What would society look like if we felt about government the way we feel about our iPhones? I had the opportunity to speak to some of the top user experience designers in the world earlier this week, at Adaptive Path’s renowned UXWeek, here in San Francisco. It was an intimidating task, sandwiched between Jensen Harris,Read… Read more »
There are functionaries who exist to hold a position. There are leaders who work to fulfill a vision. As a team matures, the difficult will be done immediately, the impossible may take a little longer. What happens when you overrun your vision? How do you recover? What causes overrunning your vision? Not succeeding? I wishRead… Read more »
I’m starting to look at youth councils with a local authority, particularly in terms of how digital can improve levels of participation. I’ve got some ideas, admittedly not youth council-centric, but rather taking stuff I’ve learned from other online engagement projects and hoping it will fit. So I’m Googling away like mad, looking up differentRead… Read more »
Federal Computer Week reported on a proposed change to the Homeland Security Acquisition Regulation, the supplement to the Federal Acquisition Regulation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in order to help small businesses fend off rapacious primes contractors from “windfall” payments on Time and Materials contracts. “Help” like this is not desired by smallRead… Read more »
District 14 National Vice President Dwight Bowman (pictured) and AFGE led the charge to ensure D.C. government employees were reimbursed for furlough days. District of Columbia government workers will finally be getting paid for the furlough days that they were forced to take last year thanks to efforts by the American Federation of Government EmployeesRead… Read more »
This morning I read Greg Jerico’s book ‘The Rise of the Fifth Estate‘ which chronicles the rise of political blogging and social media reporting in Australia. Some of you may remember Greg better as Grog of Grogs Gamut, a blogger and then public servant, known for his detailed analysis of political and sporting matters. HeRead… Read more »
On the 27th of September, 2012, DARPA will be holding a one day workshop “in support of the anticipated Broad Agency Announcement for the Plan X.” This workshop will be held in Arlington, VA and offer unclassified and classified sessions. Here is a description of Plan X: “The objective of the Plan X program isRead… Read more »
Gadi Ben-Yehuda Start Your Engines! The White House announced the first round of Presidential Innovation Fellows. Of particular interest to me are those working on the MyGov project, which has already launched an IdeaScale component. Now Get to Work! In related news, the White House has also open-sourced its “We the People” platform, so anyoneRead… Read more »
I’ve recently recommitted to working on a couple of book ideas; what follows is the preamble to a book I am working on on Open Government. =============== Last year I was sitting in a small coffee shop off the beaten path with a couple of friends – fellow bureaucrats – when one of them, aRead… Read more »
Since 2010 seven municipalities nation wide have filed for bankruptcy. California has the largest number of municipalities filing for bankruptcy with three. According to several recent reports, many local governments in New York are in serious financial trouble. – Rochester used a one-time, $15 million in state aid to reduce its $40 million deficit thisRead… Read more »