Yearly Archives: 2011

Do Grown-Ups Make the Best Leaders?

In a recent column in the Washington Post, former Clinton administration official Elaine Kamarck asked the compelling question, can a grown-up win the presidency? She goes on to discuss that the chatter classes often can see the merits of the well-versed, established candidate while the public likes to know that they can feel comfortable havingRead… Read more »

Future Defense, IT Budgets Are In Question

The House and Senate are loggerheads, to say the least, over the 2012 budget. One side wants to cut civilian agency spending and boost Defense. The other wants to do just the opposite. Either way, it will affect IT spending. Read the latest coming from the House Appropriations Committee, and what the likely outcome willRead… Read more »

New on Slaw.ca: Indian Kanoon: Sushant Sinha on Innovation and Free Law in India

Dr. Sushant Sinha‘s free access to law service for India, Indian Kanoon, is the subject of my new, in-depth article on Slaw.ca, the Canadian legal blog. The article provides a great deal of detailed information about Indian Kanoon, including information on technology and open source, users and usage, business models and sustainability, partnerships, product differentiation,Read… Read more »

A Beautiful New (Government) Website

Try something for me. Follow this link, take a look, and then come back. (Trust me.) Now ask youself: were you at a government website or were you at Bing? This confusion is understandable. The State of Utah today just rolled out a new website which borrows beautifully from the leading trends on the webRead… Read more »

Research and Best Practices eNewsletter

Research Using Wikis in Government (05/23/2011) – A new IBM guide provides practical tips to help federal managers decide if a Wiki makes sense for their organization and how to best use this tool to improve collaboration. http://www.businessofgovernment.org/report/using-wikis-government-guide-public-managers Effective network builders (Spring 2011) –The Knight Foundation and Monitor Institute examined 70 networks and identified fiveRead… Read more »

How Bloomberg Achieved 200% ROI on Sustainability

Bloomberg has become serious about sustainability. The media company recently released its first comprehensive sustainability report. It’s a gold mine of information for sustainability professionals and enthusiasts alike. The most eye-catching claim is that for each dollar Bloomberg spent, they saved two. That’s a bold statement, but the chart above shows how this was possible.Read… Read more »

Regulatory Reform: Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk

Earlier this year, the Obama Administration launched a regulatory reform effort. President Obama committed to a “look back” at existing regulations and asked agencies to identify “outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome” rules on the books. Here’s one example of what the review found: Since the 1970s, milk has been defined as an “oil” andRead… Read more »

How do I prepare for a Skype interview?

As the cost of travel rises and Skype is becoming more and more commonly used, people are increasingly having long-distance interviews via Skype. An in-person interview is still probably preferable, but if your prospective employer can’t reimburse your travel costs, you are still at least able to be seriously under consideration if you can interviewRead… Read more »

Video: New Utah.gov Website Takes Risks

As Andy Krzmarzick wrote in his post, the Utah.gov website re-launched today with a dramatic new look and new features. What do you think of their bold new focus on ‘Search’? They say that’s what most visitors did on their old site, so they took it to the extreme in this rendition. Another interesting elementRead… Read more »