Idahos
transportation news now is available at your desktop each
weekday. A collection of news stories about ITD and transportation
in Idaho is accessible through the Intranet portal page, under
the ITD News button.
The online service marks a conversion from photocopied pages
to electronic format and significantly expands access for
ITD employees.
A leading advantage of posting news online is its timeliness
news items will be available each weekday. In the past,
a collection of hundreds of news stories was delivered to
ITD; those news clippings were assembled into an 8-inch by
14-inch packet and photocopied. Lag time between a storys
initial newspaper publication and delivery of the booklets
took up to two weeks.
Another advantage of the new service is that access will
be widespread. The news clippings, which often consisted of
80 pages or more, were distributed to a limited number of
people. Now, anyone with access to the ITD Intranet will be
able to see, and search for, department news coverage.
A searchable database allows retrieval of news items by district,
publication source, dates, and more. The database streamlines
the process of finding old news items. The previous, labor-intensive
work involved hunting through file drawers. Archives date
back to the late-February trial period and will be maintained
indefinitely.
Its a much more timely way of keeping informed
about ITD news, says ITD Public Information Officer
Jeff Stratten. As a department, well be more effective
in monitoring transportation- and ITD-related stories in the
news, and be better positioned to respond when necessary.
The new process also is expected to yield cost savings for
the department by eliminating clipping service fees and saving
staff time that previously was devoted to assembly and distribution
of the weekly packets.
Some overlap of distribution methods (paper copies and Intranet
posting) is expected while newspaper clippings and real-time
news coverage converge, and while the system is refined.
Comments about the new system and suggestions for improvement
are welcome.