In government, we are the masters of overcomplication. We setup committees, author manuals, and track changes until we’re blue in the face. We write information memoranda, action memoranda, and seek an endless list of clearances for the back pages of each. You would think our routinized collaboration would yield an organizational ethos of communication, mutualRead… Read more »
Hacking the hacktivist: The inside scoop on how Anonymous works by GovLoop Insights 2011 may very well be the year of Anonymous — the hactivist group took down the Justice Department website, Stratfor, mastercard, defense contractor Vanguard and even the Vatican. Their reach is impressive…and even more so when you consider how Anonymous runs. TheRead… Read more »
One of the important steps that an organization can take is improving its knowledge management programs. Knowledge management can be used to describe numerous initiatives, but the central goal is to preserve institutional knowledge. Organizations have taken different approaches to knowledge management, by either using a high level software service or other low cost initiativesRead… Read more »
There is so much that you can do with a GIS technology, the most common example is making layers with data showing all sorts of different variables of a community to help inform decision makers and inform the public. For example, my hometown of Syracuse could really use (and publicize) housing information. A useful applicationRead… Read more »
Gadi Ben-Yehuda Transparency not-yet-accomplished. Alice Lipowicz writes in Federal Computer Week that many agencies have yet to complete their current transparency plans, though their next-gen plans are due in April. Mobility on the way. Lisa Schlosser, deputy chief information officer at OMB, talked about mobility in the federal government with Wyatt Kash of Gov.AOL. KeyRead… Read more »
One of my favorite quotes is: “ Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead The first edition of Britannica Encyclopedias appeared in Scotland in 1768. In 11 years a group of Internet volunteers has ended the 244Read… Read more »
Participants in the Government Social Media Class offered by Digital Government University’s recently compiled a list of common arguments they’ve heard against the use of social media in government. How do you counter–firmly, but politely–these arguments? Are there any others that you encounter and have had to defend against? Please respond to these and addRead… Read more »
You may not know that two of most important steps managers can take to encourage high performance from employees are to (1) tell them what is expected and (2) give them the tools to manage themselves to the stated objectives. What if there were a tool that helped you clarify expectations? Think about it… WhenRead… Read more »
I just participated in my first Hackathon – it focused on coding for Google Apps and we developed an automated meeting registration system. A hackathon is the gathering of a group of developers and their computers with a goal of creating something during the session. Jan Kleinert led the session and, as usual, the GoogleRead… Read more »
Recently IBM released a report, Opening Up Government: How to Unleash the Power of Information for New Economic Growth. If you are interested in open government, I highly recommend taking a look at the report. There are many elements that I did not touch upon in this quick summary. One example would be there isRead… Read more »