Ideas
Squaring Off on Recovery Jobs
The chairman of the board that oversees Recovery.gov released on Monday a statement promoting the transparency of the stimulus-tracking website, just as Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee alleged the site is a public relations effort aimed at inflating the accomplishments of the administration.
Ideas
An Open Government Lesson
<em>The New York Times</em> had a front-page <a href=http://www.nextgov.com/web_headlines/wh_20100813_3510.php>article</a> on Friday on how the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, drug and medical-imaging companies, universities and nonprofit groups worked together to try to find the biological markers that show the progression of Alzheimer's disease.
Ideas
NMCI Comments Wanted
Looks like the editors over at Wired's <a href="http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/">Danger Room blog</a> are working on a piece on NMCI, the Navy's massive intranet, which is up for an <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20100709_9862.php?oref=search">upgrade</a>. They want your opinions, according to a <a href="http://twitter.com/dangerroom/status/21072398364">Tweet</a>.
Ideas
Reshuffling May Impair OGov
A rearrangement of staff within the White House may dilute the already weak enforcement of the president's open government directive, the Washington nonprofit Sunlight Foundation contends.
Ideas
5 Reasons Why Clinger-Cohen Failed
The 1996 Clinger-Cohen Act, which established the chief information officer position at agencies, among other things, was signed into law this month 14 years ago. By most accounts, it hasn't lived up to expectations. In fact, many say it's a downright failure.
Ideas
Debunking the Net Generation
A lot of reports and articles -- including many on this site (<a href=http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20100423_7313.php>here</a> and <a href=http://wiredworkplace.nextgov.com/2010/08/dot_appeals_to_gen_y_online.php>here</a>) and on Government Executive (<a href=http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?filepath=/features/1109-01/1109-01adif.htm>here</a> and <a href=http://www.govexec.com/features/0707-15/0707-15s1.htm>here</a>) -- that depicts younger workers and the Internet as joined at the hip. The 'Net, and the social networking it spawned, are indispensable to the so-called Net Generation (those between the ages of 17 and 31) and they demand to have the tools at the ready at work, sociologists say.
Ideas
Privacy Advocate Schwartz Joins NIST
Ari Schwartz, a longtime advocate for protecting privacy in the age of Web-based government, is leaving his post at the Center for Democracy and Technology to press for change from within the administration at the National Institute for Standards and Technology.
Ideas
USPS' eIDEAS Gets Poor Score
The U.S. Postal Service's web-based program to collect employee ideas on customer service, productivity and revenue generation lacks transparency, leaving submissions in limbo, according to the USPS inspector general.
Ideas
Compu-Forensics Saves Stim & Devaney
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., at a hearing the other day criticized the head of the board overseeing stimulus spending for being unable to cite an instance where the board's analytical software prevented fraud and abuse.
Ideas
More Medicaid Systems Woes
Two years ago I <a href=http://techinsider.nextgov.com/2009/08/one_of_the_most_complicated.php>wrote</a> about how state's Medicaid claims processing systems seem to be one of the most difficult IT projects to develop. Maine, North Carolina and Indiana, just to name a few, were having difficulties building workable systems. Now it's Idaho's turn. As <a href=http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/08/03/v-print/1289721/idaho-medicaid-providers-in-crisis.html>reported</a> by the Idaho Statesman:
Ideas
The Email Guessing Game
An obstacle I encounter regularly in this job is locating contact information for specific individuals in the federal government. Unless I've met someone directly or been given their email and phone number by a colleague, it takes a good amount of time to track them down. I regularly have to ask, "Do you know the email standard at [agency name]?"
Ideas
Less Money, More Innovation
Information technology budgets may be going down in the next few years, and chief information officers will be asked to do more with less. However, strained resources could promote innovation and efficiency, according to a state IT professionals.
Ideas
Repubs Knock Apparent FOIA Exemption
Some Republicans are disgruntled about a clause in the newly-minted financial reform law that they say allows the Securities and Exchange Commission to sidestep the Freedom of Information Act.
Ideas
O-Gov May Muck Up Agency Sites
Americans' satisfaction with online government services is slipping, according to the latest report from the quarterly e-government American Customer Satisfaction Index. Agencies during the second quarter received an aggregate score of 74.7 on a 100-point scale, down slightly from the first quarter's score of 75.1.
Ideas