Posts By Martha Garvey

New contest: can you describe a new start-up (or organization) without using ANY of these words?

I originally wrote this blog post because I have noticed, as the federal government has gotten more “startuppy,” the language in the articles covering Startup Gov enterprises has started to get more buzzwordtistic, more tech startup delirious. To the detriment of sense. We can stop this, people. We can, and we should, because at aRead… Read more »

Jersey Shore’s Snooki and JWoww are NOT coming to my city. Should I be sad about it?

My little town of Hoboken, NJ–birthplace of Frank Sinatra–already has a reality TV star–Buddy of “Cake Boss” fame. And we might have had two more–JWoww and Snooki of “Jersey Shore”–had our mayor Dawn Zimmer not put the kibosh on it. Hoboken, already overcrowded and undersupplied with parking spaces, would have had to deal with 24-hourRead… Read more »

At Fort Hood: Social media, community lauded for help in locating missing girl

So glad this story has gotten more attention. Excerpted from the article on the Army website: A massive outpouring of support from Fort Hood, surrounding communities and social media helped a potential nightmare for one Fort Hood family end happily last week….. {ELLIPSE} “Facebook provided great information,” Fort Hood Garrison Commander Col. Mark Freitag said.Read… Read more »

What is Facebook good for? Helping to find a missing child: a Fort Hood story with a happy ending

I happen to subscribe to the official Facebook page of Fort Hood (TX) because my husband sometimes teaches there..I am on the East Coast. He had a fantastic experience there, made friends, and learned a lot himself. I check in once in a while to see what “the Great Place” is doing because he wasRead… Read more »

A story of war, loss, and why good data has ALWAYS mattered: how a phone book reunited a family

A story of war, loss–and data: Talking to my 90-year-old father-in-law Joseph today, who survived WWII by fleeing the Nazis invading Poland and ended up as a Soviet soldier driving trucks in Siberia, a far cry from his childhood of daily Hebrew school, doting siblings, and three dogs.. After the war, when Joseph returned toRead… Read more »

How can we play our way to better government?

You may or may not have seen game designer Jane McGonigal’s TED talk, which lofts the idea that video games may actually be one of our paths to saving the world. Her argument is based in part on the feeling gamers typically experience–that is, confidence that they can succeed, patience when they don’t, and determinationRead… Read more »

Spider-Man, Public Servant? It’s a comic book promoting a city service!

To quote the blurb: The Webslinger takes to the New York Daily News and Marvel App to promote public employment services! Features a very commanding Mayor Bloomberg, who’s already tweeted about it. It appears as an insert in today’s Daily News, or it can be downloaded via an iTunes app. More here. http://bit.ly/bloomspidey

QR tags promote a bank–and the classics (and Sudoku, of course)

This is a nifty ad campaign-with-QR-tag for a bank that encourages people to scan the tag for a download of a classic book (Treasure Island, anyone?), a Sudoku, or a crossword puzzle. http://thefinancialbrand.com/14202/firstbank-qr-codes-books-puzzles-giveaway/ One of the cleverest things they’re doing is putting the ads in places where people may be forced to wait–like an airport.Read… Read more »

How will the 2010 elections have an impact on open government initiatives?

That’s what’s being discussed at this New York City meetup tonight, with a focus on New York State. http://www.meetup.com/openny/calendar/15046216/ The speakers list includes: Brandon Kessler, Founder of ChallengePost, the platform that runs BigApps, Challenge.gov and World Bank’s Apps for Development Andrew Hoppin, NY Senate Chief Information Officer and others. The hashtag will be: #OpenNY AnyoneRead… Read more »