Weekly Round-up: April 06, 2012

Gadi Ben-Yehuda

• Users and Mobility. Alice Lipowicz has two articles up on FCW about mobility, one outlining how the FAA asked its employees how they would use mobile tech on the job, the other covering Anil Karmel’s FOSE keynote (and other events) that showed the government is trying to think more about the mobile infrastructure than about the devices that will run on it. Some people, like CTOVision’s Ryan Kamauff, believe that the the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) model may end up prevalent.
• What about Your Data? Alex Howard has posted a comprehensive, and not-to-be-missed article on ‘Smart Disclosure,’ which explores the important, emerging issue of the explosion of data that people are creating about themselves. The less said here, the better; just read his post in full.

Dr. John Bordeaux

• International law clashes with local norms, with brutal consequences. What is the role of local government, what are the options for the international community, when it comes to protecting children?
• Here’s a find. The X-Files taught a generation that the “truth is out there.” For your aid in seeking truth, the FBI provides you: The The Vault. http://vault.fbi.gov/ Read the disclaimer carefully before closing it and continuing.
• You know how the joke is “no one reads the iTunes user license?” Well, someone read the one for iCloud… “Apple retains the right to ‘pre-screen, move, refuse, modify and/or remove’ any content they deem objectionable, and ‘access, use, preserve and/or disclose’ any of that content to law enforcement officials.”

Dan Chenok is on vacation.

John Kamensky

• OMB Portfolio Stat. Federal Computer Week reports that OMB has announced a new tech tool to identify (and help eliminate) duplicative and inefficient IT investments. Called “PortfolioStat,” the new web tool is designed to reduce commodity IT spending across agencies encourage shared use of IT capabilities across agencies. This new tool takes a more holistic look than the existing “TechStat,” which focuses on specific IT projects. Federal News Radio says the PortfolioStat initiative is on the heels of a successful pilot at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
• White House “Big Data” Initiative. Government Computer News reports that the White House has launched a $200 million “big data” R&D initiative “aimed at improving the tools and techniques required to access, organize and glean pertinent information from huge volumes of digital data.” Agencies involved include NSF, NIH, DARPA, NASA and other related acronyms. The White House released a 13-page list of initiatives underway. And it’s pretty impressive!
• Cutting AND Investing. It’s not necessarily a tradeoff, says federal CIO Steve VanRoekel at the annual FOSE Conference in Washington. Federal News Radio’s Jared Serbu reports that VanRoekel observed: “We really have a horizontal opportunity, but we’re living in a vertical world,”
• Not for the Faint of Heart. Here’s a pair of GAO reports just out: “The Federal Government’s Long-Term Fiscal Outlook, Spring 2012 Update,” and “STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS’ FISCAL OUTLOOK, April 2012 Update.”

The Business of Government Radio Show: Admiral Robert Papp

Federal News Radio 1500-AM
Mondays at 11 a.m., Wednesdays at 12 p.m., Fridays at 2 p.m.

The Business of Government Hour features a conversation about management with a government executive who is changing the way government does business. The executives discuss their careers and the management challenges facing their organizations.

Admiral Robert Papp is the 24th Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. He leads the largest component DHS, comprised of 42,000 active duty, 8,200 Reserve, 8,000 civilian and 31,000 volunteer Auxiliarists.

Broadcast Schedule: The show airs Monday, April 09, at 11 a.m., Wednesday, April 11, at noon, and Friday, April 13, at 2:00 PM on Federal News Radio 1500AM WFED

If you can’t wait, though, you can listen to (or download) this week’s program and all our previous interviews at businessofgovernment.org and by searching our audio archives.