Yearly Archives: 2011

Is it too easy to be negative on Twitter?

Http://LeonardSipes.Com I start getting concerned when I watch national news and the reporter cites Twitter messages as evidence of public sentiment. It’s equally interesting when professional friends express dismay when Twitter starts slamming their agencies. The report below from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism analyses social media coverage of the 2011Read… Read more »

“Gig City” On a Geek Hunt

What sets Chattanooga, Tenn. apart from the rest of the nation? One gigabit-per-second. With the fastest Internet speeds available, our city has now launched a no-nonsense “geek hunt.” We’re offering up to $300,000 in cash and seed capital to students and entrepreneurs who are willing to participate in the Gig Tank. The Gig Tank isRead… Read more »

Search the Weekly Spark Browse Issue By Date The Weekly Spark often includes information that may interest military members and members of and their families. This newsletter occasionally also suggests passing a copy along to a friend. Accordingly, I try to comply. Please consider doing the same. (mike moldeven, private citizen) ~~~~~~~~ The Weekly SparkRead… Read more »

Five Public Sector Consumer Apps

Joel Reyes (Charlotte, NC) — As I do every month, I present five of my favorite apps. This month, I’ve curated apps which are meant for your average consumer or citizen, but better connect them to information of a public / civic sector nature. We start with information about the entire world, and end withRead… Read more »

Why We Need More Lobbyists

How many times have you clicked a box to add your name to one of those “Make the world a better place. Sign our petition now” email links? Congratulations. You are a lobbyist. Have you ever accepted one whose purpose was to eliminate lobbyists? Congratulations. You are confused. It’s become fashionable to gripe about lobbyingRead… Read more »

6 Recommendations for Improving Security Clearance Management

Tim Clark, Government Executive, Charlie Allen, INSA, John Fitzpatrick, National Archives On the whole we’ve slain the dragon of taking months, if not years, to process clearances on the front end. Anecdotally there are still horror stories, but there’s no denying great strides have been made. From an average of 446 days to process initialRead… Read more »

CityCamp Honolulu recap: Restoring trust in government

Originally posted at opensource.com. The theme that emerged from the first CityCamp Honolulu, held on December 3 (the 17th CityCamp held worldwide), was restoring citizen confidence in their government. In a very collaborative and participatory atmosphere, organizers looked to citizens to generate ideas for the City of Honolulu’s upcoming Code for America project and toRead… Read more »

How We Live Reflects Who We Are

While my younger and immensely more social media savvy colleague beseeches me to weigh in on trending topics and news stories as soon as possible, I sometimes like to wait a day or two, not only to ruminate on the points made, but also to see how others respond to the information. Not surprisingly, IRead… Read more »