When Code for America selected me as a Google Summer of Code Intern for the Government Gems and Eggs project this summer, I knew the next few months were going to be awesome. For the first time ever, I was able to meet and work with people truly committed to making government data more accessible.Read… Read more »
Deltek Analyst Erin Brady reports. Los Angeles County’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) William Fujioka presented his recommended budget in April 2011 and made it clear he wanted to balance the budget and address a $220.9 million shortfall while preserving critical services and avoiding furloughs and layoffs. Fujioka was able to do so by using $185.2Read… Read more »
The Open311 platform is one of Civic Commons’ core initiatives; it’s an Application Programming Interface (API) and a growing set of software tools that help cities manage service and information requests from citizens. We see it as a core element of an “open” city IT backbone. Open311 is also a rapidly growing, collaborative, open sourceRead… Read more »
Deltek Sr. Analyst Chris Cotner reports. With shaky financials negatively impacting state coffers, the debate on public social services provision is as hot as ever. One of the main drivers behind the discussion is the massive baby-boomer generation entering retirement. Since the recession, an additional qualifier has been the increased number of unemployment and underemploymentRead… Read more »
Originally published on opensource.com. In part one of our interview with David Diaz, president and CEO of the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, we explored how open source is applied to economic development, how his organization works with local government, and the programs Downtown Raleigh Alliance has implemented. Now, David tells us how influential open source isRead… Read more »
Government agencies not only experience the budget squeeze, they feel mobility demands becoming ever more sophisticated increasing pressure from two sides: Their ecosystem increasingly uses mobile devices and demands for respective accommodation by the government, and, mobile devices and the productivity-enhancing apps that run on them become broadly affordable, a development sometimes dubbed as theRead… Read more »
Interesting article by the erstwhile US government CIO Vivek Kundra, in the New York Times: AS the global economy struggles through a slow and painful recovery, governments around the world are wasting billions of dollars on unnecessary information technology. This problem has worsened in recent years because of what I call the “I.T. cartel.” ThisRead… Read more »
Here is a brief list of some of the interesting sustainability news articles from this week: Taking ‘Green Scissors’ to Gov’t Spending Could Save US $380B Carbon Capture Facility Breaks Ground in Illinois Western Grid 2050: Will it Be Clean or Dirty? U.S. Solar Company Bankruptcies a Boon for China And you’ll find more headlinesRead… Read more »
The Obama Administration is offering new job creation proposals. The success or failure of these initiatives depends on accurate problem definition. One major obstacle is stagnant consumer spending. In a previous post we remarked: Research on private consumption, going back 100 years, more or less emphasizes that individuals balance present and future satisfaction when theyRead… Read more »
September 1 marked the end of Chicago’s controversial seniors-ride-free program, and the transition was a little bumpy. Starting Thursday, most seniors were required to use new reduced-fare permits on the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra, and Pace Suburban Bus. The Regional Transportation Authority (IL) also mailed more than 80,000 Ciricuit Ride Free cards to low-income seniorsRead… Read more »