As our nation attempts to make sense of the tragic shooting in Tucson, it is easy to portion out blame and accountability. Even easier is avoiding conversations with those who hold views different from our own. These patterns shut down communication and, in a charged atmosphere, can quickly lead to polarized conflict, when what mostRead… Read more »
Over the years, I’ve had the honor of either directly running or managing the people running EPA websites responding to various crises: 9/11 (that happened one month after I joined public affairs) Columbia Shuttle Accident Hurricane Katrina BP Oil Spill Radiation coming to the U.S. from the release of material from Japanese nuclear reactors followingRead… Read more »
Government agencies are always looking to engage with citizens. However, often when government agencies do reach out for engagement, they get little in return. So how do you truly engage citizens? I recently watched an old video from Tom Steinberg of mysociety (embed below) where he has a simple idea – “focus on self interest”Read… Read more »
This week I am attending the Esri User International Conferencein the beautiful City of San Diego. Esri was founded in 1969 by current Esri President Jack Dangermond and his wife, Laura. Esri is an acronym for Environment Systems Research Institute. The Esri website states, “Esri’s early mission was to organize and analyze geographic information toRead… Read more »
In 2010, Congress passed the Telework Enhancement Act, which was designed to increase the adoption and implementation of telework policies across the federal government and its agencies. By increasing telework adoption, the government was hoping to slash budgets, increase employee productivity and also enable continuity of operations (COOP) when natural disasters and other incidents keptRead… Read more »
I am an Amazon.Com customer – have been since Jeff Bezos launched it in 1995. It’s still evolving as an innovative on-line commerce platform. They have initiated a socially responsible program worth noting. Today my visit to the site opened with a letter from Jeff – about an investment in the future. He announced aRead… Read more »
This is the third in a five part series, originally published on the Tri Tuns blog. Start at the beginning here. TIMELESS INSIGHT As I mentioned in my last blog post, I recently I came across a page of Mark Twain quotes and in reading them I realized that the insights and teachings of aRead… Read more »
The federal government’s use of social media—including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and other sites—draws no end of press coverage, and for good reason: in the past three years, federal agencies have been engaging citizens through Facebook (NASA has more fans than the population of Denver, CO) and Twitter (The State Department has more followers thanRead… Read more »
Everyone has posted something they wish they hadn’t. Don’t worry so much about the past and get back up on the horse. That’s what will define you, not one post. On Friday, the NextGen Journal published an article titled “Why Every Social Media Manager Should be Under 25″ by Cathryn Sloane. This article predictably generatedRead… Read more »
Happy Monday we are just days away from GovLoop’s Next Generation of Government Training Summit happening later this week. On today’s DorobekINSIDER The State Department is the federal government’s first agency, so you talk about a culture. But the State Department has been at the forefront of what is being called eDiplomacy or digital diplomacy.Read… Read more »