Public Access Web Information Systems: Lessons from the Internet EDGAR Project

Abstract

The Internet and the Web Information Systems (WIS) create new channels for communications between governments, corporations and individuals. Governments collect, generate and disseminate vast amounts of information. In a market driven and democratic society, this information is vital to enhance the trust of citizens in their government and institutions, and critical to individual and organizational decision-making. This paper describes lessons learned from the "EDGAR on the Internet" (EOI) project, an early demonstration web information system (WIS) for disseminating corporate disclosure documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Building on our experience with this system, and the emerging impact of the Internet on the market for disclosure documents, we provide guidelines for governments and information vendors to effectively adopt and adapt to web-enabled innovations for data dissemination.