Apps.gov Needs to Carry the Public Records Torch

“…only 18% of Apps.gov services enable agencies to comply with public records laws” If you’re viewing your town’s Facebook or Twitter account, chances are the city attorney is still recovering from a social media migraine. And you may think I’m joking, but somewhere in your state a government webmaster is printing comments made on theirRead… Read more »

A new kind of Council Web Strategy

You should know that the local authority web manager has a pretty hard job and is often stuck in between a rock and a hard place. Often with no budget, no resources, but yet still required to manage a service delivery platform, communications platform and a citizen engagement channel. How do i know this, wellRead… Read more »

An Alternative to ‘Work-Life Balance’

Originally posted on ImprovisingMe.com Let me start by stating I HATE the phrase ‘Work-Life Balance’!!! NOTE: My apologies, in advance, to my mother, for she never liked us using the word “HATE”, but let’s just say “strongly dislike” doesn’t emphasize the point well enough in this case. ‘Work-Life Balance’ or some VERY similar phrase, getsRead… Read more »

Do we need an official database of ALL government websites?

With Transparency Camp and OpenGovWest there is a lot of excitement brewing about an effort to establish an “open data set” on all government websites in the United States. This is in particularly targeted to making local government, including all those obscure special districts out there, far more accessible to the people online. The publicRead… Read more »

How Public Safety Agencies Can Use Social Media to Engage Their Employees

The Los Angeles Fire Department is a pioneer among public safety agencies and emergency responders in the usage of social media. The Department’s initial social media efforts began in 2005 and have since garnered recognition nationwide. LAFD’s presence is spread across multiple social media channels including Twitter, Facebook (look up the group “Los Angeles FD),Read… Read more »

Culture Change in Government (the blog series)

One of the most daunting challenges in Open Government will be in tackling cultural resistance. Culture is hard to define and see, and yet it’s effects can be profound and often frustrating. In January, I introduced the topic of culture and its many dimensions, citing insights of several Organizational Development (“OD”) thought leaders to helpRead… Read more »

Demystifying Virtualization: Dramatically Reduce IT Energy Consumption, and Improve the Business of Government

Did you know that the average desktop computer uses almost as much power when idle as when it’s active? And the problem isn’t just restricted to the desktop. There are literally thousands of data centers across the globe stacked to capacity with inefficient, underutilized computer servers. In 2006, in the United States alone, datacenters consumedRead… Read more »