Potentially Fatal Software Flaws in Medical Devices, DARPA’s Gigapixel Camera, and More

Here is today’s federal cybersecurity and information technology news: The Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories has found widespread software flaws in medical devices which could cause patient harm or death. More here. The Transportation Security Administration is looking for software to monitor employee online activity including emails and keystrokes forRead… Read more »

Make a Great Impression – Even when you are not at work!

Summer months bring with them the start of vacation season, which means lots of people will be out of the office. Here’s one thing you can do right now to improve service quality. Update out of office messages on the phone and set up the auto-reply on email. It continues to surprise me how oftenRead… Read more »

What you can learn about dealing with stakeholders from a garage sale

It rained all the day of my neighbourhood garage sale, so we decided to hold over our sale a couple of weeks until this past Saturday. It was a beautiful day and my old man hauled a truckload of stuff from his place in the east end to my place in the west end andRead… Read more »

Is this a world first? Australia’s Bureau of Statistics #rickrolls its Twitter followers

Australia has been at the forefront of social media use by government agencies for a few years now (though don’t tell them I said so or they might get complacent). However I think this is possibly a world first. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) yesterday released the first tranche of results from Australia’s 2011Read… Read more »

EEO 101: Harassment — Part II

Hopefully, you have never been harassed at work and never will be. But what would you do if such a situation occurred? Would you know where to turn and what steps to take? Do you know your employment rights and the laws protecting you? What constitutes harassment? You probably have a good general idea ofRead… Read more »

EEO 101: Harassment — Part I

When most folks hear about workplace harassment, it’s likley to be sexual harassment because that’s usually the most common and publicized form. The typical scenerio involves a female subordinate being sexually harassed by a male manager/supervisor, and/or co-worker(s). However, harassment is much broader than that of a purely sexual nature. In fact, harassment may takeRead… Read more »

What may a 2.0 organisation look like?

As the world changes, so must our institutions – particularly government, including government agencies. Without getting into how hard or easy it is for government agencies to change (recognising there’s a diversity of views), any change should, necessarily be for the better. So how should they change? In which ways should they reinvent themselves toRead… Read more »

Save the Hot Springs VA, Sign our Petition

AFGE is working with The Veterans Town to gather signatures for our online petition on Care2.com, a petition site that allows the public to access a wide range of petitions. Help the cause by signing the petition “Help Veterans- Save the Hot Springs VA!” by clicking on the link below. The Department of Veterans AffairsRead… Read more »

Open Government in Buenos Aires

Talking with Buenos Aires Open Government and Web teams, photo via Buenos AIres Data Recently myself and 2011 Code for America fellow, Max Ogden (@maxogden) were in Buenos Aires for JSConf Argentina. While in town we visited friends of Code for America, Buenos Aires’ Open Government and Web departments (@GCBAData, @GCBA). We met with aboutRead… Read more »

USAID Cybersecurity Challenges, Mobile Security Guidance, and More

Here is today’s federal cybersecurity and information technology news: The U.S. Agency for International Development has plans to improve its Federal Information Security Management Act cybersecurity score, which fell from an ‘A’ to an ‘F’ last year. More here. The National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Department of Homeland Security will release twoRead… Read more »