Citizen Engagement

Getting You Hired – New Job Application Tool for Local Government

Getting a government job can seem like an uphill battle and the application process can be brutal and bureaucratic. But now the people at Vision Internet have created a tool to help streamline the process for local governments. Ashley Fruechting the Director of Strategic Initiatives at Vision Internet. She told me during GovLoop’s State andRead… Read more »

Innovation Designed, Why Visuals Matter – Plus your Weekend Reads!

When you think of well designed and easily accessible websites, government examples probably don’t come to mind first. You probably think of Apple or CNN, but that is what the VA Modernization Team is trying to fix. The team is part of the second round of the Presidential Innovation Fellowship program, and their goal isRead… Read more »

Philadelphia FastFWD’s Urban Problem Solving

The idea behind the Presidential Innovation Fellowship program was simple, bring in some of the most creative and innovative entrepreneurs to work for a year on some of the government’s most intractable problems. It was a winning idea. So winning, in fact, that the city of Philadelphia is launched a similar program. It’s called FastFWD.Read… Read more »

Where does government social media stand in 2014? – Plus the 7 DorobekINSIDER Stories

On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER: The federal government shed 79,000 positions in 2013. Personnel is shrinking but demand for government services is on the rise. So what can leaders do to ease the stress on their employees? Can you really do more with less? Insights from Tom Fox at the Partnership for Public Service. You canRead… Read more »

One Stop Shop for State Mobile Apps – Take the Tour

Apps are everywhere these days. You have California’s Locator app, Florida’s State Parks Outdoor Guide, or West Virginia’s Suspicious Activity Reporting app. These are amazing developments but until NASCIO developed the State App Catalogue there was no central list of state mobile apps. And considering states provide essentially the same services, being able to collaborateRead… Read more »

How to get a smart, lean gov – Part Two

Duplication and overlap is rampant in government. With budgets dwindling down more than ever, agencies are looking to cut costs. But collaborating across disciplines is difficult. That’s where the authors of Smart Lean Government come in. They have developed a novel plan for how to reduce billions of dollars in overlapping information technology services governmentwide:Read… Read more »

How to get a smart, lean gov – Part One

“Government is at a crossroad as it attempts to maintain basic citizen and customer services in an increasingly austere environment of “doing more with less”. The Smart Lean Government (SLG) Practical Guide has been developed to guide change agents as they shape and implement 21st century solutions. It highlights what needs to be done toRead… Read more »

Maximizing Social Media: #3 New Year’s Resolution for Uncle Sam

Where’s all the love between social media and gov? If this relationship were a romance Uncle Sam would still be stuck on the first date. While many government agencies made much needed progress in leveraging social media more effectively in 2013, there’s still a lot of work ahead – especially for small and mid-sized agencies.Read… Read more »

The First Rule of the Government Customer Service Game: Steal the Citizen’s Playbook

Is Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning excellent because he has natural talent or because he works hard? While the answer is probably a bit of both, the truth is that Manning just works smarter. Consider this excerpt from an article that illustrates Manning’s game preparation: Most great quarterbacks are remembered for how they play theRead… Read more »

DorobekINSIDER Live: Top Innovations of 2013: Looking Back, Looking Forward

A special edition of GovLoop’s DorobekINSIDER today. We’re LIVE! It’s the 11th time we’ve met and we are doing this at least once each month this year. The idea is simple: get smart people together and share ideas because we believe that the real power of information comes when it is shared. 2013 may goRead… Read more »