Request Your Inputs For A Coming CTOvision Piece on Impact of Cloudera Impala, Search and CDH releases

By Bob Gourley We are beginning to formulate assessments on the potential impact to the federal technology community of some recent developments we believe will have far-reaching and positive impact. Over the last quarter Cloudera has continued to announce strategic partnerships, improvements to their open source technology integrations, and new capabilities that will improve theRead… Read more »

Therapy for IT Insanity: ‘Big Data’ Deemed Mission Critical

By Timothy Coleman A new study concludes that 70 percent of Federal IT executives deem “Big Data,” as a transformative lynchpin for mission critical work. Published by MeriTalk, an online government IT resource, and sponsored by EMC Corporation, a leading provider of IT storage hardware solutions, “The Smarter Uncle Sam: The Big Data Forecast” theRead… Read more »

All That We Throw Away

Check out EPA’s new infographic: MSW in the United States. How does your community or office measure up? Are you trying any new innovative approaches to reduce waste and increase recycling?

Stakeholders: The Best Way to Make People Care About Evaluations

Effective government evaluations require the identification and engagement of stakeholders When constructing evaluations for the government, the best way to get people on your side is to identify and engage stakeholders. This is especially helpful when your particular government agency holds a negative view of evaluations. Below, I (1) define the stakeholder concept, (2) discussRead… Read more »

Witty Ts for Government Worker Bees at NextGen!

Last year I teamed up with a brilliant designer here in Ottawa to found a company that aims to bring a little more fun into the public service. Together we’re redefining private-public partnerships by delivering a witty set of designer Ts that are either positively encouraging, derisively subversive, and perfectly ironic to office workers acrossRead… Read more »

Getting online by sharing memories in Lincolnshire

I’m delighted to be helping out Community Lincs, the rural community development charity where I serve as a trustee, with their Summer of Surfing activity during the first week of July. It’s a neat idea, to encourage people to have a go using the web by contributing a memory to a shared website, where aRead… Read more »

The benefits of open data

Where is the money going? As part of its response to the economic crisis, the US federal government approved the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – a stimulus package worth $787 billion (subsequently increased to $840 billion) – in February 2009. The Act provides financing for tax cuts and benefits, “entitlement programs” (such as unemploymentRead… Read more »

RationalPlan 4.4 – Integration With Google Drive and Dropbox Storage Services

RationalPlan Project Management Software version 4.4 is ready for the public. Current version offers support for opening and saving files from/to Google Drive and Dropbox platforms. Plus it was added the possibility to handle Microsoft Project 2013 files along with a new look for the web-based module. Important changes for this version: Dropbox integration GoogleRead… Read more »

Policy-Making in a Big Data World

For those interested I appeared on The Agenda with Steve Paikin the other week talking about Big Data and policy making. There was a good discussion with a cast of character that included (not counting myself): Kenneth Cukier, the Data Editor for The Economist and author of “Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform HowRead… Read more »

Follow Your Dreams and Keep Looking on the Bright Side

My oldest son graduated from Oakton High School in Vienna, Virginia the other day. For many of his classmates, it was an occasion marked by feelings of intense pride, quiet anticipation and hope. So it was fitting to mark the end of their high school years and the beginning of the rest of their youngRead… Read more »