Communications

That “Ah-Ha!” Moment

I had been HUD’s web manager for 8 years before I actually watched someone use our website during usability testing. We had won awards for our customer-friendly content, and I was just so sure that we had most of it right. Then I watched 3 people struggle to find the answers to, what we thoughtRead… Read more »

Gaming the voting system?

The popularity of geo-social applications like Facebook Places, GoWalla, FourSquare, and others is clear. Rewarding users for checking in, for taking some action, with nothing more than virtual awards has excited some users and continues to drive the growth of these platforms. So what would happen if you were to tie voting in political electionsRead… Read more »

Join us: Open Innovation Festival 2010 #oif2010

The Open Innovation Festival (OIF) will be held for the third time from 29 November until 3 December 2010. The festival aims to innovate the public domain in order to showcase how governmental organizations, the profit sector and knowledge institutions can cooperate. Furthermore, it aims at showing that by working together we will create aRead… Read more »

Call for Applications: Yale Information Society Project Fellowships, 2011-2012

Applications — with submission deadline of 1 January 2011 — are invited for fellowships during the 2011-2012 academic year, at the Yale Information Society Project, at the Yale Law School, in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. Applications are invited for two types of fellowship: The Yale ISP resident fellowship: “The Yale ISP resident fellowship is designedRead… Read more »

Blog updates: Customized greetings

Experiment, measure, tweak, experiment, measure, tweak…. Experimentation as a way of learning what works for your audience while helping you achieve your goals is critical for your success in business, in government, in blogging, in life, and on and on…. My newest experiment has a simple goal of increasing community size on every channel IRead… Read more »

The Scoop on the New Rules for Woman-Owned Small Businesses

Small business administration has been very active these days. They have been issuing rulings left and right and coming down like a ton of bricks on long-established business practices. By the way, GTSI is back to working for the government but they cannot continue subbing to small businesses the way they were doing it. OneRead… Read more »

Gartner Symposium Does Not Paint a Pretty Picture for Government 2.0

Andrea Di Maio writes: During the last week I presented and run a panel on Open Government, and I had several client conversations with US federal, state and local agencies, as well a few Canadian federal and provincial ones. Here are a few highlights: The session on open government was not as well attended asRead… Read more »

NARA Guidance on Managing Records in Web 2.0/Social Media Platforms

Did people see this? Thoughts? NARA Bulletin 2011-02 October 20, 2010 TO: Heads of Federal Agencies SUBJECT: NARA Guidance on Managing Records in Web 2.0/Social Media Platforms EXPIRATION DATE: October 31, 2013 1. What is the purpose of this bulletin? This bulletin provides guidance on managing records produced when Federal agencies use web 2.0/social mediaRead… Read more »

Thomler: Strong Progress Made, but Governance Frameworks and Organisational Culture Still Inhibiting Gov 2.0

An evolution of the culture within the public sector towards supporting Gov 2.0 has made steady ground since the declaration of open government in July, explains Gov 2.0 advocate, Craig Thomler. But governance frameworks and organisational culture are proving to be the biggest inhibitors to transformation, he believes. Thomler, Online Communications Director at the DepartmentRead… Read more »

Open Government goes on Broadway at Fedtalks

What did I learn at Fedtalks? The Department of Defense is way ahead of the country on electronic health records. The Veterans Administration’s new “Blue Button” is a sorely needed salve to disabled veterans. By 2014, NASA CTO Chris Kemp estimates that Generation Y will be over 47% of the workforce. President Obama knows howRead… Read more »