Communications

Communication: Lessons Learned From a State Department Aide

“Speak, she said, as you would write: as if your words were letters of lead, graven there for all time, for which you must take the consequences.” ― Dorothy Dunnett There are plenty of articles, blogs, and comments surrounding the propriety of the chain of emails exchanged between reporter, Michael Hastings, and State Department aideRead… Read more »

How Philadelphia is Changing Community Engagement

Citizen engagement is one of the most popular topics today in municipal government. There’s not a city out there that isn’t trying to figure out a way to get their citizens more involved and it’s understandable why. A new study came out that showed cities and states that have higher levels of citizen engagement, actuallyRead… Read more »

5 Great Local Government Websites

Recently we had a great conversation on “Best and Worst Government websites” – I wanted to take a step back and highlight 5 great state and local government websites from the bunch (and not just the usual suspects who rock but are often featured like utah.gov). 1) City of Austin – Clean, crisp navigation andRead… Read more »

GIS Celebrating 50th Birthday

This month, Esri identified that GIS technology has turned 50 years old. Later this month, GovLoop will be releasing a guide highlighting how GIS has revolutionized how services are delivered to citizens. The guide will focus on five core areas (citizen engagement, public safety, emergency management, health and human services and environmental policy), and provideRead… Read more »

Developing APIs and the Digital Government Strategy: Is Your Agency Prepared to Create New Software?

Yesterday, the third session of Howto.gov’s (managed by GSA’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies and the Federal Web Managers Council) 8-part series on APIs aired. These free, online discussions aim to inform and inspire agencies nationwide to get their data online and develop APIs to make life easier internally and externally. This sessionRead… Read more »