Yearly Archives: 2013

Half a year of ’hood clickin’

“I think I just spent 1½hrs playing this.”—Mick Thompson, private correspondence Earlier in the year, we built a game called Click That ’Hood for two simple reasons: to learn the neighborhoods of Louisville (my fellowship city), and to learn some geovisualization techniques. Half a year later, with 98 cities across 12 countries, I am lookingRead… Read more »

Weird and wonderful uses for open data – visualising 250 million protests and mapping electoral preferences

One of the interesting aspects about open data is how creatively it can be used to generate new insights, identify patterns and make information easier to absorb. Yesterday I encountered two separate visualisations, designed on opposite sides of the world, which illustrated this creativity in very different ways. First was the animated visualisation of 250Read… Read more »

Players and Doers

Players learn the commands for the video game and run up the score. Doers learn how to do something to get results. Players value image – being in the right place, knowing the right people, being included in the right projects. Doers value completion – collaboration moving the project forward, process improvement to gain efficiency,Read… Read more »

Coding clubs

As a parent of two young boys who love computer games, the Wii, minecraft (pocket edition and full PC version), lego, swimming and generally most outdoors things. Also as a School Governor at a Primary school I was really interested to stumble upon the website for code club and instantly thought it was such anRead… Read more »

My Military to Private Sector Transition – Seven Lessons Learned

By John Rumbaugh, Program Manager and former Military Officer I retired in March after 30 years as a US Naval Officer. It was the end of a rewarding career that included travel, challenging work and camaraderie, but I knew that it was also the beginning of a new post-military chapter. While I was excited aboutRead… Read more »

GovLoop Research Digest: 3 Government Focused Customer Service Resources

***Want more tips on customer service? Join us at the Data-Driven Citizen Engagement session next Tuesday, 9/10 at our GovLoop Virtual Innovators Summit – free rsvp**** There are some remarkable apps in the private sector changing the way customer service is being delivered. You can order a pizza from your phone, track delivery progress, payRead… Read more »

Will New Travel Per Diems Further Erode Event Attendance?

by Allan Rubin, Vice President, Marketing It’s time for your federal customers to dust off their backpacks, can openers, and camping tents. If they want to attend any trade shows or conferences next year, those “roughing-it” items will probably come in handy. The General Services Administration (GSA) just released its fiscal year 2014 travel perRead… Read more »

Guest Blog on Digital Book Today: Reading Novels is Good for You

I have a guest post on Digital Book Today on how reading novels is good for you. Novels teach essential skills, such as concentration, careful reading (not skimming web pages) and the ability to frame and express a story. Novels are more than just entertainment. Immersing yourself in words on a regular basis will improveRead… Read more »

Four Reasons Your Federal Program Doesn’t Need More Resources

“I need more resources!” is the desperate cry of the beleaguered federal manager. “I can’t keep doing more with less.” Whether you are trying to get out from under a crazy workload or trying to build an empire of people to boss around, be careful what you wish for. The additional value of more resourcesRead… Read more »