Tech

Sunlight Foundation: The Senate Judiciary Committee votes to televise Supreme Court arguments

On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to favorably report a bill that would require the Supreme Court to allow television coverage of its arguments (S. 1945). Currently, only a limited number of citizens are able to see the court’s sessions in person. Audio files of proceedings are released after the fact, but are notRead… Read more »

The DorobekINSIDER Book Club: Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries

For the past several years, I have been hosting something I call the DorobekINSIDER Book Club — it is something like the Oprah Book Club but more wonky. Essentially, we select a book that is tied to my favorite words: It helps the government do its job better. We invite the author… and then weRead… Read more »

How I Roll with Semicolons

As a high school English teacher, it is often rather embarrassing to confess that it took me many years to figure out the rules of comma and semicolon usage. However, I think my students appreciate my lack of perfection and hopefully can better understand that everyone struggles in the art of composition. A few yearsRead… Read more »

Sunlight Foundation: 2Day in #OpenGov 2/9/2012

Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey wrote this post. Here is Thursday’s look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Campaign Finance Senator John Tester (D-MT) took a cue from Senate candidates in Massachusetts and publicly challenged his Republican opponent, Rep. Denny Rehberg, to sign a pledgeRead… Read more »

Interested in sharing your views about public service?

I would like to let you know about a new project at the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University-Newark: The Public Service Research Panel (http://www.PSRPanel.org). The PSR Panel is an opt-in, online community of professionals in the public and nonprofit sectors who receive occasional email invitations to participate in web-based surveys. SurveyRead… Read more »

GovBytes: Armored Vehicle Keeps the Peace in Fort Lauderdale

High crime rates can be tough to conquer with a limited police presence. It can also be problematic to put police on surveillance, when they may have to attend to a call elsewhere. That’s why police in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, have acquired an armored vehicle, called the Peacemaker, to act as temporary surveillance that theyRead… Read more »

Google joins opposition to Georgia bill limiting municipal broadband

Google is joining a coalition of companies, communities and activists encouraging Georgia state Senators to vote against a bill that would effectively limit municipal broadband in the state. The was introduced by a Republican lawmaker who claims that government networks unfairly compete with private providers. The bill SB 313 introduced by Sen. Majority Leader ChipRead… Read more »

Social Media in Government Reading Discussion: Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone

The Web Manager University launched a pilot 12-week class this week that explores in-depth, the issues pertaining to social media in government. In each class meeting, we read excerpts from one book, listen to (and ask questions of) one expert in a field related the reading and the topic of the day, and then movesRead… Read more »

Lessons of E-Filing – Government & IT

By Daniel Eisen The impact of technology on the federal government operations and the delivery of citizen-centric services are undeniable. Developing and implementing any technology is a complex undertaking. Developing and implementing technology for the federal government, can and usually does, increase this level of complexity. These efforts usually involve multiple stakeholders and interests suchRead… Read more »