Regional telecommunication incident coordination: Sharing
information for rapid response
Issue title: Government Information Sharing and Integration:
Combining the Social and the Technical. Papers from the 9th International
Conference on Digital Government Research (d.g.o.2008)
Affiliations: [a] Center for Technology in Government, University at
Albany, State University of New York 187 Wolf Road, Suite 301, Albany, NY
12205, USA | [b] New York State Department of Public Service, 3 Empire
State Plaza, Albany, New York 12223-1350, USA
Abstract: Governments around the world are increasingly turning to information
sharing as a lead strategy for developing response capacity for problems in a
wide range of program and policy areas. One form of information sharing is
regional coordination, which links together organizations or groups within
close proximity to one another to pursue similar interests, goals, or mandates.
Regional coordination requires leveraging currently held resources in
innovative and potentially more efficient ways, as well as the establishment of
new business processes, communication flows, and a system of governance that
satisfies the needs of all stakeholders. In addition, trust, collaboration, and
timely cross-boundary information sharing all play a pivotal role in this new
model. This paper presents the experiences of the New York State Department of
Public Service as it explores the concept of regional telecommunications
incident response in New York; although this case study presents only one
example of regional coordination, it raises issues which may apply in other
regional information-sharing initiatives.
Keywords: Telecommunications, regional coordination, interorganizational information sharing, trust
