The Washington-based International City/County Management Association (ICMA) has released a podcast on the use of 311 and citizen relationship management (CRM) systems. The 46-minute podcast features experts from ICMA, the New York-based Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center discussing the results of ICMA's 2007 311/CRM survey.

311 and CRM systems allow residents to report non-emergency situations using an automated system or live operators who direct the reports to specific departments for disposition. ICMA's podcast focuses on two 311/CRM case studies from San Antonio, Texas, and Los Alamos County, N.M.

The podcast is part of an ongoing ICMA/Sloan Foundation national study of local governments' use of 311/CRM systems. It is available at http://icma.org/311study.