Communications

Why Government Agencies Use Private Cell Phone Number Databases?

As a database administrator, I have been working on various non-profit and for-profit projects in the past couple years. Recently, I have been managing a database for a reverse phone lookup company that helps discover the identities behind certain hard-to-find phone numbers, including unpublished mobile numbers. What I have noticed is that there are manyRead… Read more »

Back Away From the Pronouns!

While pronouns have their place in the work world, writers want to maintain precision with their e-mails and memos to avoid confusion. So while I will concur that using pronouns can avoid verboseness, here are two pronouns to use sparingly and the reasons why. 1. Be precise rather than use “it.” If your memo reads,Read… Read more »

How Critical Is Clarity on Government Projects?

Sometimes pronouncements get made and distributed in email format about a change in direction, etc. When this happens, I sometimes find that the person sending the message doesn’t have an understanding of the recipients. They have not put themselves in the “other person’s shoes”. Therefore, the message is confusing because key points are not addressed.Read… Read more »

Social media monitoring is critical for government operations

As Congress goes about grilling Homeland Security over the department’s monitoring of social media—as it did in a hearing last week—a more fulsome understanding of the benefits of social media monitoring and analysis is needed. The value of social media monitoring extends far beyond the important but niche domain of monitoring terrorist chatter online. RatherRead… Read more »

Web Manager University Gets New Name. Same Great Training

Web Manager University, the federal government’s training program for web, new media, and citizen engagement managed by GSA, has changed its name to DigitalGov University (DGU). We changed our name to reflect the growing demand to help agencies serve customers through digital media and citizen engagement. Our broad curriculum includes training in social media, citizenRead… Read more »

Pentagon Social Media Secrets Revealed

(Original Image: The Pentagon, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) David B. Gleason) Secrets and the Pentagon go hand in hand, right? So when the Pentagon decided to host an event for Social Media Week at the fabled five-walled Department of Defense headquarters called “Military & Government Use of Social Media: What Works,” we were doubtfulRead… Read more »

Changing the government IT landscape with CloudStore

On Sunday, February 19, the Government Procurement Service officially launched CloudStore for UK central government and local authorities. The UK government first proposed the G-Cloud initiative over two years ago with the goal of bringing a wider range of cloud suppliers to the public sector while increasing the flexibility of procurement contracts. The programme wantedRead… Read more »

The Regulations.gov Relaunch

By Alex Moll, Communications Officer, eRulemaking Program Management Office Yesterday, the White House announced the relaunch of Regulations.gov in a post on remaking public participation by Cass Sunstein, the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA): “In response to the President’s direction, Regulations.gov has launched a major redesign, including innovative new searchRead… Read more »