Yearly Archives: 2012

Security Clearance Application Tips for Millennials

Obtaining a security clearance can be a pain, but the career benefits are worth it. As someone in his or her twenties, putting together a security clearance package presents unique problems. It’s said that millennials are great at multi-tasking – their memories seem to be less clear, if you ask security clearance investigators, as manyRead… Read more »

Reading and doing

The gov.uk team have released a new version of their home page. It’s now quite a long way from the simplicity of where they started – but kudos to them for respecting the discipline of user focused design. But looking at the page, one small thing struck me (well, one thing other than the otherRead… Read more »

111 Innovative Government Initiatives

Every year (since 2010) the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation located at Harvard University releases a list that recognize and promote creative government initiatives and partnerships. This year the Ash Center recognized 111 innovative government initiatives as Bright Ideas. The list contains creative initiatives from all levels of government—including school districts, county, city,Read… Read more »

Rainmaker 16 – LinkedIn: Your Personal Publicist

Do you show up at your best for other 175 million LinkedIn members?Many posts have been written about developing your profile and contact information for the ‘yellow pages’ of the professional community – the top part of your LinkedIn page. While this is important and you must build a strong profile and history, it isRead… Read more »

A Civic Stack Thought Experiment

It is well known that the Internet protocol suite consists of a stack of layers: the application layer sitting on top of the transport layer, the internet layer, and the link layer. Detailed analysis of the interaction of these layers has yielded insight into the rapid information innovation we’re experiencing as a matter of practiceRead… Read more »

LocalData, the Law, and User Research

Sometimes people ask what it’s like to be a Code for America Fellow and work on things like LocalData. By my expression, they quickly garner that it’s hard work. But as demonstrated by the tale of LocalData user research, it’s also exciting times. LocalData is a toolkit that helps groups collect place-based data. For example,Read… Read more »