GovBytes: Palo Alto Mayor Uses Twitter to Chat with Residents

Social Media is becoming ever more ingrained in the political landscape, and the government of Palo Alto — a city known for its tech savvy — is taking advantage. Palo Alto Mayor Yiaway Yeh and City Manager James Keene participated in two Twitter discussions with resident recently. Participants could use the hashtag #askpaloalto during theRead… Read more »

The Brigade Effect

People aren’t just watching, talking, and tweeting about civic technology–they are acting! Over the week of February 25 – May 4, passionate citizens around the country came together to “Code Across America.” Eight events were organized by the 2012 Fellows and eight events were organized by civic leaders in other cities as part of theRead… Read more »

Amid a rough month for public service, recognition and the silver lining

Let’s face it; it hasn’t been the best few weeks for federal government. Between the GSA scandal, the Secret Service scandal, and the dishonorable acts of a few soldiers in Afghanistan, public servants are getting a bad rap. Luckily, we know 98% of federal workers are hard-working, mission-driven people focused on efficiency. Christopher Dorobek ofRead… Read more »

Diving in to TEDxSummit

Last week was a profound experience for me; I attended my third official TED event — the TEDxSummit for TEDx organisers, held in Doha, Qatar. Bringing over 650 TEDx organisers from in excess of 90 countries together in one place (and maybe one of the few places in the world where this was possible), theRead… Read more »

How Much Time Does a Recruiter Spend Looking at a Resume?

In the last few weeks there has been a lot of discussion in the recruiting world about a studythat reviewed recruiters’ resume scanning behavior. The recruiters in the study self-reported that they spent up to four to five minutes reviewing a resume. However the study found something very different — an average of six secondsRead… Read more »

A Porsche, a K-Car and a Donkey walk into an organization…

4 Steps to Successful Enterprise Software Implementations At a recent public sector conference, I watched a few senior executives from different geographies get into an animated discussion about enterprise software. Despite their differences, these executives shared one common problem – the never ending implementation and the ballooning price tag of their enterprise software project. InRead… Read more »

Free Microsoft Cloud Computing For University Scientists

Mark Drapeau (Washington, DC) – Microsoft and Internet2 have announced a new agreement enabling member universities to take advantage of Windows Azure to open up collaborative, instructional and research opportunities in the cloud. The announcement was made at the recent Spring 2012 Internet2 Member Meeting in Arlington, VA. This agreement is a significant step inRead… Read more »