Yearly Archives: 2012

Should Government Reorganize Itself? (Part II)

President Obama asked Congress for authority to reorganize government in his 2012 State of the Union address. Several weeks later, he proposed legislation to do so. What is in that bill? What Is Presidential Reorganization Authority? Beginning in 1932, presidents were periodically granted authority by Congress to submit plans to reorganize agencies. Over time, itRead… Read more »

FOSE: Federal government works to detect and prevent insider threats

Could Wikileaks ever happen again? Many federal agencies and departments are currently worried about insider threats – disgruntled employees leaking sensitive information to the general public. Last October, President Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13587, which directs agency and department heads to take responsibility for protecting and properly sharing classified information. Among other initiatives, thisRead… Read more »

What Impact Will Social Media Have on the 2012 Elections?

A couple weeks ago, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) asked me to share my perspective on the elections this fall and the role that social media will play in the outcomes. The full interview can be found here, but I wanted to share some relevant excerpts below and get some conversation going onRead… Read more »

Is There a National Security Crisis in US K-12 Education?

Last month the Council on Foreign Relations published a report co-authored by Joel I. Klein and Condoleezza Rice, titled, “U.S. Education Reform and National Security.” The report sounded a call to arms from its opening sentence. “It will come as no surprise to most readers,” Klein and Rice wrote, “that America’s primary and secondary schoolsRead… Read more »

AboutOne Provides On-the-go Personal Health Info

Stephanie Baum (Philadelphia, PA) — A web-based organizer is helping users keep their healthcare records and data in one place to make it easier to access the information when they need it. Joanne Lang, who was a software executive at SAP and worked with cloud computing, said AboutOne was sparked by a medical emergency involvingRead… Read more »

Avoiding hyperlocal tragedy

From Rich Millington, in his post “The Tragic Story Of Hyperlocal Communities“: If we want to build hyperlocal communities, we have to change the way we think about them. This isn’t a technology problem to solve (Facebook-style). Enabling everyone to start a hyperlocal community wont make it happen. This isn’t a content problem to solveRead… Read more »

Empowering Residents Through Participatory Budgeting

Kudos to four New York City Councilmembers who are letting residents of their districts have a say in how some discretionary funds are being spent. Joe Moore an Alderman from Chicago has also utilized Participatory Budgeting, which I discussed in a previous blog post. An article in the New York Times highlights how Participatory BudgetingRead… Read more »

Galaxy Nexus

So, a couple of weeks ago I had an accident* and my iPhone broke for good. I needed a replacement, which gave me a good opportunity to assess the options. It came down to the iPhone 4S and the Galaxy Nexus. I opted for the latter, for reasons I will explain. However, if someone wereRead… Read more »

FOSE Cloud Keynote: Cloud Security – A Business Transformation Nirvana or Security Nightmare?

I attended the cloud conference keynote by Ryan Berg, a Senior Architect for Security Research at IBM. The presentation, titled “Cloud Security – A Business Transformation Nirvana or Security Nightmare?” examined the move towards the cloud and the associated implications and opportunities for security. Berg began his presentation by looking at the environment in whichRead… Read more »