Tech

GovBytes: Congress Concerned About Facial Recognition Technology

As facial recognition technology has become popular for law enforcement purposes, Congress has become increasingly more concerned about privacy protection surrounding this software. “As in many fast growing and changing sectors, public policy has not kept pace with the development of this sort of technology,” [Senator] Rockefeller wrote in a letter to FTC Chairman JonRead… Read more »

The Telework Rap –Getting Lyrical at FedTalks 2011

Each year, FedTalks brings together leading federal government and industry executives to talk about hot topics like cybersecurity, cloud computing and open government. At FedTalks 2011 last week, U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra’s speech was an inspiring look at the progress of open innovation, and GSA’s David McClure presentation on engaging citizens showed the ways thatRead… Read more »

The Dog That Caught The Bus – GSA Administrator Martha Johnson

I’m at ACT/IAC Executive Leadership Council where 800 gov’t IT leaders are congregating. Keynote is entitled “The Dog That Caught The Bus” by Martha Johnson, GSA Administrator GSA’s mission is everything for everyone everywhere. To federal, state, local, executive, legislative branches. Change is happening-Previously – budgets were squeezed. We were put on a diet-Today ourRead… Read more »

Usable by Default – The Next Chapter

We are launching the next phase of our competition for designers and developers to design or develop visual or software/web/mobile prototypes and take part in an event where they can work on this with others. You can see more details on the competition site itself. As you can see below there are prizes to beRead… Read more »

But the “Experts” Say….

Creative Commons via recareered.blogspot.com There are many blogs written by “social media experts” and while they provide valuable guidance, they can also make social media feel overwhelming to the beginner. Within minutes of surfing articles online, you’ll find wisdom that suggests a person has to blog 4-7 times per week or tweet multiple times perRead… Read more »

Online with multiple parts of your identity

I made the point at the Govloop conference on last Wednesday that unlike the model of Facebook that people have one singular identity online I, as other social scientists, predicate on the idea that individuals have lives in which we have a variety of identities. By identity I mean the way that each person understandingsRead… Read more »

Rediscovering Information Management Methodology

About a century ago –no I’m not that old—companies were using advance information management tools called paper, file folders and filing cabinets. Much of the daily course of business was concern with moving physical parts and products. The movement and storage of information was also a physical effort; paper and files were routed throughout theRead… Read more »

Last Call

I was reading some old notes about why to celebrate failure, a slippery subject, maybe a mental game. Then I realized that if I don’t announce my failures, it’s harder to move on. Can’t have a breakthrough, without declaring a breakdown. Otherwise I spend all my focus grieving, hanging on to a mental closetful ofRead… Read more »

OSS Procurement FAQ: Part 1

This is part 1 of a recurring series regarding some frequently asked questions on procuring open source software in government. Check back weekly for new installments here at civiccommons.org. At the Code for America Summit last week, I introduced to the assembled community of civic technologists and supporters the Civic Commons Legal and Procurement IssuesRead… Read more »