Government Bits

Adobe partner, ConnectSolutions, provides a great summary of President Obama's historic Town Hall in Shanghai, China. Read more.

For the first time in history, the Honorable John M. Facciola, Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, signed a judicial order, not with paper and pen, but with a digital signature! Press release here.

For more details, check out the posting on Adobe's Security Matters blog.

On October 7, 2009, President Obama will be presenting the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to several recipients. Two of the recipients are Adobe's founders Dr. John E. Warnock and Dr. Charles M Geschke "for their pioneering contributions that spurred the desktop publishing revolution and for changing the way people create and engage with information and entertainment across multiple mediums including print, Web and video."

For more information on the awards and other recipients, please read the announcements from the White House and the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Should government use Twitter? Can you really say ANYTHING in 140 characters? Facebook, how can that be a business tool? It's for college kids to share stories and pictures about their drunken exploits. And blogs? Well, who cares what I have to say?!? (spoken from the perspective of potential government bloggers)

Here's some more FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt for the acronym challenged):

* Social media is insecure!
* What a time waster!
* I know my employees are going to say something they shouldn't!
* Eh, this technology is for kids, mine use it at home every day.
* I can't be bothered to learn yet another technology

Ok, so, I'm sure you get the point. Anytime something new comes along, there will be those who will do all they can to put up road blocks. It is a common response from some people when facing something unfamiliar. However, on the flip side, there are the innovators and early adopters to balance the FUD with hype. It's this community of people who typically believe so deeply in a particular idea that they tend to see it as an answer to all things! Of course, over time, as a new idea becomes more acceptable and adopted for use by a larger population, the fear begins to minimize along with the hype.

As an employee of Adobe and a LONG time user of the Internet, I am a big fan of PDF. I wanted to make sure I made that point clear right up front. However, as a technologist and a LONG time user of the Internet, I am just as big a fan of XML! And likewise, I wanted to make THAT clear as well.

Before jumping in, I would like to refer you over to a couple, somewhat more historic blog entries from one of my colleagues, Jim King. Jim is a PDF Architect and a Senior Principal Scientist for Adobe and most certainly knows this topic better than most anyone I know. Check these entries out - XML for - XML Documents. I bring these ideas back to the forefront as it seems perhaps the lessons need to be revisited within the context of open and transparent government.