Yearly Archives: 2012

Growing number of working households put 50% of their income into housing

Despite a variety of programs designed to reduce the cost burden on homeowners in the wake of the financial crisis, a new study from the Center for Housing Policy confirms that many working households are paying half or more of their income into housing costs. CivSource spoke with Laura Williams, research associate with the CenterRead… Read more »

Why the Government should take an interest in Pinterest

You may have heard people talking about the hottest thing in social media, Pinterest. For those not aware of what Pinterest is, it’s a “Pin-Board” styled social photo sharing website. The site allows you to create and manage theme-based image and video collections. Popular topics include recipes, fashion, celebrities, animals, design and nature. The wayRead… Read more »

A tour of the media coverage for AmericaSpeaks’ One City Summit

I wanted to share excerpts from a few media pieces about the One City Summit held on February 11th in D.C. by NCDD organizational member AmericaSpeaks. Most groups in our field work on a smaller scale or run their programs over a longer period of time (which is less media-grabbing), so it’s always interesting toRead… Read more »

Government as a Catalyst: Prizes for Tech Innovation

At this year’s South by South West Interactive (SXSWi) conference, I’m pleased to be moderating a panel on the role of government and prizes in stimulating technology innovation and providing public services. Federal agencies have recently been given the authority by Congress to sponsor competitions for individuals, groups, and companies to develop new ideas andRead… Read more »

Social Media in Government Reading Discussion: Nicholas Carr’s “The Shallows”

This week we read Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. Why I assigned this text Every medium creates its own orthodoxy. You can tweet that. And the reason you can tweet that is because the technical strictures of Twitter push effective tweets to the limits of the sense:syllable ratio,Read… Read more »

Comments on the Price Reductions Clause

On December 29,2011, the General Services Administration (GSA) issued a Federal Register notice entitled “General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation; Information Collection: Price Reductions Clause.” In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act the notice informs the public that GSA “will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approveRead… Read more »

TEN REQUIREMENTS FOR A MOBILE COLLABORATIVE PROJECT MANAGEMENT APP: REQUIREMENT #2, PROVIDE A VARIETY OF PROJECT VIEWS

by Dennis D. McDonald, Ph.D. http://www.ddmcd.com The following is another section from Part 3 of my series “Toward a Definition of Enterprise Mobility.” I’m reposting this here from Google+ at the suggestion of Peter Tuttle, who recently made me aware of how GovLoop has been reorganized. This discusses the second of ten possible requirements forRead… Read more »

Officials Hope Friday Prayers Do Not Include More Koran Burning Backlash

On its site shahamat-english.com, the Taliban had urged Afghan security forces to “turn their guns on the foreign infidel invaders.” It seems to be working, in an apparent backlash over the recent burning of Korans at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan, an Afghan solider turned his gun on his allies, shooting and killing twoRead… Read more »

Managing risk before it manages you

Last month I attended the International Disaster Conference & Expo in New Orleans along with former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. It was an extraordinary event with more than 1,400 people from 27 countries represented. The prominent list of speakers, including Secretary Ridge, made it clear that the topic of crisis management, emergency responseRead… Read more »

What is the Secret to Social Media Success?

As we’ve seen, social media is an amazing tool for any organization, but sometimes it’s difficult to know what to do with it. When thinking about social media, ask yourself these three questions: Do I know what my peers in local government are doing to streamline communications? Am I utilizing social media to reach moreRead… Read more »