Weekly Round-up: June 01, 2012

Gadi Ben-Yehuda

• Who’s Online and What Are They Doing? The Next Web reports on an IAB Europe study finding that 427 million Europeans are now online, and 37% uses more than one device. Meanwhile, The HowTo.Gov blog writes about how all internet users spend thier time online: 22% on social networking, 21% on searches, and 19% on email and communication.
• Really, It’s All about Open. According to Co.Exist, DARPA is “embracing the DIY movement,” allowing home tinkerers to participate in its projects. This can be viewed an an extension of the open government philosophy that is so prevalent in the data-centric centers of government. On that score, Digital Communities has a long piece (worth the read) on the sustainability of open data in government.
• Farewell for a Friend. I want to wish a warm farewell and bon chance to Alice Lipowicz, who has left Federal Computer Week, where she has written many good articles (some of which quoted me). While FCW still has a strong roster of Gov 2.0 journalists (I’m looking at you, Camille Tuutti!), Alice’s voice will be missed. Here’s hoping we still get to read her on Gov 2.0 from time to time!

Dr. John Bordeaux

• IBM released a report earlier this year covering promising Open Government initiatives and trends worldwide. Back home, the Economist provides a more uneven report card for the U.S.
• Worthwhile presentation from Daniel Kahneman – critical thinking has to include assessing one’s own thinking. In organizations this is called triple-loop learning. In individuals, it may be a basic requirement for successful decisions. (Caution: Link loads video)
• Perhaps one of the biggest hurdles to realizing the promise of big data – turns out much of the more interesting transactional (social) data is proprietary.

Dan Chenok

• Federal CTO announces new White House Committee to spur innovation in data use
• Cyber continues to dominate news cycles — in addition to front page stories in the New York Times and Washington Post
• — Government, industry team up against serious computer viruses known as “BotNets”
• — Budget and staff shortages impact cybersecurity procurements
• — Howard Schmidt reflects on his tenure as White House cyber leader

John Kamensky

• GAO Examines OMB Cross-Cutting Goals. The GPRA Modernization Act requires OMB to annually identify cross-agency priority goals, which OMB did for the first time when the President submitted his FY 2013 budget proposal back in February. GAO looked at the 14 goals OMB identified and developed a useful resource, highlighting past GAO work in those 14 areas that may be useful to the goal leaders, as well as to congressional oversight committees.
• GSA Launches Digital Services Innovation Center. Jolie Lee, Federal News Radio, reports that Gwynn Kostin will head up a new organization devoted to help agencies implement the newly announced 29-point OMB digital management strategy. Congrats to Gwynn!
• What is Transparency? In a thoughtful article, NextGov’s Joseph Marks explores the distinction in the Open Government movement between accountability-driven open government advocates vs. technology-driven open data advocates, and how they see the world differently.
• Future Scope. I’ve been traveling lately and in a visit to Canada, learned about a new agency – Policy Horizons Canada — that is devoted to scanning trends and developments to understand the future and how these trends might affect how government responds. Their work has a global touch to it, so it may be worth a visit to its website.

The Business of Government Radio Show: Michael J Astrue

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.

Michael J Astrue is the Commissioner of Social Security. He focuses his efforts on reducing the disability backlog and improving service to the public, particularly through electronic services.

Broadcast Schedule: The show airs Monday, June 04, at 11 a.m., Wednesday, June 06, at noon, and Friday, June 08, 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.