Tech

Civic institutes this summer (via Peter Levine’s blog)

Here’s a great little list straight from Peter Levine’s blog at http://peterlevine.ws/?p=8351… People interested in various aspects of civic education and civic renewal have a whole range of summer institutes to consider in 2012. At Tufts, we offer a Summer Institute of Civic Studies (a seminar with a strong focus on theory) followed by aRead… Read more »

Educating Chicago

Chicago parents have a new tool for understanding the public school selection process: Chicago Public School Tiers, an app launched last week by Open City. The application is a perfect example of how independent civic developers can use open data to improve complicated yet important public processes; an approach that Code for America supports byRead… Read more »

Overcoming Obstacles to Social Media Use in Government

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 »

Strategies to Increase Digital Literacy and Accessibility

Microsoft had an interesting blog series all surrounding the digital divide, accessibility and strategies to help overcome the digital divide. The digital divide can be looked at through multiple lenses – but at the core, the digital divide relates to accessibility for all. The Microsoft series identifies a 2010 IDC study that finds 50% ofRead… Read more »

May 2012 PEP-NET Speakers Announced

From PEP-NET: PEP-NET Conference May 14, 2012 Hamburg, Germany Registration is free at http://www.amiando.com/pep-net.html Check this page also for the latest program agenda “PEP-NET Summit: Out in the Open will cover urban development, eParticipation and transparency. We have speakers who will showcase some examples from here in Hamburg and from abroad. Anyone can join usRead… Read more »

Opening Up Government: Using Data to Stimulate Economic Growth

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 »

Cutting off the ends of a Roast

Working with a colleague who recommended a book Whole System Design: An Integrated Approach to Sustainable Engineering, Peter Stasinopoulos. Started skimming the book. A good compilation of materials around design, systems thinking and sustainability. What I found an interesting ah ha moment yesterday was that all this knowledge was known before, initiatives in business wereRead… Read more »

The polarizing power of open government — could ambiguity be the culprit?

Take out your shades because its Sunshine week. The annual event is aimed at making the government more open and transparent. But what does it mean to be open and transparent? The terms are a bit ambiguous…and we all know ambiguity can be polarizing…especially in politics. So we set out to get some clarity onRead… Read more »

GovBytes: Californians May Soon Present Insurance via Mobile when Pulled Over

California Assemblyman Mike Gatto, while looking for ways to ease the hassles of life on Californians, has authored a bill allowing for proof of insurance and auto registration to be presented via mobile device when pulled over. If signed into law the bill would make life easier because many young Californians, according to Gatto, payRead… Read more »

Outlook for Social Media Innovation in Government

Social media provides great opportunities for government agencies to connect with citizens. Through social media, providing access to information and reaching citizens can be done easier than ever before. Most studies show staggering upward trends of adoption rates and increased use of social networks. Since many of these platforms are still relatively new, it willRead… Read more »