Prism: the House of Commons integrated technology project.

• Author: O'Brien, Audrey

The publishing of parliamentary documents began years ago and has evolved with different technologies including pen and paper, typewriters, word processors, computers, off set printers, laser printers, and now the Internet. Legislatures are now looking to technology for more sophisticated means of managing and disseminating their information. Recent technological advances and the emergence of standards that enable the re-use and exchange of information in many different formats have made it possible to rethink the entire process for capturing and organizing information found in the parliamentary documents, while continuing to provide the traditional paper publications. At the House of Commons, the result has been creation of a new integrated technology system called Prism to replace nine stand alone systems. Prism creates a shared database environment that allows employees to capture information once, at the source, eliminating duplicate data entry and increasing the consistency and integrity of the information across parliamentary publications. This article describes the launch of the Prism Project in September 2001.

On September 17, 2001, Hansard staff sat down in front of their computer screens and formally signed onto the Prism system for the first time. As each Member of Parliament rose to speak, the time along with the details about who was speaking and what item of business was under consideration was entered into the new system. Using this log of the day's events as a series of electronic hooks, staff in the Parliamentary Publications Directorate of Information Services and the Translation Bureau at Public Works and Government Services Canada created Hansard and its translation by attaching pieces of text to the skeleton data.

The launch faced the added challenge of a late-night sitting since the House decided to hold a special evening debate on terrorism. Yet despite the midnight adjournment, the first Prism edition of Hansard rolled off the House of Commons presses before the House met again the next morning. To the Members who found copies of Hansard awaiting them when they returned to work the next day, there was little immediate evidence of the change. But Prism will eventually yield some exciting improvements in the way that both Members and the public access and retrieve information about what goes on in the House and in Committees.

Prism is not an acronym, but a name meant to evoke the image of a spectrum of information --...