Getting in touch with government.

• Author: Martinez, Jo
• Position: Automated information system for government services

California's new automated government information system lets people get a lot of what they need from government on their own time at their nearby store. It may save money, too.

How do I get license plates for my car? Who can help me settle a dispute with my landlord? How do I obtain a license to operate a day care center? Is there a carpool that would work for me? What jobs are available in my neighborhood?

For residents of Sacramento and San Diego, the answers to these and other questions no longer require calls or visits to government agencies but a single trip to the local grocery store. Grocery store? Yes, California is trying out its new automated information system, Info/California, with information kiosks installed where the people are--in shopping malls, grocery stores and libraries.

The state embarked last fall on a nine-month trial of a multimedia computer system to answer some of the questions most commonly asked of state agencies. If it works out, the system will go statewide and be expanded to allow all citizens to conveniently transact their business with state and local government. They will be able, for example, to obtain copies of birth certificates, renew their driver's licenses and reserve campsites in state parks all in the same place--a sort of "one-stop shopping" for government services.

Info/California comes through a video screen in a specially designed station, or kiosk, that looks like an automated teller machine. For phase I of the project, 15 kiosks have been set up in shopping malls, grocery and discount stores, a senior citizens' center, public libraries and on college campuses.

For information on any of 90 subjects, citizens merely follow the instructions of the on-screen narrator and the graphic display to select their topics from a number of options. Touching a picture on the screen activates a videotape that gives the requested information in Spanish or English.

The categories currently available are employment, the legal system and business, education, health, environment and natural resources, transportation, family and children, and general assistance. (For example, is any of the unclaimed state property mine, or how can I prepare for an earthquake?)

Under Transportation, for example, citizens can get information about California's boating laws and driver's licenses, registering vehicles, joining Rideshare programs, and applying for license plates and placards for the disabled.

A special interactive program on the system allows citizens to use the state's "Job Match" program. By touching a series of screens, individuals define the type of work they're interested in. The computer presents the number of jobs currently available in the selected category and location and the salary range. The job information is updated daily.

The individual can use the "keys" on an on-screen keyboard to complete an...