Government Bits

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.

Continue reading "Social media for government is here, so what's all the fuss about??" »

Posted by Bobby Caudill at 6:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The day after his inauguration, President Obama issued a memo calling for an "unprecedented level of openness in Government."  Many agencies are going through the process of identifying what open government and transparency mean to their operations.  Others are already in execution mode - including the US Department of State. 

Continue reading "Open Government in Action" »

Posted by Beth Lovett at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Over the weekend I listened to commentary on the passage of the President's Stimulus bill and heard Congressman Ron Paul claim that there were only 5 hard copies of the legislative tome available for review to legislators for a material period of time. I also saw reporters page through the bill on TV to illustrate the hand scribbled amendments in the margin of the final version sent to the President.

I was a legislative aid on Capitol Hill from 1993-1999, when collaboration technology was just getting started, as was 24 hour news coverage. Legislation was available online, but never immediately. Back then, when the President's budget was sent to Congress, it was done so in paper, and staff would stay up all night reading through a single version so the Senator could have comments ready for an early morning statement. Rapidly amended legislation always caused tension between Members because there was no way to quickly distribute changes on the fly and make intelligent public comments to feed the increasing 24 hour news demands. So the news coverage for urgent funding packages (usually supplemental's for disaster response) or high profile bills usually devolved into a discussion of process and representative fairness, rather than the substantive merits of the legislation. Much like the public discourse this past weekend.

But this is 2009.

Continue reading "Only 5 Copies Available..." »

Posted by Rob Pinkerton at 5:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Washington DC technology community has been abuzz lately with the idea of cloud computing. This is largely spurred on by a classic tech battle shaping up between Goggle and Microsoft over the delivery model for software applications to federal agencies.

The cloud is a metaphor for the Internet, based on the graphical image depicted in computer network diagrams. The specific technical meaning of cloud computing is dependent on who is talking about it. At the highest level, cloud computing is like having pizza delivered rather than the traditional way of dining in the restaurant. Either method may be more appropriate depending on your circumstance, but it doesn't necessarily mean that one is always better than the other or that the pizza will taste any better. For some government agencies, cloud computing will be as sensible delivery method, for others it will not, or perhaps a hybrid will be best. If you'd like to see beautiful versions of well known on-premise software applications (Acrobat and Connect) hosted in the cloud, go to www.Acrobat.com, you can use them for free.

Unfortunately all the enthusiasm over cloud computing has clouded over the more important opportunity for government software applications - which is that for truly connected democracy, applications have to be ubiquitous. If a user is offline, working across multiple devices or operating on an unsupported platform, cloud applications may fall short. Government agencies shouldn't get locked in to the cloud or not cloud debate, but should consider the true needs of their end users, all relevant infrastructure in the ecosystem that can be leveraged (Yes, this is a veiled plug for Adobe Reader, Flash and AIR) and leverage the appropriate delivery models to optimize the user experience and productivity.

Posted by Rob Pinkerton at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)