The Circuit

Telecommute King

It's been three years since Wendell Joice even had an office at the General Services Administration. As team leader of the governmentwide telework program at GSA, he's been working happily at home. "I find it distracting to go to the office. I wonder how I ever worked there," Joice said in a phone interview from his home in Washington, D.C.

But for countless federal workers, the change is more difficult because of slow phone lines that impede data delivery and make their work harder.

Better days may lie ahead, however. Joice is about to embark on a GSA proj-ect testing high-speed cable access that could replace the snail-paced phone lines that most federal workers now have at home.

Big Count, British Edition

Lockheed Martin Corp. is basking in the glory of a successful 2000 U.S. census that delivered a 99.3 percent accuracy rate, using technology to scan and collect data from the count. Now, to add icing to the cake, it is exporting its architecture to the United Kingdom, where it will run the 2001 census.

Lockheed Martin folks will use the same type of equipment to extract information from the forms — and make a cool $80 million in the process. "We lifted the design from the United States. We added a few features. And there's more in-depth edit—ing of information captured," said Keith Fife, who manages Lockheed's U.K. census.

But there are some significant differences. A long form comprises 20 pages filled with questions that would not see the light of day in America. Among them: Who is your landlord (a registered social landlord, a housing association, a relative or friend)? Are you "Black" or "Black British"?

Radio Days

The National Institutes of Health is marrying an old technology — the radio — with a new one — the Internet. In a highly successful experiment, NIH has offered a 60-second radio spot about health care issues for the past six months. It's available by downloading the item from NIH's Web site or by e-mail with an audio attachment if you have a sound card attachment.

More than 400 stations are taking advantage of the free news briefs that deal with the latest medical research and discoveries. A single employee runs the project: Calvin Johnson is producer, editor, reporter, writer and facilitator. "We've got 25 different institutes here and I serve all of them," he said.

Flyzik Gets Another Hat

As if the Treasury Department's Jim Flyzik didn't have enough to do, he's now coordinating all security at Treasury. In addition to heading the CIO Council, Flyzik runs the information technology office at one of government's biggest domestic departments. That includes critical infrastructure, IT and his newest assignment: physical security.

No complaints from Flyzik. "All aspects of the job are high priority," he said.

E-Customized

The Customs Service will have the latest Web site to get a facelift. Customs Commissioner Raymond Kelly told a recent trade gathering that the redesigned site would be more interactive and provide faster, better information about the agency. Customs officials won't share any more details or even disclose the launch date, so we'll just watch for it at www.customs.gov.

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