/2002/05/31/gov-web.htm