Citizen participation is at the foundation of democratic values, and is a fascinating area of study. When citizen participation programs are implemented effectively, more citizens are brought into the decision making process, and allows government to be more responsive to community needs. Additionally, citizen engagement initiatives have the ability to build community, grow leaders, andRead… Read more »
Yesterday, I spent all day in jury duty. In the end, I didn’t get picked for the week-long trial but I found the whole process pretty fascinating. It’s great to see a truly diverse, cross-section group of individuals across the city come together to serve in government. Particularly I think there is a lot ofRead… Read more »
My latest writing project has been quite challenging. At the beginning of 2013, I wrapped up the first draft of a book I’m writing about the open government movement in Raleigh, North Carolina. The City of Raleigh has made a lot of progress over the last two years, which is part of the inspiration forRead… Read more »
Competitions are changing the way government iterates and innovates. NASA and OPM have both opted to use TopCoder to create new apps. TopCoder is member based group of more than 460,000 coders from around the world. TopCoder harnesses the power of crowd-sourcing to achieve goals. Mike Lydon is the Chief Technology Officer and Jim McKeownRead… Read more »
Chula Vista California is a city with 243,000 residents located seven miles from San Diego. The City Council of Chula Vista has adopted a new strategic approach for making decisions. The goal of the strategy is to link every action in the city to a goal laid out in a strategic plan. The City’s ContinuousRead… Read more »
It’s been nearly a week since President Obama’s State of the Union (SOTU) address. Yet many folks are still mesmerized by Senator Marco Rubio’s impromptu and awkward water bottle moment during the official response. By now, many millions of people know about Rubio’s water bottle debacle. He’s received so much coverage from both traditional andRead… Read more »
On December 26, 2010 a #snowpocalypse dumped a ton of snow in the NY, NJ, CY tri-state area. In Newark NJ, as a result of the storm, something very cool happened. Mayor Booker’s (@CoryBooker) constituents began tweeting request for shoveling at him AND he responded and began digging people out. Cooler than that others startedRead… Read more »
* UPDATE: Since the time of this original post one year ago, the EEOC has approved and issued the Federal Sector Complement Plan referred to below. Click here to read it. – DBG ____________________________________________________________ The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced it is seeking public input on federal sector priorities under the agency’sRead… Read more »
“It’s the end of the world as we know it…and I feel fine.” – R.E.M. – Okay, so the world did not end last Friday afterall (take a deep breath and slowly exhale). Whew…what a relief. Now we can all take a “time out” to celebrate Christmas and ring in the New Year. That is,Read… Read more »
Dear Mr. LaPierre, I’m writing this open letter as a concerned citizen and interested observer to provide some sound public/media relations advice and analysis. The reason is because the NRA has shot itself in the foot yet again from a public relations (PR) perspective — and, no less, during the heart of the holiday season.Read… Read more »