The Board of DGSNA, the Digital Government Society of North America, has decided that the dg.o 2009 conference, originally scheduled to be held in Puebla, Mexico, on May 18-20, will not be held this year, due to fears raised by the swine flu epidemic.

This was a difficult decision to make, and involved extensive discussions and the investigation of various alternatives. We are aware that the annual conference is one of the signal events of the year for people interested in Digital Government, and the conference committee has produced an excellent selection of papers, speakers, and events. Unfortunately, timing and financial considerations simply did not permit us to reschedule or move the conference.

Although there will be no physical meeting this year, the conference proceedings will be published, and will be noted as an official publication of the DG Society, so that papers can be formally referenced in citations. Anyone already registered for the conference will receive the CD of the proceedings, and the proceedings will be published as usual in the ACM Digital Library.

I am very pleased to say that the local organizer team in Puebla has unanimously agreed to host dg.o 2010, our next conference, in Puebla next May. It is a great city, and we still want to enjoy it! In addition, a smaller event will be held in Washington DC in November or December 2009, focusing on the interests of members of the US government, and will include some events originally planned for the dg.o 2009 conference. You will receive information about this event later in the year.

People who registered and paid for dg.o 2009 will receive reimbursement for fees paid, minus a small amount for the proceedings CD. (Special terms apply to published paper authors; please see special note below.)

Your conference registration included your annual membership dues in the Society which support member services and benefits such as discounted access to journals. We kindly request that you consent to us keeping those dues in order to maintain your membership in the DGSNA and to support the continuing activities of the Society.

A message will soon be sent to you with all the reimbursement options and instructions.

We appreciate the loyalty and interest of the members of DGSNA and dg.o 2009 registrants. We greatly regret the unfortunate public health events that made life so hard for the people of Mexico and other countries and that forced us to cancel dg.o 2009. Please plan to join us in Puebla next May for dg.o2010!

Our thanks and regrets.
Eduard Hovy, President of DGSNA
and the whole DGSNA Board

Important note to authors: Since registration was required for papers to be included in the proceedings, and since the proceedings will be published as planned, both on CD and in the ACM digital library, we cannot refund in full the fees of published authors. This reflects both the amount of work that went into reviewing and publishing the papers, and the creation of a new and citable publication that carries the imprimatur of the DGSNA and dg.o. Academic/government authors will receive a refund of $200, and student authors will receive a refund of $75. Authors will receive DGSNA membership and a proceedings CD at no additional cost.