Yearly Archives: 2012

Democratizing Deliberation: pre-order this must-have book today

I’m really excited about a book that’s about to be published by the Kettering Foundation, called Democratizing Deliberation. We’re going to be working with Kettering to engage NCDDers around the book’s content, because we feel the book covers topics of great import to our field. It’s always challenging for practitioners to find the time toRead… Read more »

Is Gainesville the Silicon Valley of the Southeast?

Mark Drapeau (Washington, DC) – At the University of Florida – perhaps best known for its championship Gators football teams – innovation isn’t the first thing on people’s minds. But that football team famously invented what you now know as Gatorade. And now they’re building Innovation Square, which they hope spearheads their town of GainesvilleRead… Read more »

Share Your Story – Introducing a Website To Post Your Stories and Share Your Experiences

Please visit http://govstories.tumblr.com to post your story and share your knowledge with fellow public servants! I’m sure you’ve heard this time and time again but the baby boomers are retiring and several problems are going to be created because of that. One of the biggest problems we face in government is the loss of knowledgeRead… Read more »

Datameer provides end-user focused BI solutions for big data analytics

Datameer provides a big data solution that focuses on perhaps the most important niche in this growing domain, the end-user. Here is an introduction from their website: Datameer leverages the scalability, flexibility and cost-effectiveness of Apache Hadoop to deliver an end-user focused analytics platform for big data. Datameer overcomes Hadoop’s complexity and lack of toolsRead… Read more »

Update Your Business Case: Include the Hidden Costs of Cloud Computing

UNDER-ESTIMATED COSTS = UNDER-ESTIMATED RISK This was originally published on the Tri Tuns blog. It’s fairly well-known that we weigh many different factors when making a buying decision – some logical, some emotional. When purchasing cloud computing, it is easy to fixate on the most obvious factor – the monthly fee – while developing aRead… Read more »

Choke That Temptation

I was presiding over a science fair last week, when suddenly, a new class came in and no judges were noticing! I hurried to notify the judges, but was stopped by the press of happy students, happy judges, real learning just busting out all over. Then I thought to myself, these judges are Ph. Ds,Read… Read more »

It’s Getting Complicated – The MAS Program’s “Simplified” Acquisition Process

Guest Blogger: Phil Seckman, Partner, McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP A March 2, 2012, final rule requiring competition for certain orders placed under Federal Supply Schedule (“FSS”) contracts increases the burdens on agencies before schedule orders can be placed. The trend toward increased complexity is eroding GSA’s ability to legitimately tout the MAS program asRead… Read more »