Cutting Costs by Building Energy Efficiency

We hear it every day: Government needs to cut costs. But how? If government is going to continue serving the public, there are certain things like workforce, infrastructure, and technology that must receive funding. Instead of cutting vital assets, we must instead seek efficiencies. According to IBM, a primary focus area should be how weRead… Read more »

STEM vs Humanities: Why Both are Needed for Analytics

A national conversation is continuing to brew over whether Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) skills should be emphasized in schools and universities over humanities and liberal arts education. Several recent studies have found that the perceived higher marketplace value of STEM skills has led to a drop in the percentage of students pursuing humanitiesRead… Read more »

Updating the Department of Defense with Open Source

This interview is an excerpt from GovLoop’s recent guide, The DoD of Tomorrow, which explores how the department is transforming its operations, technology, workforce, and acquisitions process to confront 21st century challenges. When you think of DoD’s information infrastructure, you might think mostly of complex, secret networks. Yet the reality is that the department maintainsRead… Read more »

Connecting Spatial Analytics with GIS

Simplifying what your agency can do with its data can actually be somewhat complicated. In last week’s online training, “Simple Ways to do more with Your Data,” topic experts explored what their agencies are doing with their data. The speakers included: Dawn Wright, Chief Scientist, Esri Brian Tisdale, Booz Allen Hamilton, NASA Atmospheric Science DataRead… Read more »

Lending a Helping Hand

Meet Sy Williams, a NextGen Exemplary Leader Award finalist. Sy works closely with the Veteran’s Service Officers, and the area veteran organizations to insure that all homeless veterans in the Eastern Idaho area receive the services they need. He’s currently working with the Bonneville County service Officers in Idaho Falls to establish a veteran court… Read more »

Holistic (Cyber)hygiene

Outdated technology, lack of oversight, poor planning; lawmakers have cited all of these factors and more as reasons for the recent onslaught of cyber breaches. In the wake of the OPM cyber attacks, government agencies are scrambling to shore up their cyber defenses. Federal CIO Tony Scott recently ordered a “30-day sprint” for government agenciesRead… Read more »

DIY: Financial Transparency

“Data can be beautiful, and it should be.” That’s what Julie Steenson, Deputy Performance Officer for the City of Kansas City, described as the inspiration behind the city’s engagement with data and citizens in Wednesday’s online training, “How Kansas City Engaged Citizens with Open Data.” In order to make data accessible to a wide variety ofRead… Read more »