Open Illinois.org

Posting information online is a rather simple task given today’s technology. Electronic documents can be placed on the Internet with no software cost, and the cost in personnel time is minimal. The time required is the time it takes to send a document to a printer, save a file and then copy it to a specified directory. In other words, it takes a few seconds of manpower for each document to be made available.

Non-electronic documents will take longer. These would require the use of a scanner, which can be purchased for under $50. The manpower requirements involve scanning the document first and then following the steps for an electronic document. A single document can be done in under a minute.

Both of these steps could be done on a going forward basis. The older documents could be placed on the Internet over several months as time permits. Volunteers, if desired, could do the scanning to speed up this process. The process should reserve the copy to the Internet as a regular staff function so that you can maintain security and consistency of the system.

In just a few steps you will have your information online:

1. The webmaster must setup an FTP directory on your web server. This should be read-only for the public and staff. Approximate time to setup would be 30 minutes to an hour.
2. Setup security for a limited number of staff members to have write-access to the FTP directory. This can be done via a FTP program or a network share. Approximate time to setup would be 1 to 2 hours depending on the number of people who would need this ability.
3. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Professional, download and install Cute PDF on the computers that are given write access to the FTP site. Approximate time to setup on each computer is less than 15 minutes. The links are specified below:
   Download Cute PDF
   Download Converter
4. Setup a process for ensuring privacy issues are maintained with the
   electronic documents.

I would also recommend the following:

1. Sub-directories under the FTP site to categorize the documents;
2. Set up a default header or footer on all electronic documents that include the date and time it was last updated.

This is a low-cost but effective way to put documents online. It will help build trust in the community.

You will be telling the community that your government invites and welcomes your scrutiny. We want you to see how we operate. We want you to judge for yourself how the board and administration are serving the people. We want you to see how we spend your money.

Lennie Jarratt, the author, runs educationmatters.us. The full article appears in a post on his website.