Abuzz Over the Federal CTO

Federal information technology doesn’t garner too much attention from the mainstream press, but ever since Barack Obama has been elected president, much of the big-time media has been focused on whom he may choose as the nation’s first federal chief technology officer. Seems like Obama’s charge to make government cool again includes IT.

The latest comes from The New York Times’ Bits blog, which on Wednesday discussed the obamacto.org, a Web site created by Front Seat, “a small Seattle software company that creates Web sites for civic causes,” according to the Bits blog item. Visitors to the site can recommend projects the new federal CTO could take on.

Ideas for who the CTO should be continue to focus on technology mavens from highly successful tech companies. Despite the aura of working in the White House for an administration that puts IT high on the agenda, it’s unlikely that a high-tech executive would leave his or her high-powered job to move to Washington. Most of those speculating whom the CTO may be continue to talk about the Silicon Valley stars. But Matt Lerner, CTO at Front Seat, the creator of the Obama CTO Web site, seems to understand that. He told Bits that people like Apple CEO Steve Jobs wouldn’t be a good fit for the federal CTO “because a lot of the great technologists are mavericks and innovators and might not function well in the more bureaucratic role.”