Communications

The New Digital Divide: Thoughts for Leaders and Laggards

Summary: The digital divide has increasingly become about knowledge and adoption of new technologies rather than access. Which side of the divide are you on – are you a leader or a laggard? This post offers insights into the factors contributing to the growing chasm between those who have embraced and leveraged new technologies andRead… Read more »

New Campaign Seeks to Improve Public Perception of Feds

It’s no secret the federal workforce has been treated like a punching bag for too long. Public animosity towards government is one factor contributing to low morale among feds. Poor morale may lead to decreased productivity and increased indifference to mission-related work. Other detrimental repercussions associated with low morale include employee disengagement and absenteeism. NowRead… Read more »

A History of Transformation: Innovations From the Intelligence Community

This is Part II of National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Director, Letitia A. Long’s Keynote presentation at the 2014 Esri Federal GIS Conference. Read Part I here: Discovering the Unknowns: The Importance of Geospatial Intelligence. During the keynote address, Director Long provided insights as to how the intelligence community has evolved. “I will tell you thatRead… Read more »

Discovering the Unknowns: The Importance of Geospatial Intelligence

The 2014 Esri Federal GIS conference was filled with insights on the latest GIS developments and Esri announcements. The annual event is a great opportunity to connect with peers in government. The theme of this year’s conference, Integrating Government, highlighted how GIS is able to connect various IT trends, such as big data, mobile, cloudRead… Read more »

Are Small Budgets Good For Innovation – Part Two

Spending in the federal government is down. Sequestration has put a serious drain on many agency resources, but could the money squeeze actually create a breeding ground for innovation? In part two of our interview, with the first Chief Innovation Officer at NARA, Pamela Wright, told Chris Dorobek that the smaller budgets are forcing aRead… Read more »

Millenials, Lego, and the Perimeter of Ignorance

Every time I read an article about Gen Y or Millenials I run it through this litmus test: throughout the text, can you replace “Millenial” with “employee” with no loss of meaning? “[Employees] want meaningful work, they want to do things that are making an impact and if they’re not in a good environment whereRead… Read more »

Shark Tank: HHS Edition

Last week, thirteen teams of government entrepreneurs made pitches in a “shark tank” environment to continue funding for their innovation programs through a new initiative at the Department of Health and Humans Services (HHS) called HHS Ignite. The HHS Ignite program “[c]atalyzes early-stage project ideas that can be completed within very compressed time frames. TeamsRead… Read more »

Use open data from the Victorian Government to improve awareness and literacy for social and safety issues – potentially win $2,500

The Spatial Industries Business Association (SIBA) in conjunction with the Victorian Department of State Development, Business and Innovation (DSDBI), have launched a data competition to identify approaches using Victorian government open data to improve awareness and literacy for social and safety issues. The competition is open for registration, with entries closing 28 February and winnersRead… Read more »