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Celebrating 25 Years

GCN Home > 06/19/06 issue

And Another Thing

BORDER WATCH: Texas’ latest plan to shore up its border with Mexico involves, in one respect, turning it into a sort of 1,200-mile Neighborhood Watch program, via the Web. Gov. Rick Perry recently set aside $5 million to install cameras along the border— at key areas; the plan couldn’t cover the whole distance—to collect video that will then be posted to a Web site. Federal and local agencies would monitor the site and send agents when something suspicious happens. But because it’s on the Web, citizens can watch from home, too, and call a toll-free number to alert authorities if they see anything untoward. Officials say the goal is not just to stem illegal immigration but to add another line of investigation and defense against the drug trafficking, thefts and violent crime common along the border. The plan could help, not just in catching illegal immigrants and criminals but in working as a deterrent. It could also get citizens involved in their favorite way—without leaving their seats—although the number of false positives and prank alerts might be interesting to watch.

NOT YOUR FATHER’S GPO: Looks can be deceiving, and unless you’ve stepped into the hulking, red-brick Government Printing Office headquarters just outside Capitol Hill, you’d have no idea what lies within. At an early June open house, GPO officially took the wraps off its new Digital Media Services unit—a merger of the agency’s Creative Services, Web Management, Technical Review and e-PUB divisions. Featuring slick new digs and the latest in imaging technology, DMS houses a wide swath of products, ranging from designs for the new electronic passports to digitized animation videos that use much of the same technology that has graced big-screen features. It’s part of GPO’s ongoing move from paper to digital processes. The agency produces much more new content electronically than by printing, and is in the process of digitizing historical documents. DMS is “providing enhanced services to our agencies,” Jim Bradley, managing director of GPO’s customer services, told GCN during a tour of the new facilities.

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