Yearly Archives: 2011

Let’s Start a Customer Service Revolution!

No – that’s not the leftovers from Hurricane Irene. Those are the Winds of Change you’re feeling. The pieces for building an exciting new vision of government customer service are swirling around us – do you see them? Everything’s starting to converge…ideas, leadership, support from the top. We’re on the verge of a customer serviceRead… Read more »

Technology In A Hurricane

As Hurricane Irene has now passed through New York, the most common terms I’ve heard in response sound something like “overhyped” and “underwhelming.” (All in all, that’s probably a good thing; the opposite would be much, much worse.) With that lens, however, we risk glazing over the nitty gritty of the weekend — that is,Read… Read more »

Daily Dose: Did BART Violate Free Speech?

This month, San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit system disabled service in an effort to thwart protests organized by the group Anonymous. Although cell phone service was only disrupted for a few hours, experts are debating whether BART violated the first amendment or were simply acting in the public safety. BART officials point to theRead… Read more »

Local Government Communicators Use Online Tools to Provide Irene Updates

After a weekend that saw the Eastern U.S. get hammered by Hurricane Irene, a number of government entities have stepped up their communications in order to reach the public. The advent of smart phones has made it possible for many people to use their phones to continue to get information during disasters, making online updatesRead… Read more »

What Type of Online Sharer Are You?

The New York Times Insight Group recently came out with this really fascinating research on the Psychology of Sharing. Lots of super interesting stuff here, but one section that really interested me are these 6 personas of sharers: The New York Times study found there are six sharing personas for online fans. Understanding these differentRead… Read more »

North Carolina tests medicaid savings program

North Carolina is leading a pilot project designed to determine if Medicaid management can also create savings in the private sector. According to an announcement today, the project will be a public-private partnership called, “First in Health.” Private pharmaceutical companies and insurers will be working with state health care providers to apply the state’s MedicaidRead… Read more »

Esri Video Series: An Introduction from Esri’s Chris Thomas

Members of the GovLoop team recently attended the 2011 Esri User Conference located in beautiful San Diego, California. The conference hosted over 16,000 GIS users including a strong government user community. Here is our first installment of a multiple-part video series. This interview series focuses on how government is using GIS. We had the opportunityRead… Read more »

A Political Side to the Classroom — Literally

As reported in Science Daily (Dec. 9, 2010) — “It goes without saying that conservatives and liberals don’t see the world in the same way. Now, research from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln suggests that is exactly, and quite literally, the case.” I’m not talking about political views on education and training, but rather eye movementRead… Read more »

TSP Talk – Post Ben

From Monday 8/29 morning’s TSP Talk market commentary: Stocks opened sharply lower on Friday but investors seemed to find some positives from the Fed after the Ben Bernanke speech in Jackson Hole, WY. From Reuters on Ben Bernanke:“Although he said the Fed would consider what more it could do to boost growth — comments thatRead… Read more »

U.N. Sec. General Visits NREL

Last week, while most of the east coast was bracing for Hurricane Irene, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited the Department of Energy’s NREL facilities in Colorado on Thursday. The Secretary General spoke highly of the work being done at NREL, and expressed his desire to learn from NREL’s example, saying: “I’m here at NRELRead… Read more »