The White House’s Open Government initiative encourages citizens to become more actively engaged in budget decisions in their communities. How does this work in practice? Do busy citizens actually get involved? Inspired by successful efforts in Brazil and other countries around the world, several U.S. communities have undertaken pilot efforts to allow citizens to directlyRead… Read more »
The Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA) mandates very detailed security practices. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has an entire division focused on creating security guidance documents. As security becomes more of a focus the nomenclature of these documents seeps into your daily lingo. FIPS 199 and 200 describe the levelsRead… Read more »
By John Simpson, Engagement Consultant at GovDelivery Surveys can be a great tool to gather public feedback, project impressions or even program success stories from your key audiences. However, the structure of the survey needs to be well planned in order to increase participation and get the insights you need. Organizations can get caught inRead… Read more »
Should I speak up, or is this a dumb idea? Did I do a good enough job on that project? Am I in over my head? Chances are you recognize that voice. It’s the downward spiraling mantra of self-doubt, and almost everyone has had it in his head at one point or another. Self-doubt canRead… Read more »
Zietgiest is a great word which according to Wikipedia means spirit of the age or spirit of the time. I think the spirit of the current digital age could be apps. Apps is very much a blanket term that can cover all manner of software but in this context I am referring to the kindRead… Read more »
I’ve been getting calls from reporters who are asking whether President Obama is interested in government management. But a management innovation he introduced in the early days of his administration is finally taking off. Sometimes it takes a few years to find out if a management innovation works. Background. Early in the Obama Administration, OMBRead… Read more »
I recently visited my eye doctor. When he first saw me he said, “Welcome to the new us. We are in the cloud now.” I asked him what he meant and he replied, “Well I was told to tell our customers and ask our patients if they can see us better here in the cloud.Read… Read more »
A special edition of GovLoop’s DorobekINSIDER today. We’re LIVE! We meet every month with the simple idea, get smart people together and share ideas because we believe that the real power of information comes when it is shared. Better data means better customer service. Consider the way Amazon uses your purchasing history to suggest itemsRead… Read more »
APIs have been around a long time. Not sure what an API is? The Next Web is worth reading on this… As ever Wikipedia has a good answer: ‘In computer programming, an application programming interface (API) specifies how some software components should interact with each other.’ Sounds straight forward, or is it? Of course asRead… Read more »
Approximately once a month, I get an email from a family member or friend that goes something like “My cousin/neighbor/babysitter is really interested in getting a federal job. S/he can’t figure out the process. Can you give her some inside guidance?” Whether OPM wants to admit it or not, the process is still way tooRead… Read more »