Meet the Beefalo: A Hybrid Approach to Outsourced Municipal IT Services

By Sophicity. The 17th century saw the widespread introduction of domesticated cows to North American shores by English settlers. However, over the next century it became clear that while the cows were docile and produced good milk and meat, they were not particularly well suited to the harsh winters of the New World and consumedRead… Read more »

Is Chirp a safe “Twitter” for the Dept. of Defense/Intelligence Community?

Twitter has had a big impact in the way we communicate, but security concerns have put a damper on its use within the DoD/IC, until now… Welcome Chirp! Chirp is an Open Source Twitter clone available on Intelink. It is on NIPR, SIPR, and JWICS, has an official Authority to Operate (ATO) and on productionRead… Read more »

5 Fallacies of Government Series: Is the Government a Terrible Buyer?

FederalNewsRadio’s 5 Fallacies of Government? series is officially underway. Each day this week, we’ll examine a commonly held belief about the federal government to determine if it holds any weight. Today’s topic: Is the government a terrible buyer? The $500 hammer. The $1,000 toilet seat. These are among the most criticized examples of government spending.Read… Read more »

Open Access Week

For those that may be interested, October 19-23 will mark the first international Open Access Week. Open Access Week is an opportunity to broaden awareness and understanding of Open Access to research, including access policies from all types of research funders, within the international higher education community and the general public. The latter includes accessRead… Read more »

Usability and Usability.gov

I’m a big fan of the “Redesigning the Government” project over at Sunlight Labs, especially their latest mock-ups for the FCC. One particular part of their post rang true to me, as I’m frequently tasked with developing information architecture for government websites: “In many discussions that we’ve had with people who develop these sites, they’veRead… Read more »

Federal Eye: White House seeking green ideas from Feds

As if soliciting their cost-savings ideas wasn’t enough, the White House now wants federal employees to pitch proposals on how to make the federal government more environmentally sustainable. The GreenGov Challenge starts Monday and continues through Oct. 31. Run by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the online contest asks federal workers to suggestRead… Read more »