Weekly Round-up: November 12, 2010

Gadi Ben-Yehuda

• Thom Kearny wrote a post titled “Why Do We Collaborate,” which begins to answer the key question raised by my series on Citizen 2.0.
• Alan Silberberg (the secret identity of @IdeaGov) published a piece on an the critical issue of the digital divide; “Updates on Digital Divide and Gov 2.0“
• Happy 235th Birthday! Now You Get a Facebook Page! Marketing Daily reports that the US Army is making greater inroads into social media. Choice quote: Bruce Jasurda, CMO of the Army, “We ask people to come join our Army: we put them on a bus, give them a haircut and an M16. I think it’s okay to put them online.”

John Kamensky

• Does the Federal Government Needs a Chief Operating Officer? In a Washington Post op-ed, former Senator John Kerry co-authored a proposal to create a new job – chief operating officer for the federal government. As context, GAO has proposed similar roles in agencies and President Obama created a Chief Performance Officer.
• Administration Announces Finalists in Cost-Cutting Contest. In a reprise of a successful contest OMB sponsored last year, the Administration has announced four federal employee finalists for this year’s SAVE Award. The winner will get to present their idea directly to the President. You can vote for your favorite until 8 p.m. on Friday!
• Federal workers’ sacrifice would help U.S. debt, deficit panel says. The co-chairs of President Obama’s deficit panel floated their trial balloon proposals and they included initiatives affecting the federal workforce – freezes, cuts, and caps.

Dan Chenok

• Critical Administration attention to privacy in an online world
• Real innovation, being implemented at VA
• Recovery.gov takes a step toward social media
• VA hosts blog capability

Business of Government Radio Show: Conversation with Authors Series with Russ Mills, Cass Moseley, Noel Greis, and Monica Noguiera

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. Past government executives include Administrators, Chief Financial Officers, Chief Information Officers, Chief Operating Officers, Commissioners, Controllers, Directors, and Undersecretaries.

This week’s interview subjects explore ideas to improve government effectiveness. Three Center reports with authors Russell Mills on regulatory partnerships at FAA, Cassandra Moseley on Collaborating on the front lines, and Professors Greis and Noguiera on enhancing food safety through collaboration and partnerships.

Each week, The Business of Government Hour interviews government executive who are changing the way government does business. The show airs four times a week on two radio stations in the DC Metro Area. If you can’t wait, though, we also put it online. You can also search our audio archives for your favorite interview.