One positive effect of transparency in the public sector is that it gives city and county government an opportunity to assess current practices and make needed changes. Given the increase in public records requests and the scrutiny from the White House on down to the local level, there is no doubt constituents want more accessRead… Read more »
Mark Drapeau (Washington, DC) — For those not directly connected with an active-duty military person or a veteran, you often only hear their stories vaguely, or in passing. Now, two very different people have created Homefront Heroes to deliver veterans’ stories to you in a very compelling, human way. Mike Allen, a Microsoft executive inRead… Read more »
Weston Florida is an affluent suburb 25 miles northwest of Miami. When Weston was incorporated in 1996, its residents approved a charter that states the city must use contractors as opposed to city employees to perform traditional government services, unless four out of five councilmembers vote to make an exception. As a Governing article reportsRead… Read more »
In the May 7th, 2012 post, I talked about policies you can implement to protect your online privacy. That post reinforced how important it is to use common sense when online. The biggest take-away from that article was not to use free services for editing, storing, or communicating personal information. However, it’s not always possibleRead… Read more »
This is the final week to participate in the Online Community / Social Media Management survey for Australia and New Zealand, which closes on 19 May. If you’re an online community or social media manager or advisor, please complete the survey using the button at right. To provide some quick background… The survey aims toRead… Read more »
Riddle me this: How does a small independent federal agency like EEOC — facing a 15% IT budget cut — successfully negotiate a 30% cost savings with telecom giant Verizon for continued Blackberry use agency-wide? Moreover, can your agency emulate this example? Federal Times tells the story of an IT cost savings lesson learned inRead… Read more »
Dear Apple, The iPad is a great device, BUT that virtual keyboard has a glaring omission. The “.com” key, when held, pops up a very cool short cut for other top level domains: .net .org .com .us .edu but hey no .gov!! Totally annoying and doesn’t help people when trying to find useful .gov websites.Read… Read more »
Today’s federal cybersecurity and information technology news: The U.S. Office of Naval Research is partnering with Chilean scientists to develop a mobile application to provide information helpful in countering pirates, arms traffickers, and illegal fishermen. More here. The Army’s 780th Military Intelligence Brigade. which handles cyber systems security and intelligence, is looking to hire 400Read… Read more »
Tomorrow, Wednesday, May 16, 2012, the Atlantic Council will host a discussion with pioneers in cyber law enforcement and crime prevention moderated by Jay Healey. ”Lessons from Our Cyber Past: The First Cyber Cops” should offer some fascinating insight and I’ll be in attendance, so stop by and say hello. It will run from 1:30Read… Read more »
Efficiency is the path to bigger profits. Efficiency is good. Everyone needs to be efficient. Right? Wrong! Efficiency sucks! For knowledge workers – you and me – the case against efficiency is overwhelming. ‘Efficiency’ is one of the weasel-words of management-speak, constantly misused and we are all worse off for this. In an effort toRead… Read more »