Research and Best Practices eNewsletter

Research

Tools for Idea Generation (03/2011) – A new guide from the National Academy of Public Administration’s Collaboration Project compares the function and purpose of 10 idea-generation tools. The guide helps leaders select a technology that fits the specific needs of their citizen engagement projects. http://www.collaborationproject.org/tools-for-online-idea-generation/

Millennial Generation the Next Big Thing (03/24/2011) – As a group, Americans born between 1980 and 2005, are informed and engaged. The Brookings Institution survey highlights the attitudes and values of this emerging generation. Report: http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2011/02_young_leaders_singer.aspx Video highlights: http://www.brookings.edu/multimedia/video/2011/0318_at_brookings_podcast.aspx

News

Mobile Useability (03/28/2011) – When designing for mobile sites, you must make the most of the small screen space to deliver optimal usability for your users. The Alertbox article walks you through a redesign of a popular mobile site so that it follows all the guidelines for mobile usability. http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mobile-redesign.html

Smartphone market soars (03/29/2011) – The global smartphone market is expected to grow nearly 50% this year, according to a new forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC). Much of the growth will be fueled by consumers replacing their existing phones with more sophisticated smartphones. http://www.bizreport.com/2011/03/smartphone-market-to-grow-50-this-year-android-os-leads.html

Mobile Trends (03/28/2011) – The mobile industry is moving to a data-centric model from a voice-centric one. A Wirelessweek article offers 15 mobile trends that will lead to more innovation and better services. Trends include: opening network access so developers can offer applications and services on the mobile platform, new display experiences that will enable more commerce, social interaction and participation and a move to mobile cloud computing that provides instant access to anything. http://www.wirelessweek.com/Articles/2011/03/15-Trends-That-Matter/?et_cid=1332792&et_rid=147516371&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wirelessweek.com%2fArticles%2f2011%2f03%2f15-Trends-That-Matter%2f

City Forward (03/10/2011) – City Forward, is a web portal, created by IBM, thataggregates public data from 55 cities worldwide and allows users to create comparison graphs, thus allowing similarities between cities to be more easily identified. http://www.govtech.com/e-government/IBM-City-Forward-Launched.html?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed