Changes on the Horizon?
I wanted to correct the record on a matter that was discussed in class last Tuesday.
After anthrax was discovered in the Congressional mailstream in October 2001, deliveries of mail to Congress were suspended for several months. Picture the impact. More than 30,000 pieces of mail per day were held in limbo until corrective security measures could be taken. Constituents were encouraged to contact their representatives in Washington by fax and email. Wary politicians sweated the inability to respond to their constituents.
After instituting the necessary security measures to sanitize mail and ensure its safety, mail delivderies resumed. There were ongoing jokes about Christmas cards delivered in August. In an effort to deal with a problem never before encountered, Congress initiated two pilot programs designed to change the way Congressional offices interact with their constituents.
The first program was an initiative to digitize incoming fax messages and integrate the delivery of those digital images with the public e-mail stream that arrives in each Congressional office. This pilot program has since expanded and is now a service offered to each House office that chooses to utilize it.
The state of the Digital Mail program in the House of Representatives was mischaracterized in class. The progam has not been discontinued and in fact is poised to expand from 20 House offices to 75 House offices. This program is a particularly interesting insight into the 21st century Congressional office operation.
The Digital Mail program scans incoming letters from a remote location and delivers them electronically, populating the images automatically (with metadata identifying address information) into the variety of correspondence management software used by idividual offices.
Both the inbound fax and digital mail programs will continue to grow in popularity with Congressional offices, particularly as the culture adapts to technology. Both programs cut drastically the staff time needed for handling correspondence and provide for greater efficiency and accountability for the interaction with constituents. Both programs also provide for continuity of operations, allowing offices the ability to communicate with constituents no matter their location or circumstance.
After anthrax was discovered in the Congressional mailstream in October 2001, deliveries of mail to Congress were suspended for several months. Picture the impact. More than 30,000 pieces of mail per day were held in limbo until corrective security measures could be taken. Constituents were encouraged to contact their representatives in Washington by fax and email. Wary politicians sweated the inability to respond to their constituents.
After instituting the necessary security measures to sanitize mail and ensure its safety, mail delivderies resumed. There were ongoing jokes about Christmas cards delivered in August. In an effort to deal with a problem never before encountered, Congress initiated two pilot programs designed to change the way Congressional offices interact with their constituents.
The first program was an initiative to digitize incoming fax messages and integrate the delivery of those digital images with the public e-mail stream that arrives in each Congressional office. This pilot program has since expanded and is now a service offered to each House office that chooses to utilize it.
The state of the Digital Mail program in the House of Representatives was mischaracterized in class. The progam has not been discontinued and in fact is poised to expand from 20 House offices to 75 House offices. This program is a particularly interesting insight into the 21st century Congressional office operation.
The Digital Mail program scans incoming letters from a remote location and delivers them electronically, populating the images automatically (with metadata identifying address information) into the variety of correspondence management software used by idividual offices.
Both the inbound fax and digital mail programs will continue to grow in popularity with Congressional offices, particularly as the culture adapts to technology. Both programs cut drastically the staff time needed for handling correspondence and provide for greater efficiency and accountability for the interaction with constituents. Both programs also provide for continuity of operations, allowing offices the ability to communicate with constituents no matter their location or circumstance.
posted by Capitol Hill Rentals @ 1:02 PM
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