Federal Eye: Overheard at the Commerce Department …

The Eye, after ditching plans to attend a different event, found himself near the Commerce Department today as President-elect Obama named Bill Richardson as the next secretary of commerce. So after sampling the tasty fare at the Ronald Reagan Building’s food court, he sampled the opinions of some rank-and-file Commerce Department employees, to see whatRead… Read more »

Federal Eye: Census Tops Richardson’s Commerce To-Do List

The nomination of Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.) to head up the Commerce Department comes as the department’s U.S. Census Bureau prepares to conduct its decennial national count of Americans. A recent report by the Government Accountability Office suggests there’s still plenty to do before the bureau starts counting in 13 months. Have no fear —Read… Read more »

Could Government Learn From Professional Sports Teams?

I was watching Sportscenter yesterday and, as I saw Sean Avery’s idiotic comment, a crazy thought went through my head. Avery’s comment was surely embarrassing and offensive to his team and to the NHL. His team and the league clearly would have preferred he had not said anything like that. However, both the team andRead… Read more »

Media 2.0 Must Follow Fed 2.0

Earlier today, Steve (@govloop), tweeted that he’s a late early adopter, which makes him a government innovator. Heritage media works the same way, often adapting to trends just as they change. I know, because I worked in small and mid-size news orgs for seven years, as an editor and reporter. I started a work-related blogRead… Read more »

One bite at a time and keep chewing for 2.0

That’s how you eat an elephant. Following is the proposal I sent out to all employees in an email tonight. I spoke with all 14 Department Heads in a meeting Monday and with the Clerk, City Administrator and IS Director before heading out on the limb. Now I have to pitch the project through theRead… Read more »

The Future of Government 2.0

Well before Obama actually assumes office on January 20th, those of us who follow new government media have already observed a proliferation of fresh perspectives on how emerging web technologies may be utilized by the next administration. Some people cite blogging as the key to reform (blogging drives the entire internet, right?) Others claim thatRead… Read more »

Federal Bloggers Unite

I had a federal worker blog once. It even got a shout-out from a real blog that covers federal government issues. But I shut it down because I was, well, too busy working being a federal worker. Plus I didn’t want to get in trouble should my urge to snark overwhelm my professional judgment. ThisRead… Read more »