Tech

A Call to Action: Supporting the Collaborative Governance Movement

There is an incredible movement happening right now in civic engagement. Digital platforms are transforming the relationship between citizens and their governments. To borrow an analogy from former Minneapolis mayor, R. T. Rybak, digital technology is shifting the role of government in citizens’ lives from a one-way broadcast experience to that of government as aRead… Read more »

The FBI’s Digital Journey

Keynote panel of C-level executives at PegaWorld 2014. FBI CFO Richard Haley (2nd from right). Criminals (and auditors) beware: the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is transforming itself to be even more effective in the field — and cost-effective at home. “We’re a 106 year old organization,” said FBI Chief Financial Officer Richard Haley. “AnRead… Read more »

Dun, Dun, Dun, DRONE! USGS is up in the Air

Drones. The word sends shivers down the spines of some Americans, but these remotely piloted aircraft are poised to make huge inroads in the national airspace. “Despite the fact that most people link unmanned aircraft systems with intelligence agencies and the military, the federal government’s drones user base extends well beyond spies and soldiers, reportsRead… Read more »

Little Rock, AR: Making Neighborhoods Safer

Cities depend on the local government to keep crime at bay. But Life Run Well magazine reports, “Little Rock, AR, was inundated with complaints from residents about nuisance problems—primarily code enforcement and minor crime issues. In 2004, under the leadership of City Manager Bruce Moore, the city responded to this problem with the Criminal AbatementRead… Read more »

Do You Really Want User Feedback? Part 3

In this series of posts about feedback so far I have been talking about some external digital services. What about internal services? Surely you want some feedback on those as well? What kind of internal digital services could be relevant? Well, intranets jump to mind. So does your intranet allow colleagues to leave feedback onRead… Read more »

Declining Budgets, Staff, Doesn’t Mean Decline in Productivity

Too frequently, small government agencies are stifled by budget cuts, lack of funding, and the fear of being stonewalled by a higher branch. Congress and the Executive branch want these agencies (and the nation) to succeed, but sometimes unforeseen challenges prevent them from achieving maximum success. Too frequently, employees at an organization are stifled byRead… Read more »

A Place to Look for State Financial Transparency…For Now

As state governments move toward total financial transparency, there is at least one place to look for information on how the states are doing in providing constituents with data on where money is being spent and what results are being achieved with the investment. Earlier blog posts have elaborated on the current ‘shortcomings’ of stateRead… Read more »

California’s Prop 42 & the challenge and opportunity for delivering on citizen demands

Civic software-as-a-service can make what seems like a new burden for cities an opportunity to collaborate Yesterday, citizens in the state of California amended their constitution to make it more open and transparent: Voters approved Tuesday a measure to give greater protection to California’s open meeting and public records laws by putting them in theRead… Read more »

What’s the Future of Big Data?

Earlier this year Gartner announced their 2014 Magic Quadrant for Data Warehouse Database Management Systems – and for the first time ever, Cloudera debuted on the list. Gartner’s Magic Quadrants serve as one of Gartner’s flagship market research reports, covering dozens of IT trends for both private and public sector technology solutions. The report makesRead… Read more »