Massachusetts FY 2013 Budget: Education Priorities for a Healthier Future

Deltek Analyst Evan Halperin reports. On Jan. 23, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick delivered his State of the Commonwealth address to a full house chamber. Governor Patrick spoke of the great accomplishments from the previous year while pressing that Massachusetts could do even better. With the right formula of spending and cuts, and the full supportRead… Read more »

Living Science: Why Social Networks For Scientists Don’t Work (Yet)

Mark Drapeau (Washington, DC) — A “Facebook for Scientists”? It may sound silly, or redundant, but it’s becoming more of a reality. Maybe. A new startup based in Germany named ResearchGate has already convinced roughly 1.4 million researchers to become members and begin sharing. On it, you can search your email accounts to find peopleRead… Read more »

LightSquared vs FCC: What is the right position?

An issue I’d recommend all free thinking technologists dive into is the current technological trades facing the nation over LightSquared. They are a company building a wireless network based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) technologies combined with commercial satellite coverage in a way that will cover the entire united states in broadband. The goal: unleashRead… Read more »

Finding a path to sustainability

Cutting public sector jobs may decrease overall expenditures, but it doesn’t amount to the fundamental change we’ve been talking about, nor does it put us on a path to sustainability. At least that is what the recently released Drummond Report argues: If civil servants and public sector workers want pay raises, they should find theRead… Read more »

Words of power

‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’ Most of us don’t have the power which Humpty Dumpty claimed for himself to make words mean what we want them to mean. We may be able toRead… Read more »

Stop sending me email attachments

Dear Federal colleagues and partners, Please stop sending me 8 mb email attachments. Use other options like cloud computing or Google docs. That is all. Love, A guy who hates to see “Mailbox Size Limit exceeded: This notification is to inform you that your mailbox size has reached the defined limit for Prohibiting Send. WhatRead… Read more »

Victorian government launches inquiry into the use of social media in the house to reflect on the office of Speaker, by parliamentarians and public

Reading the eGovernment Resource Centre’s newsletter this morning, the Victorian government has launched an inquiry into the use of social media to reflect on the office of the Speaker, looking at use while parliament is sitting by both parliamentarians and the public galleries. The Legislative Assembly Standing Orders Committee is considering: (1) Should any restrictions,Read… Read more »

Colorado, New York strike historic deals on teacher evaluations

Colorado signed several reforms into law today that will redesign how teachers are evaluated and awarded tenure. Colorado is just one of several states looking at ways to change how teachers are evaluated as pressure grows from frustrated parents and federal funding programs like Race to the Top require more emphasis to be placed onRead… Read more »