Yearly Archives: 2012

Beautiful Maps – Google Maps in Water Colours

You know, really never know what the web is going to throw at you next. The great people over at Stamen Design (if you’ve never heard of Stamen you are really missing out – they are probably the best data visualization company I know) have created a watercolor version of Google Maps. Why? Because theyRead… Read more »

Judging A School Science Fair

(Guest post) Last Wednesday I volunteered as a Washington Academy of Sciences Science Fair Judge at Paint Branch High School. I was a bit nervous, because I never judged a Science Fair before, and my only experiences judging young adults and children were for student horse shows. When I arrived, a nice student led meRead… Read more »

Weekly Round-up: April 06, 2012

Gadi Ben-Yehuda Users and Mobility. Alice Lipowicz has two articles up on FCW about mobility, one outlining how the FAA asked its employees how they would use mobile tech on the job, the other covering Anil Karmel’s FOSE keynote (and other events) that showed the government is trying to think more about the mobile infrastructureRead… Read more »

Navy Launches Public Wargame About U.S. Energy Crisis

Mark Drapeau (Washington, DC) — In May 2012, the U.S. Navy will launch a week-long multiplayer online wargame in order to tackle America’s energy crisis as a national security issue. This effort is being spearheaded by the Department of Innovation of the Office of Naval Research (ONR), an academic-oriented applied research facility based on theRead… Read more »

Mind Readers and The Psychology of Excess

Seeing a number of senior officials in the last year “ousted,” I find it sort of scary the risks and travails that executive leadership can entail. There are so many good, hardworking people at GSA making progress for the Government in terms of property management, contract management, fleet management, and more, that it was aRead… Read more »

Social Media Privacy is a Hot Topic

By Eric Rabe, Fels Senior Advisor In an announcement on Friday, Facebook said it is taking steps to prevent employers from getting access to the FB accounts of employees. It’s the right call. The surprising thing is that it was even a question. What is the implication for governments and agencies? Of course, Facebook isRead… Read more »

GovBytes: Data confirms Internet is helping increase transparency

New data from the Sunshine Review suggests that the Internet is helping increase transparency in government. Just four years ago, in 2010, only 41 public organizations out of over 5,000 which were part of a study received an A grade in terms of web transparency. Today, 214 government websites can say they have an ARead… Read more »

Should Government Reorganize Itself? (Part III)

The political winds are blowing favorably for government reorganization for the first time since Jimmy Carter’s efforts in the 1970s. As a result, the conversation on government reorganization is shifting from “should we” to “how do we” reorganize. What are some of the lessons from past efforts? At one point, the advice was: don’t doRead… Read more »

Why Romney’s Inauthenticity Will Doom Him to Defeat in November

Fresh off of his Super Tuesday “victories,” Mitt Romney was so desperately pleading his case that he was the inevitable winner of the Republican Presidential Primary, yet the results in Mississippi and Alabama reveal that the electorate is not ready to bestow that title upon him. While his wealth and political machinery may provide himRead… Read more »