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 »

Predictive Firefighting

While using predictive software to help law enforcement is a new trend, modeling and forecasting wildfires has been around for decades. This year’s forest fire season is off to a violent start, and we already see many of these analytical tools in play in New Mexico, which has its largest forest fire in history burnRead… 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 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 »

White House Fellows Program Looks to Solve Gov’t Tech Problems with Private Sector Assistance

As part of the White House’s recently released digital government strategy, a new Presidential Innovation Fellows program has been created. The program brings in 15 innovators from outside government who provide expertise on projects, particularly those that are technology related. Tom Fox, vice president for leadership and innovation at the Partnership for Public Service satRead… Read more »

Xbox Kinect Applications To Health And Medicine

Chris Niehaus (Washington, DC) — It’s not quite the technology from Minority Report, but in some ways it’s even better (no gloves!): Some time ago, Microsoft has launched a new entertainment product named Kinect for the popular Xbox 360 gaming platform. The launch involved an unusual amount of fanfare, including a massive Times Square eventRead… Read more »

Our goals and theme for NCDD Seattle…

NCDD conferences are known for being innovative and highly participatory. We focus on providing participants with opportunities to network with colleagues, experience innovative group methods, and explore key challenges in our field together. At the 2012 National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation this October 12-14 in Seattle, we plan to focus on the importance ofRead… Read more »

Get on CfA Accelerator’s Shortlist @ Startup Weekend

It’s a mashup we love — hackers, wonks, and startup enthusiasts in the nation’s capital coming together to create a civic startup in 54 hours. e-Government in DC, hosted Code for America and Startup Weekend, challenges participants to focus on creating a startup that solves a real-life problem faced by federal or local governments, agencies,Read… Read more »