Tech

Why Web Accessibility is More Than a Legal Obligation

This is a crosspost of http://dotgov.com. Author: Glenda Watson Hyatt Utter the phrase “web accessibility” to a group of web designers and watch eyes immediately glaze over. Thoughts rapidly surface of how alt attributes, relative font sizes, audio transcripts and other technical requirements impede their creativity and add to their workload. However, the thoughts thatRead… Read more »

E-gov Versus Open Gov: The Evolution of E-democracy

One of the first questions I asked myself when familiarizing myself with the Open Government initiative was: “How is the Obama Administration’s Open Government (Open Gov) initiative different from the Bush Administration’s E-government (E-gov) initiative?” There are many people who use the two terms interchangeably but this paper argues that although they are distinct initiativesRead… Read more »

Time for a Re-Think of USA.gov

When USA.gov was born, a central links directory for the government was a huge asset. Now, however, citizens turn to Google for lists of links. So if USA.gov is to add value, I think it’s time for a major re-think of its purpose. It’s an important discussion…one that impacts – and therefore should involve –Read… Read more »

Measuring Relationships From Social Media

I had an opportunity to meet Katie D Paine on July 22nd at an Open Government and Innovation conference in DC. Katie specializes in public relations and measuring their effectiveness. Her commanding presence underscored her depth of knowledge, and her open and friendly demeanor in a one-on-one situation proved to me that she practices whatRead… Read more »

Young Government Leaders (YGL) Joins Combined Federal Campaign of the National Captial (CFCNCA)

Executive Board of Young Government Leaders (YGL) joins the Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area (CFCNCA). If you live in the Washington metropolitan region, that means you can contribute to YGL as a Federal employee by entering the YGL code #38096 on your agency’s CFC pledge card. Outside of Washington, contributors you canRead… Read more »

Tactical Approaches and Governance relating to the Open Gov Directive

After combing through the Open Government Directive very carefully over the last few days, I transitioned from the strategic to the tactical and started asking the question: How are we actually going to get all of this work done in the next 120 days? Given, the directive calls for some discrete action within the nextRead… Read more »

Its government for people – not computers!

Back around year 1990 I remember my amazement at learning that Iceland had the largest router network at around 50 routers of any European business or government. There was a pretty sensible explanation around the low density of the population and the realisation that a step change in the country’s economy as well as socialRead… Read more »

Can We Have a Mobile City Hall?

I’m a huge fan of the potential of government moving into the mobile realm. I firmly believe that mobile is the future and it is a platform that government should be working on. One interesting potential connecting mobile and government is the idea of using mobile apps to report city blights (potholes, graffiti, etc). ThisRead… Read more »