Monthly Archives: March 2012

Educating Chicago

Chicago parents have a new tool for understanding the public school selection process: Chicago Public School Tiers, an app launched last week by Open City. The application is a perfect example of how independent civic developers can use open data to improve complicated yet important public processes; an approach that Code for America supports byRead… Read more »

Iowa, Louisiana move on education reform

Louisiana is examining an education reform package being advanced by Governor Bobby Jindhal that would tie teacher job security to how they fared on external performance metrics. The Iowa House has passed a slate of education reforms that would require yearly evaluations for school teachers, a test for graduating high school seniors and an extraRead… Read more »

Overcoming Obstacles to Social Media Use in Government

Participants in the Government Social Media Class offered by Digital Government University’s recently compiled a list of common arguments they’ve heard against the use of social media in government. How do you counter–firmly, but politely–these arguments? Are there any others that you encounter and have had to defend against? Please respond to these and addRead… Read more »

Do you need a “TempGig” until you land a Federal job? How about working at the 2012 Olympics?

Yes, I think I just coined a new GovLoop term–TempGig. You would have to go to London, however. It looks like they are hiring for everything from IT professionals, translators, chefs, to drivers. Could be a fun gig though! Here is a snapshot of top Olympics salaries: Job Title Olympics Salary National Average % DifferenceRead… Read more »

Creating the Right Climate: Using Critical Success Factors To Define the Standard of Performance

You may not know that two of most important steps managers can take to encourage high performance from employees are to (1) tell them what is expected and (2) give them the tools to manage themselves to the stated objectives. What if there were a tool that helped you clarify expectations? Think about it… WhenRead… Read more »

Strategies to Increase Digital Literacy and Accessibility

Microsoft had an interesting blog series all surrounding the digital divide, accessibility and strategies to help overcome the digital divide. The digital divide can be looked at through multiple lenses – but at the core, the digital divide relates to accessibility for all. The Microsoft series identifies a 2010 IDC study that finds 50% ofRead… Read more »

Fluency

I just participated in my first Hackathon – it focused on coding for Google Apps and we developed an automated meeting registration system. A hackathon is the gathering of a group of developers and their computers with a goal of creating something during the session. Jan Kleinert led the session and, as usual, the GoogleRead… Read more »

May 2012 PEP-NET Speakers Announced

From PEP-NET: PEP-NET Conference May 14, 2012 Hamburg, Germany Registration is free at http://www.amiando.com/pep-net.html Check this page also for the latest program agenda “PEP-NET Summit: Out in the Open will cover urban development, eParticipation and transparency. We have speakers who will showcase some examples from here in Hamburg and from abroad. Anyone can join usRead… Read more »

Soldier’s Killing Spree Likely to Incite Violence

www.homelandsecuritynet.com NATO’s International Security Assistance Force has confirmed that an American soldier recently turned himself in, and admitted to leaving his base in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province and went on a rampage from house to house in villages adjacent to his base, killing 16 Afghan people in their homes. Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai immediately demanded anRead… Read more »

Telework According to Berry

Tom Shoop, Vice president and Editor in Chief at Gov Exec Media Group, writes that they are big on telework because the nature of their business, as reporters, requires them to be out and about attending events and conducting interviews, so even in the pre-Internet age, the editors who managed them had to get comfortableRead… Read more »