| What is the Transportation Asset Management Today site? |
This site is an Internet-based collaborative workspace that supports the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Asset Management Subcommittee. The main purpose of the Subcommittee is to assist states as they implement and refine their transportation asset management processes. AASHTO thankfully acknowledges financial and technical assistance to launch this site that is being provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. We have created the Transportation Asset Management Today (TAMT) web site to facilitate the open exchange of ideas and views among staff of state departments of transportation, other public and private partners, and the traveling public on how we can operate, maintain and upgrade surface transportation physical assets in a cost-effective manner.
| Acknowledgement and Acceptance of Terms of Use |
By using the TAMT site, you agree to the following:
1. You understand that this site may experience failures or other service outages without notice.
2. You will not hold the AASHTO or the creators, operators, or related entities to the site responsible or liable ("indemnify and hold harmless") for the inability to connect to or use the site, or for any loss or corrupted data, or for any defamatory or offensive material(s) which you may encounter on or originating from this site, or for the conduct, opinions, or publications of any user, or for any other problem whatsoever related to the use or existence of the site.
3. You understand that the AASHTO has no obligation to acknowledge, mediate, or otherwise settle any disputes or differences in opinion that may arise between users.
Additional terms and conditions are listed below.
The TAMT site includes a discussion area that allows feedback and interaction among users. The AASHTO encourages the free expression of your ideas and opinions as long as they are responsible, free of insult, respectful of others, and conform to the site purpose. However, we do not control or censor messages, information, or files delivered to discussion groups. It is a condition of your use of the discussion area that you do not:
1. Falsely present yourself as a representative, employee, or official of a governmental entity by accidental or deliberate means including misleading or confusing statements in your postings.
2. Stray from the discussion topic or make personal attacks on other TAMT website users and/or participants (personal attacks are defined as comments that reflect upon the person instead of their opinion).
3. Post or transmit any slanderous, defamatory, obscene, indecent, pornographic, profane, violent, abusive, insulting, threatening, offensive or harassing comments and/or information of any kind. We will not tolerate such postings, including without limitation any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense.
4. Post or re-post a message excessively, especially unsolicited advertisements, even if they are directly or indirectly related to the purpose of the site. Advertising of any kind, including non-profit organizations, is not permitted.
5. Add or post any copyrighted material to the TAMT site, without written permission of the copyright owner.
The AASHTO and the creators, owners, operators, or related entities to the site have no obligation to monitor the discussion groups. However, they reserve the right at all times to disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any law and regulation and to edit, refuse to post, or to remove any information or links, in whole or in part, that are in violation of these terms and conditions or of applicable law.
This site is compliant with accessibility standards for electronic and information technology covered by section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998, and all pages at this site are screen reader accessible. However, this site may contain downloadable reference material in the non-accessible Adobe Acrobat format.
Adobe has made available to the public a set of free tools that allow visually disabled users to read documents in Adobe PDF format. These tools convert PDF documents into either HTML or ASCII text which can then be read by many screen reading programs. For more information about these tools or to download one or more of these tools, please visit http://access.adobe.com.
| What kind of information and interactivity does the TAMT site offer? |
At the Transportation Asset Management Today site, you can review and comment on draft research papers, working statements, and plans, as well as hold discussions about a variety of transportation asset management issues. All references and works in progress are posted in Adobe 4 PDF, Microsoft Word 2000, or Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 format. You must have free reader software installed on your computer to view these files. The following links will allow you to download necessary viewers from the vendors:
Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) file viewer
Microsoft Word 2000 (.doc) file viewer
Microsoft Powerpoint 2000 (.ppt) file viewer
Collaboration: Discussions, and Member Directories. At the Discussion section, you can submit general comments or start a new discussion. If you wish to attach a document with your comments and suggestions, please contact the site administrator. At the Directory, you will find contact information for all identified users. The Reference section contains background papers, reports, and other documents. You can choose to view this information with your browser or download information to your computer for later use.
Information Subscriptions: Bringing the Information to You.
Fill out an interest profile that tells the TAMT site what topics are of interest to you. The site will automatically notify you once daily via e-mail when new items are added. The e-mail contains not only the title of the item but also an abstract of the item and a URL that links directly to the item at the site. | How do I use the TAMT site's main features? |
Accessing the TAMT site
The TAMT site is located at http://assetmanagement.transportation.org. You navigate through the site by clicking on buttons and links to reach different sections. From the home page, you can choose to enter a sub page, execute a search, go to other sections of the site such as the e-Mail Notification form, or click on related hyperlinks to other resources such as the state or federal department of transportation web sites. You can provide feedback about the value of the site by clicking on the Feedback link or send an e-mail message to the site administrator if you have any technical comments or questions. Accessing Information
. A general description of the sub page appears on the top, as well as tabs that give you access to the four different sections: Discussion, Reference, and Directory. Downloading Attachments. To download an attachment onto your computer for use offline right click on the attachment icon or the download link. From the menu, Internet Explorer users then select "Save Target As" and select a destination for the file, and Netscape users select "Save Link As" and select a destination for the file.
Reading and Participating in Discussions.
Click on the Discussion tab found below the general description. The discussions are arranged in threads. If you want to view a discussion item, click on its underlined title to open it. The response to each discussion item is indented and grouped below the original question or comment, so that you can follow individual discussions as they progress. You can read the comment, question or response, and view any responses to a discussion item by clicking through the thread found in the right-hand thread navigation. To add your response, click on the Respond link beneath the body of the discussion item, accept the default subject or type a new subject, and write your response. To create a new discussion item, click on the Add Discussion Item link beneath the tabs, type in a subject heading and then type in your comment or question. Viewing and Downloading References.
Go to the sub page and click on the blue Reference tab. To open an individual reference, click on its underlined title. A cover sheet will appear in the browser. Click on the attachment icon to view the document. To download the document, follow the same procedure as described above in downloading attachments. Viewing the Directory.
The Directory contains a list of the names names of all who have voluntarily submitted their contact information and agreed to display it on the site. When you create your e-Mail Notification form, you will specify whether or not your information should be listed online. Go to the sub page and click on the blue Directory tab. If you have chosen to include it in the site directory, your name is listed along with your organization name and/or e-mail address. Creating and Editing the e-Mail Notification Form. As discussed above, you can sign up for the membership to the site, choose what information (if any) about you will appear in the member directory, and set your preferences for e-Mail Notification at the e-Mail Notification form.
To create a new e-Mail Notification form, you must login first then go to the top or bottom of the site home page and click on the e-Mail Notification link. Then click on the I want to create a new e-Mail Notification form graphic to open a new form. If you would like to be listed as a user, provide your information and specify whether or not you want it to be listed in the directory.
The next part of the form lets you set your e-Mail Notification preferences. To be notified when anything new is added, check the yes radio button. To be notified when one or more specific keywords are added to the site in Discussion, or Reference documents, enter your keywords in the box at the bottom of the form. Then click the "Submit" button to complete your form. Events are set to all users with a valid e-Mail address on his/her interest profile.
To edit your existing information, go to the e-Mail Notification form and click on the I want to edit my existing e-Mail Notification form graphic. If you have any difficulties, please contact the site administrator. Make any desired changes and click the "Submit" button to complete your form.