In government, there has been a movement to bring government communications into “plain-language.” In 1998, President Clinton released an executive memo mandating agencies to write in plain language, and recently, President Obama signed into law the Plain Writing Act of 2010, requiring agencies to write in plain language. The plain language act is an importantRead… Read more »
I have an idea. I want to suggest starting a community of disruptive software companies that are trying to sell products to local and regional governments. I know we can make city’s better, more participatory, more accessible, to say nothing of saving them money. But to be effective I think we need a common messageRead… Read more »
I decided I was going to read a book a week for a year, here’s a quick review of this week’s book. You can see the ongoing list here. Basic Info The Paradox Of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz Why I read it It’s been lingering on my “to read” list sinceRead… Read more »
Today has been a crazy day in my hometown Tampa (yes, I actually live in Tampa although I spend a ton of time in DC). Tons of rain all day with threats of tornado all day. The wife and I stayed at home all day and I found it interesting to see which technology whichRead… Read more »
Three months ago, I made a huge change in my life. After eight years as a government consultant in DC, I picked up my family and moved to Chicago to work at Cramer-Krasselt. I went from DC to Chicago, from consulting to PR, from government clients to big brands, from the suburbs to the city,Read… Read more »
After commuting back and forth from the SF Bay Area for three months, I’m just getting settled down in Los Angeles with my family. I’m down in SoCal to continue growing my startup, NationBuilder, which is based in downtown LA. Getting settled means I’m doing a lot more thinking about where we’re going next withRead… Read more »
Summer months bring with them the start of vacation season, which means lots of people will be out of the office. Here’s one thing you can do right now to improve service quality. Update out of office messages on the phone and set up the auto-reply on email. It continues to surprise me how oftenRead… Read more »
Talking with Buenos Aires Open Government and Web teams, photo via Buenos AIres Data Recently myself and 2011 Code for America fellow, Max Ogden (@maxogden) were in Buenos Aires for JSConf Argentina. While in town we visited friends of Code for America, Buenos Aires’ Open Government and Web departments (@GCBAData, @GCBA). We met with aboutRead… Read more »
In April I wrote briefly about Commissioner Audrey Danner from Moffat County, Colorado and her efforts in using social media to connect with her constituents. I had a chance to sit down with Commissioner Danner earlier this month at the Colorado Counties, Inc. summer conference and talk a bit more about Moffat County using FacebookRead… Read more »
This morning, an article in The Guardian outlined some main points from the Digital Agenda Assembly in Brussels on how EU countries can achieve culture change in government, through the use of digital tools such as social media. British-born Robert Madelin, director general of the European Commission’s directorate-general for information society and media, acknowledges thatRead… Read more »