Weekly Round-up: March 23, 2012

This post has been updated to include Dan Chenok’s contributions. Gadi Ben-Yehuda Can you hear me now? Kaifeng Yang, whose 2008 study on citizen particiaption I link to whenever possible, is the principal author of a new book of collected essays and studies on, what else? citizen participation. The State of Citizen Participation in AmericaRead… Read more »

Facebook As a Social Media Tool

Facebook has developed apps for business and government to make it easy to use as a channel for individuals and business/government to provide and exchange information. Does it work? Yes – but it’s not magic. Creative design and vibrant content are required. Here’s illustrations of an innovative approach – one by business and one byRead… Read more »

Let’s Praise AT&T, CenturyLink, Comcast, Cox, Sprint, TWC, T-Mobile and Verizon for this

For all our complaints about our ISPs and their service we should all reflect on some of the great things these firms do. Individually they seek to innovate and win our business and loyalty. And collectively they can come together to do great things too. One great, positive thing just happened because of collegial actionRead… Read more »

Mil to Fed: Update your Veteran status

It’s springtime! Time to refresh and rejuvenate your Veteran status! You may not be recognized for your service to your country if you have an incorrect Veteran Status. If you are not sure, check with your employment or personnel office to make sure you have the status you’ve earned. There are four different types ofRead… Read more »

Don’t dumb me down! (guest post)

With the permission of Geoff Mason (@grmsn), I’ve republished his blog post Don’t dumb me down! from 21 March this year below. I thought this was a very good post on a topic that, as increasing amounts of information and discussion only appear online, is increasingly affecting how effective public servants can be and theRead… Read more »

Google responds, claims new privacy policy will not effect sensitive data

Last week, CivSource reported on several concerns over Google’s new privacy policy raised by government IT consultants Jeff Gould and Doug Miller. In the article, both men raised several concerns about Google’s new privacy policy and what it might mean for government customers. Google has responded, in an attempt to address those concerns. On MarchRead… Read more »

EPA’s Public Participation Guide

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) is proud to launch the “Public Participation Guide“, an international public participation toolkit. It is a resource for agencies and organizations to help develop, plan for, and implement programs that engage the public in environmental decision-making. U.S.EPA has worked on developing this guide since 2009, initially for useRead… Read more »

The New Jersey comeback: reality or rhetoric?

Deltek Analyst Stephen Moss reports. Governor Chris Christie’s FY 2013 Budget Proposal’s optimistic, albeit tempered slogan, “continuing the New Jersey comeback,” shines light on future priorities of the third-year Republican governor. The use of such lofty phrases by politicians can seem trite or lacking in veracity; however, through Deltek’s in-depth budget analysis, it’s become clearRead… Read more »

The 2012 Edition of American Pictures

Alli Jessing, Joint Programs Coordinator for the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery, fills us in on our upcoming lecture series, American Pictures. Speakers at this year’s American Pictures lecture series (clockwise from upper left): James McBride (photo courtesy of the author), Maira Kalman (photo by Rick Meyerowitz), Tony Horwitz (photo by RandiRead… Read more »