Yearly Archives: 2012

Call for Proposals for NCDD Seattle!

In case you haven’t heard, NCDD is holding a national conference for civic innovators this October 12-14 in Seattle. NCDD conferences bring together hundreds of the most active, thoughtful, and influential people involved in public engagement and group process work across the U.S. and Canada. Imagine spending three days with some of the most amazingRead… Read more »

Open Source – It’s Not Just Software, Baby!

Initially, open source was an approach to developing software among coders, which was like Spanky, Darla, and the Our Gang kids “puttin’ on a show.” Everyone contributed what they had (sharing resources) and did what they knew (collaborate) – and the show was always a success. The open source approach is a philosophy, a culture,Read… Read more »

Carolyn Lukensmeyer to direct National Institute for Civil Discourse, transition from AmericaSpeaks

It’s official… Carolyn Lukensmeyer — who we all know as founder and president of AmericaSpeaks — is moving on to a new role. She’ll be serving as Executive Director of the University of Arizona-based National Institute for Civil Discourse. Carolyn gave me a call yesterday with a heads-up about today’s big announcement, and said whenRead… Read more »

Predictive Firefighting

While using predictive software to help law enforcement is a new trend, modeling and forecasting wildfires has been around for decades. This year’s forest fire season is off to a violent start, and we already see many of these analytical tools in play in New Mexico, which has its largest forest fire in history burnRead… Read more »

GovBytes: Michelle Obama catches the Pinterest bug

Pinterest, with tremendous growth as of late, has made a splash in the world of social media. The photo-sharing website was the fastest website ever to break through 10 million unique visitors, and 40-60 percent of registrants regularly use the service after they’ve created accounts. First Lady Michelle Obama Joins Pinterest The service hasn’t escapedRead… Read more »

How Do You Identify Your Customers?

GovLoop Research Report: Re-Imagining Customer Service In Government GovLoop is proud to announce our latest resource, The GovLoop Research Report: Re-Imagining Customer Service in Government. In this report, experts in the field provide best practices on how to improve customer service in government. Be sure to check out the report home page for all theRead… Read more »

How one fed created a free tax service and a step by step guide to agency innovation

On today’s DorobekINSIDER How one feds helped millions of low income residents get their tax returns completed. The amazing work has made him a Service to America Award Medal Finalist. The Sammies — the oscars for feds. you’ll meet him. Click here for the full story. A step by step guide to making your agencyRead… Read more »

White House Fellows Program Looks to Solve Gov’t Tech Problems with Private Sector Assistance

As part of the White House’s recently released digital government strategy, a new Presidential Innovation Fellows program has been created. The program brings in 15 innovators from outside government who provide expertise on projects, particularly those that are technology related. Tom Fox, vice president for leadership and innovation at the Partnership for Public Service satRead… Read more »

40 Years at the IRS — How one fed lends tax assistance to low income households

Every year millions of low-and moderate-income residents have their tax returns completed and receive refunds from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) — and they do it at no cost. Yes — free. No third-party tax preparer. It’s thanks in large part to the work of Michael McBride. McBride is a Supervisory Financial Analyst at theRead… Read more »