Conservative views will slow government IT adoption

The Internet may make government more efficient, but federal agencies won't be first in line to adopt new technologies, according to a study released Wednesday from the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project.

The report, a survey of nearly 900 Internet and technology experts, found that while 72 percent of respondents believe that online cooperation will increase government efficiency by 2020, many are hesitant to say that agencies will change quickly. Government will lag behind the private sector, they said.

"Inertia, bureaucracy, entrenched interests, siloed structures and a lack of leadership will ensure that government and probably business will lag in the adoption of online cooperation. . . . Most will take a wait-and-see posture so that the effectiveness and efficiency that the Internet can potentially bring will not be fully realized by 2020," said Daniel Flamberg, a blogger at iMedia Connections.

Respondents concluded that businesses interact with the public more often and for longer periods of time, so federal agencies feel less pressure to change their ways. In addition, they said, if government does embrace technology, it does so to increase its control over those interactions.

"It takes a very long time for entrenched interests to be open to paradigm shifts, and I'm afraid to say that our era is one of great entrenchment--at least in government," said Susan Crawford, a former member of President Obama's National Economic Council.

The Web-based survey, conducted in conjunction with Elon University's Imagining the Internet Center, is the second in a series of four reports to be released this year. Respondents included individuals affiliated with the Health and Human Services, State and Defense departments, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the General Services and Social Security administrations.