Posts Tagged: jobs

Government as a Catalyst: Prizes for Tech Innovation

At this year’s South by South West Interactive (SXSWi) conference, I’m pleased to be moderating a panel on the role of government and prizes in stimulating technology innovation and providing public services. Federal agencies have recently been given the authority by Congress to sponsor competitions for individuals, groups, and companies to develop new ideas andRead… Read more »

Officials Hope Friday Prayers Do Not Include More Koran Burning Backlash

On its site shahamat-english.com, the Taliban had urged Afghan security forces to “turn their guns on the foreign infidel invaders.” It seems to be working, in an apparent backlash over the recent burning of Korans at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan, an Afghan solider turned his gun on his allies, shooting and killing twoRead… Read more »

Managing risk before it manages you

Last month I attended the International Disaster Conference & Expo in New Orleans along with former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. It was an extraordinary event with more than 1,400 people from 27 countries represented. The prominent list of speakers, including Secretary Ridge, made it clear that the topic of crisis management, emergency responseRead… Read more »

Weekly Round-up: February 24, 2012

Gadi Ben-Yehuda On Twitter and NPR: The State Department’s use of social media was featured in an extended piece broadcast on NPR. Is that kind of coverage a metric of social media impact? From the Cloud to Your Pocket. This week, Gov.AOL published two pieces on the federal government’s movement toward mobile. The first, aboutRead… Read more »

Unusual Speed Limit Sign

This is quite the street sign for people to read and comply with. The sign instructs drivers to slow down to 25 mph between 6:49-7:15, 7:52-8:22 and 8:37-9:07 during the morning and 2:03-2:33, 3:04-3:34 and 3:59-4:29 during the afternoon on school days. At all other times the speed limit is 45 mph. After public outcryRead… Read more »

Why Government Agencies Use Private Cell Phone Number Databases?

As a database administrator, I have been working on various non-profit and for-profit projects in the past couple years. Recently, I have been managing a database for a reverse phone lookup company that helps discover the identities behind certain hard-to-find phone numbers, including unpublished mobile numbers. What I have noticed is that there are manyRead… Read more »

States lurch toward health care reform

States are moving toward health care reform but not without significant challenges. Nearly every aspect of federal health care reform legislation has been politicized and yet federal deadlines loom large. Federal health care reform legislation created new and signficant requirements for states to comply with leading many states to launch court challenges claiming overreach andRead… Read more »

Social media monitoring is critical for government operations

As Congress goes about grilling Homeland Security over the department’s monitoring of social media—as it did in a hearing last week—a more fulsome understanding of the benefits of social media monitoring and analysis is needed. The value of social media monitoring extends far beyond the important but niche domain of monitoring terrorist chatter online. RatherRead… Read more »