Imagine the convenience of having maps to community locations and attractions right on your mobile device. No more driving about searching for that park you know is somewhere around, or wondering where you can find the historical sites in your area. There’s a new way for cities and towns to provide location-based information about everythingRead… Read more »
Cities often face difficulties when determining which outlets they will utilize to broadcast information. Ideally, a city’s information would be broadcast directly from one spot – or “hub” to the source. In most cases, however, cities maintain several entities on the Web such as social networking sites and blogs. Cities must execute a successful strategyRead… Read more »
The basis for a majority of city websites is to disburse information to citizens in a timely matter. Though information distribution is the foundation behind implementing a city website, the design can in some cases, have as much impact as the information itself. In Robert Brunner’s book Do You Matter? How Great Design Will MakeRead… Read more »
Because if you aren’t, it’s hard to have outcomes like this: …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
March 1, 2011 is the last chance for local governments to apply for the 2012 Code for America City Program. The competitive program enables forward-thinking cities to solve a critical civic problem with technology and become leaders in the open government movement. Three to five cities selected to participate will partner with talent from theRead… Read more »
Change Management is a planned approach to transitioning the people of an organization through a business transformation. A unique problem with the implementation of a new system, program or strategy, is the natural resistance of certain individuals to change of any kind. Frequently, this resistance results from personnel not understanding the issues involved. It isRead… Read more »
We know that cities across the country are facing serious and significant challenges, and over the past year, I’ve had the pleasure to get to talk directly with city officials from across the country to get a sense of what exactly those challenges are. And the truth is they are facing very similar challenges andRead… Read more »
I have just finished the beta version of a game designed to help citizens understand public transport priority. The game is linked to a wiki that provides detailed information about measures to improve public transport. Once we are happy with the game we will place it on facebook and add social networking features so thatRead… Read more »
Times have definitely changed in the life of a local government communications professional. Ten years ago, I held this position for a city of 70,000 residents and my options for reaching citizens were much more limited than for someone in a similar job today. Back then, I essentially had to rely on the bi-monthly cityRead… Read more »
We attended the National League of Cities conference last week and got a lot of questions about streaming council meetings online to increase transparency. There were some concerns raised about pricing and complexity, we wanted to address these in a blog post to give people some key things to consider when deciding what type ofRead… Read more »