We’re producing more data – and increasingly more unstructured data – than ever before. This seemingly endless flow of information from a wide variety of sources has facilitated valuable insight into previously unknown areas and has unlocked significant economic potential. But for government, as well as other sectors, data is only good if it canRead… Read more »
I’ve worked in a variety of environments including full-time office, periodic telework, and now, full-time virtual. I get asked a lot of questions about virtual work. Here are my responses to the top three: 1-Wait…you work from home? (Or, what kind of work did you say you do again?) I’ve transitioned from working in anRead… Read more »
When you start to plan a public outreach and education campaign, a sense of humor may not be the first tool you think to reach for. You may instead focus on hard facts, thinking that logic alone will be enough to persuade people. Without some pizzazz and personality, your public outreach campaigns risk being boring and forgettable.Read… Read more »
Early Navigation When I discovered GovLoop 5 years ago, I had no idea that it would become one of my favorite communities on the web. As a government outsider, I stumbled onto GovLoop as a graduate student navigating the changing Presidential Management Fellowship application process in the fall of 2010. It was one of theRead… Read more »
Spring is in the air, which means the federal equal employment opportunity (EEO) training season is once again underway. This is an ideal time for employees and managers alike to learn more about EEO best practices, laws, rules and regulations to help create a model federal workplace. A smart and effective way to learn theRead… Read more »
In case you missed it, this week President Obama launched the TechHire Initiative. Funded through the Department of Labor, TechHire is an ambitious effort that makes $100 million available in grants to train workers for technology related jobs. “TechHire is a bold multi-sector effort and call to action to empower Americans with the skills they need,Read… Read more »
Modern technology can be a total time suck, providing us with hours of distractions and novel ways to procrastinate. But the upside is that technology can help us reclaim that time, too. In my never-ending quest to squeeze more out of every day I’ve been hunting down time-saving productivity apps that help streamline your tasks,Read… Read more »
All of us have challenging public service environments, usually with more ups than downs and, hopefully, with a tolerable level of dramatic episodes. But every so often, we need to sort through some things. If you follow Midwest news, you know that a state elected official recently took his life. This happened in my homeRead… Read more »
Any fan of crime drama TV shows can tell you that serial murderers tend to have specific modus operandi’s (MO’s, as the detectives refer to them) – meaning they operate systematically, within a pattern. How better to look at patterns and cycles than with data? In fighting crime, using data analytics to examine information onRead… Read more »
Jobs! Training! Jobs! Training! Jobs! I don’t know about you, but those words have remained on front pages, home pages, TV lead stories, and in government press releases, long after the Great Recession (supposedly) ended. And, so much money and resources have been expended in this area, that you might have thought the government effortsRead… Read more »