Yearly Archives: 2011

Building perfectly open websites

Today I spoke at a SOCITM conference on Building Perfect Council Wesbsites. The title’s a bit funny, I think. Perfection is an impossible goal. But the great thing about the web is that you can keep on perfecting. Maybe they should have called the event building better and even better websites, but I suppose thatRead… Read more »

10 Principles for Improving Government Transparency

The Sunlight Foundation just dug up some interesting recommendations from Vivek Kundra’s testimony before aHouse Committee on Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee today. Before the committee, he proposed 10 Principles for Improving Federal Transparency. We felt they were smart, so we’re reposting it below, as good advice to all levels of government. Build end-to-end digitalRead… Read more »

I

One of the secret weapons that many graphic designers have is an eye for typography or “fonts” for the layman. Typography drives almost all of the good design you see. It drives EVERY great brand, think Coca Cola. That’s some strong type. Typography and web development however are not necessarily married even though they shouldRead… Read more »

First It Was Weiner, Now It’s Johnson – Freshman Congressman’s Twitter Feed Hacked

Following on the heels of “Weinergate,” where then-House Representative Anthony Wiener claimed his Twitter account was hacked, it appears we have an actual case where a member of Congress has had their Twitter account tampered with. TweetCongress founder Chris McCroskey received a call last night from the office of Bill Johnson, a freshman Representative fromRead… Read more »

American Citizenship 101

Celebrating American Citizenship A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated American Independence Day with all of the usual festivities. We commemorated our nation’s birthday by attending a parade, watching the night sky light up with fireworks in downtown Houston or enjoying a three-day weekend with family and friends. Moments like these remind us just howRead… Read more »

Tips on Improving Government Websites

On Tuesday, the White House held a Q & A about Improving Federal Websites. BUT, there are takeaways and ideas that local governments and state agencies can gain from this discussion (see below the video). According to the White House Blog: “For the first time, the federal government has published the list of all .govRead… Read more »

Rest in Peace, Social Media Ninjas

Let’s get this straight – a few years ago, you read The Cluetrain Manifesto or Groundswell or one of the other hundred social media books out there, you started reading Mashable, you created a Twitter account, and you developed a bunch of presentations you used internally to help get buy-in from your organization’s senior leadershipRead… Read more »