Posts Tagged: jobs

Ethical Oil and the Northern Gateway Pipeline Process

This piece is cross-posted from the Toronto Star’s Op-Ed Page. This week the “ethical oil” argument adopted by the federal government took an interesting twist. While billions from China pour into Canada to develop the oilsands and fund the construction of the Northern Gateway pipeline, on Monday the government announced its desire to revise theRead… Read more »

Should Local Government Offices Develop Customer Service Plans?

On April 27, 2011, President Obama issued an Executive Order titled Streamlining Service Delivery and Improving Customer Service. The Order directed each federal agency within 180 days to develop a Customer Service Plan that addresses how the agency will provide services in a manner that seeks to streamline service delivery and improve the experience ofRead… Read more »

University of Illinois Funds New Research on Citizens’ Role in Public Policy

From Newswise: “Five research projects at the University of Illinois at Chicago dealing with the citizen’s role in public policy have each received a $20,000 award. The awards, given by the UIC Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement, are funding faculty research aimed at improving citizen participation in government services, often through the use ofRead… Read more »

White House Calls Federal Agencies’ BLUF: Says Use Plain Language

The Plain Writing Act of 2010 called on federal agencies to simplify the language used in issuing rules and regulations. As a part of the Open Government movement, federal agencies were to use plain, common English in official correspondence rather than writing in government-speak – a language commonly known for using a dozen words whereRead… Read more »

Don’t Wait – Early Bird Conference Registration for the Gov Web & New Media Conference ENDS 1/13/12

Early-bird pricing for Web Manager University’s premier event of the year, the annual Government Web and New Media Conference, ends on Friday, January 13, 2012. Last year we were SOLD OUT – don’t miss out, register today. The conference, co-sponsored by GSA and the Federal Web Managers Council, is the premier networking and educational eventRead… Read more »

Open Government Consultation

In the spirit of openness, I have decided to publicly share my open-ended responses to the ongoing Canadian Open Government Consultation, which has been taking place since December 6th, 2011 and is scheduled to end January 16th, 2012. The consultation covers questions on Open Data, Open Information, Open Dialogue and the Open Government Strategy. IfRead… Read more »

Executive Order Gives Unified Communications a Thumbs Up

By Josh Finke, Collaboration Practice Director at Iron Bow Technologies Originally published on Iron Bow TechSource President Obama recently issued an Executive Order that will promote more efficient spending across the federal government as a part of his Campaign to Cut Waste, which has saved billions in taxpayer dollars since its inception two years ago.Read… Read more »

Engaging Citizens vs. Streamlining Bureaucracy

Forty years ago, Congress passed a law to make government agencies more accountable and transparent in how they sought advice from industry and the public. It was called the Federal Advisory Committee Act. But over the years, the way the law was implemented led to less citizen involvement and reluctance by agencies from seeking advice.Read… Read more »