Yesterday, we told you about the new Virtual Student Internship Program (VSFS) at the State Department. The idea is simple, recruit hundreds of interns from across the country to give 10 hours a week virtually, to different programs at the State Department. So far the program has yielded some amazing results. College students have beenRead… Read more »
This picture does not indicate a non-stop train. One would think, if one did not speak Dutch, that you boarded the train at Tilburg, and de-trained at Den Haag Centraal. (My actual origin point was Eindhoven a few hours earlier, but that’s part of the story.) To expand. If one grew up on New York’sRead… Read more »
Interns. They are the life-blood of Washington. Every few months, a new crop descend on DC like a swarm of driven and focused locusts, hoping to make their agency just a little bit better. But at the same time, internships can be very expensive and time consuming for agencies. So how can agencies maximize internships,Read… Read more »
Ten years ago I went on a date with a girl that was way out of my league. The dinner went well. I guess it was going so well that she decided to pop the dreaded “early stage question.” Here is an approximate manuscript from the evening (I’ll tie this back to work in aRead… Read more »
“One in five people living in the Middle East and North Africa are under the age of 24. 60% of people across the globe are under the age of 30. 65% in the middle east and north africa are under the age of 35. This is not only the future, but it is a demographicRead… Read more »
Cracking the digital divide is no easy task. The barriers for success are high. But a team from the University of Wisconsin was able to make major inroads by using social media to educate and inform community organizers. Jennifer Smith is the communication officer for the University of Wisconsin Extension Center for Community Tech Solutions.Read… Read more »
Martha Dorris has been a driving force behind the use of technology to help citizens more easily and quickly obtain government services and information, whether the contact comes through a website, email, telephone call or social media. At GSA, she created the agency’s two federal Web platforms — USA.gov and its Spanish-language counterpart, GobiernoUSA.gov. InRead… Read more »
The Digital Government Strategy, the Open Data Directive, the Open Data policy and the Open Data Partnership agreement are all pushing agencies to find new ways to jumpstart innovation. Hackathons are the easiest and cheapest way to do that. The idea is simple, get a bunch of smart and talented programmers together, provide them withRead… Read more »
Solving problems takes creativity, especially in an era of diminished resources and evaporating budgets. One of the most creative people you have ever met is you – a few decades ago. Thinking like a kid can spur innovation, uncover unexpected solutions and make the most mundane work fun. “Kids are the most constructive and destructiveRead… Read more »
Every year more than 45 million people visit a Social Security office. And as anyone who has visited the office knows, it can be plagued by long lines and tedious paperwork. David Broomell, a longtime Social Security programmer and project manager, decided to make a change. He created a program called VIP (Visitor Intake Process).Read… Read more »