Is your city facing a fiscal crisis? I imagine so. We are at a critical point where most local governments are not able to provide the same services they could just five years ago. And it’s not just a fiscal crisis; it’s also an identity crisis, as city residents change how they communicate, how theyRead… Read more »
The blog entry below contains excerpts from ‘Putting Virtual “Boots on the Ground” – Law Enforcement Gets Intelligence on Demand,’ originally written by Caron Beesley, editor of [acronym] Online. [acronym] Online is a blog dedicated to those in the public sector working within the 2D and 3D digital design, GIS, architecture and engineering disciplines. AsRead… Read more »
On Friday at Sydney Hall it was all about ideas worth spreading. TED, the usually very exclusive (and expensive) premium event was coming to DC for not only affordable prices but also for an audience that is willing to make a difference. Now, you might wonder how does that differ from any of the otherRead… Read more »
I believe that the best argument made by Eggers and O’Leary in If We Can Put a Man on the Moon was the need for lawmakers to consider how their proposals will be implemented when the programs are passed to the agencies. I was thinking about this when I was visiting the Woodrow Wilson Center’sRead… Read more »
Local governments are considered “laboratories of democracy” — the places where ideas are generated, tried, and evaluated. Instead of relying on just the one, decidedly cumbersome national government to generate new policy, the founders crafted a flexible federal structure, where the more numerous and more nimble states and cities could experiment on their own andRead… Read more »
Nonprofit Code for America was founded to help the brightest minds of the Web 2.0 generation transform local governments. What if, instead of cutting services or raising taxes, your town could leverage the power of the Web to become more efficient, transparent, and participatory? Stop by the Code for America booth (129) in the ExhibitRead… Read more »
I recently returned from the annual Air Force Information Technology Conference (AFITC) in beautiful downtown Montgomery, Alabama. While Montgomery may seem like an unusual choice of location for a military technology conference, Montgomery is home to Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base and the Gunter Annex, which is one of leading Air Force information technology centers inRead… Read more »
This week witnessed one of the most dramatic government information technology failures ever, with an outage that paralyzed twenty six state government services for days in Virginia. The Department of Motor Vehicles was the most visible outage, leaving thousands of frustrated motorists and forcing law enforcement to relax enforcement to allow time for drivers’ licenseRead… Read more »
How green is your phone? And do you care? The article in the Guardian swats at Apple, who refused to participate in the UK program analyzing popular mobile phones. http://gu.com/p/2j7qn Fast Company has a somewhat grayer take on this information, and challenges the way the phones were analyzed. Meanwhile, I’m hoping that some genius engineerRead… Read more »
I am new to govloop and excited about the possibilities for cross-pollination here. One initiative that I want to alert other gov technologists to is Tech@State. This effort is sponsored by the Department of State’s Office of eDiplomacy. eDiplomacy exists to help wed technology innovations with U.S. diplomatic efforts. One of the ways we areRead… Read more »