As a high school English teacher, it is often rather embarrassing to confess that it took me many years to figure out the rules of comma and semicolon usage. However, I think my students appreciate my lack of perfection and hopefully can better understand that everyone struggles in the art of composition. A few yearsRead… Read more »
Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey wrote this post. Here is Thursday’s look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Campaign Finance Senator John Tester (D-MT) took a cue from Senate candidates in Massachusetts and publicly challenged his Republican opponent, Rep. Denny Rehberg, to sign a pledgeRead… Read more »
I would like to let you know about a new project at the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University-Newark: The Public Service Research Panel (http://www.PSRPanel.org). The PSR Panel is an opt-in, online community of professionals in the public and nonprofit sectors who receive occasional email invitations to participate in web-based surveys. SurveyRead… Read more »
High crime rates can be tough to conquer with a limited police presence. It can also be problematic to put police on surveillance, when they may have to attend to a call elsewhere. That’s why police in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, have acquired an armored vehicle, called the Peacemaker, to act as temporary surveillance that theyRead… Read more »
Google is joining a coalition of companies, communities and activists encouraging Georgia state Senators to vote against a bill that would effectively limit municipal broadband in the state. The was introduced by a Republican lawmaker who claims that government networks unfairly compete with private providers. The bill SB 313 introduced by Sen. Majority Leader ChipRead… Read more »
The Web Manager University launched a pilot 12-week class this week that explores in-depth, the issues pertaining to social media in government. In each class meeting, we read excerpts from one book, listen to (and ask questions of) one expert in a field related the reading and the topic of the day, and then movesRead… Read more »
By Daniel Eisen The impact of technology on the federal government operations and the delivery of citizen-centric services are undeniable. Developing and implementing any technology is a complex undertaking. Developing and implementing technology for the federal government, can and usually does, increase this level of complexity. These efforts usually involve multiple stakeholders and interests suchRead… Read more »
At Memphis, Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) we’ve run into a few instances in the past year or so of people using our initials or creating negative pages about us. In one case, an angry customer created “MLGW is Broken” Facebook and Twitter accounts. While we monitored them, we did not take any other actionRead… Read more »
“Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their government is doing. Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset.” – President Barack Obama An interesting discussion to have is what is driving government to be more open and transparent. Is being more open occurring out of necessity by government dueRead… Read more »
Earlier this week I met an ambitious functionary who had taken a decade to maneuver himself into full ROAD status. A new boss observed the situation for a couple of weeks, then said, “You can do what you want, but you can’t do it here.” Set the bar too low and you might trip overRead… Read more »