Is your handshake firm and solid or weak and squishy? Man or woman a firm handshake says confident and authoritative. Although there are a number of stories claiming the origin of the hand shake, the bottom line is it is a sign of respect, and one indicating equality between greeters. So important is the handshakeRead… Read more »
The US Department of Health & Human Services have moved forward with its “Early Innovator” grant program to develop model state health insurance exchanges. Six states and a group of New England states will receive $241 million to help them design and implement the IT infrastructure for insurance exchanges, HHS officials said Wednesday. Kansas, Maryland,Read… Read more »
A recent study by the Pew Center shows some interesting facts about Twitter usage. Facts that are so interesting, they might be worth paying attention to. There has been a push recently for Open Gov and public facing interaction from the public sector. Many agencies have started to use Twitter…but are they using it inRead… Read more »
Shell recently released its report “Signals and Signposts,” which looks forward to 2050 and attempts to predict future energy demand, supply, roadblocks and opportunities. While there is a lot of fascinating reading in the report, one piece that caught our eye was this chart, which compares US and European drivers’ motivations. Shell asked itself theRead… Read more »
Yesterday, I attended the Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area (CFCNCA) Finale event. Federal employees from the Washington, D.C. area celebrated a record breaking amount of money raised in 2010 through various agency campaigns. Federal employees donated $66.7 million (and counting) to about 4,000 local, national and international charities through CFCNCA. They exceededRead… Read more »
Originally posted at blog.GovTwit.com I attended Secretary Clinton’s speech about Internet freedom yesterday at George Washington University (see the State Department report and Alex Howard’s write-up at GovFresh.com for good overview and links) and as her remarks came to a close, she mentioned that in addition to tweeting in Arabic and Farsi, the State DepartmentRead… Read more »
One of the most popular books about the social media powered digital revolution is Groundswell, by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. Published in 2008, it took a private sector view of the benefits of listening to customers and engaging with them in online spaces. It’s a worthwhile read. The two authors have subsequently published newRead… Read more »
In an announcement Wednesday, Florida Governor Rick Scott said that he would be returning federal funds for a planned high-speed rail project from Tampa to Orland. Gov. Scott joins newly-elected governors in Ohio and Wisconsin who have also pledged to kill federal rail projects. Over $2 billion in federal funds will be passed up byRead… Read more »
Happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Tolstoy Lives are messy. Lives are full of complex relationships and difficult circumstances. All families are chaotic. I mean, I guess they are. Mine is. Certainly some of the most intractable problems that we face in the public sector are caused byRead… Read more »
Yesterday I wrote “Options for Amphibious Operations by Australian Defence Force”, in response to media reports that the Australian Defence Force (ADF) will have limited capabilities for amphibious operations for the foreseeable future. Today I noticed that the Australian Strategic Policy Institute released “Back to the future: Australia’s interim sealift and amphibious capability” (16 FebruaryRead… Read more »