Communications

Carolyn Lukensmeyer to direct National Institute for Civil Discourse, transition from AmericaSpeaks

It’s official… Carolyn Lukensmeyer — who we all know as founder and president of AmericaSpeaks — is moving on to a new role. She’ll be serving as Executive Director of the University of Arizona-based National Institute for Civil Discourse. Carolyn gave me a call yesterday with a heads-up about today’s big announcement, and said whenRead… Read more »

GovBytes: Michelle Obama catches the Pinterest bug

Pinterest, with tremendous growth as of late, has made a splash in the world of social media. The photo-sharing website was the fastest website ever to break through 10 million unique visitors, and 40-60 percent of registrants regularly use the service after they’ve created accounts. First Lady Michelle Obama Joins Pinterest The service hasn’t escapedRead… Read more »

How one fed created a free tax service and a step by step guide to agency innovation

On today’s DorobekINSIDER How one feds helped millions of low income residents get their tax returns completed. The amazing work has made him a Service to America Award Medal Finalist. The Sammies — the oscars for feds. you’ll meet him. Click here for the full story. A step by step guide to making your agencyRead… Read more »

How Do You Identify Your Customers?

GovLoop Research Report: Re-Imagining Customer Service In Government GovLoop is proud to announce our latest resource, The GovLoop Research Report: Re-Imagining Customer Service in Government. In this report, experts in the field provide best practices on how to improve customer service in government. Be sure to check out the report home page for all theRead… Read more »

40 Years at the IRS — How one fed lends tax assistance to low income households

Every year millions of low-and moderate-income residents have their tax returns completed and receive refunds from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) — and they do it at no cost. Yes — free. No third-party tax preparer. It’s thanks in large part to the work of Michael McBride. McBride is a Supervisory Financial Analyst at theRead… Read more »

Are our Federal politicians ‘connected’ enough online?

In my copious spare time, I’ve been pulling together a list of social media channels used by our Federal politicians. The question I wanted to answer was “Are our Federal politicians using social media effectively to connect with their constituents?”, particularly given the level of activity by government agencies, lobby groups and media online. SurprisinglyRead… Read more »

GovBytes: Low-Tech Government Takes to Telephones

There has been a lot of talk on GovLoop this week about tech savviness among different generations, namely which one can rightfully call itself the most skilled. As if on cue comes a counter conversation about a low-tech transparency initiative in which citizens can can access information about Congress and their state, all from theRead… Read more »

Call for Sample Ordinances on Public Engagement

Mike McGrath from the National Civic League posted this on the NCDD LinkedIn group yesterday, and Matt Leighninger of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium posted this to the NCDD Discussion listserv today… (Also be sure to check out our resource on this topic at www.ncdd.org/rc/item/4341 (including a great compilation of legal frameworks shared on an NCDDRead… Read more »

The folly of stretch goals and is a government reboot necessary?

On Today’s DorobekINSIDER Stretch goals — you might be able to guess what they are, but do they work? Click here for the full story. Government needs a reboot. That’s what Mario Morino says. He is one of the keynotes at GovLoop’s Next Generation of Government Training Summit coming up next month, and we’ll talkRead… Read more »