A recent news story in The Economist discussed outsourcing and privatizing of government communications, and used Sandy Springs, GA as an example of a government entity that had outsourced many functions. Suzanne Horsley, an assistant professor in the University of Alabama’s Department of Advertising and Public Relations, was intrigued by the article, and now she’sRead… Read more »
A recent article on Emergency Management Magazine’s website stated, “Surveys consistently indicate that less than 10 percent of the public is considered prepared for a disaster and that percentage is usually closer to 6 percent.” The article deems current strategies to prepare the public for emergencies as inadequate, stating that the threat-based message is deliveredRead… Read more »
I was reading NYC’s Digital Roadmap updateand I really liked the page (pg.20) they did on digital engagement. As communicators, I think a huge measure of our success is our reach (not just whether we did something or exist in X channel). The City of NY reaches 5,483,640 individuals digitally each month broken done as:Read… Read more »
Last week, on the first day of the new school year in Detroit, the CfA Detroit team launched a new service with the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) called TextMyBus. TextMyBus provides a simple text messaging service to relay real time transit information to riders. In an environment where Detroiters are faced with cold winters,Read… Read more »
It’s election season and like many American’s I am tired of all the nasty campaign ads splattered across my TV. Both Democrats and Republicans are guilty of slinging mud and focusing on non-issues. It gets so bad sometimes that its hard to focus on the real issues. But then you meet someone — someone likeRead… Read more »
Fleep recently summarized the promise she saw in the Second Life community, the change that transpired there over the last few years, and her decision to focus her involvement in a different virtual community or platform. (You can read her article here: Why Anyone Who Cares. . ..) And based on the comments she receivedRead… 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 »
Normally when we bid a construction project, we don’t address in the bid documents the payment of sales tax. We do, however, indicate that the contractor is required to follow all Federal, State, and Local laws. Because of this, I would assume that on most projects, a contractor would be paying any required sales taxRead… Read more »
After attending both PyCon and OSCON, and manning the Code for America expo booth at both events, it’s become pretty clear that technical people are kind of shocked that Macon is a Code for America city. “Macon… Georgia?” is a question I’ve heard multiple times (with varying amounts of pause between city and state). InRead… Read more »
If you’re serious about engagement, you stopped expecting people to just come to your meetings a long time ago. And if you’re really serious about engagement, you know that even social media and block parties can’t help you reach all the people in your community. The next frontiers in innovative public engagement include a wholeRead… Read more »