Ideas
FBI Fugitive Concentration
It didn't take long after the launch of <a href="http://www.data.gov">Data.gov</a> for the public to recognize the potential of the newly available data. Today we saw the first entrant to Sunlight Labs' <a href="http://sunlightlabs.com/contests/appsforamerica2/">Apps for America 2</a> contest, which challenges the public to come up with innovative uses for the site's data feeds.
Ideas
Data.gov -- What Do You Think?
The Obama administration launched Data.gov on Thursday to "open government and democratize information." Some of the initial reviews:
Ideas
Obama Opens O-Government
The day that recommendations for a more open government are due to the president, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) plans to file a <a href="http://www.federalregister.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2009-12026_PI.pdf">request</a> for public input, prompting questions galore.
Ideas
Bush Administration revisited, online
Ever wonder what happened to all of the information that was housed on whitehouse.gov before the Obama Administration took over 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, when former President George W. Bush was still in office? We were <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080815_9193.php">promised</a> the Web pages would be preserved for historians, researchers and the public, and it seems that promise has been realized with <a href="http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov">georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov</a>.
Ideas
Congress and the CTO
Federal Chief Technology Officer nominee Aneesh Chopra garnered little attention from lawmakers examining his and other presidential appointments on Tuesday, raising the question: How important is the first-ever federal CTO?
Ideas
State Mobilizes for Texting Pakistan
The federal government's efforts to use social media to improve communication have officially gone global. At a press conference today to announce $110 million in humanitarian aid for displaced residents of Pakistan's Swat Valley, State Department Secretary Hillary Clinton discussed a plan to use cell phone text messages to inform local communities about the assistance efforts:
Ideas
Black Swans in IT
IT has always been a risk-filled enterprise. That's because software development is a first-of-a-kind undertaking. Programmers write programs to make software and hardware systems function in new ways. Often, the novelty of the development effort is small, requiring minor adjustments to existing programs. In this case, development risk is generally low. To the extent that the programming entails exploring truly new territory, then development risk goes up.
Ideas
More on E-Health as No Cost Saver
<em>New York Times</em> columnist David Brooks <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/opinion/15brooks.html">jumped into</a> the long-running argument over the likelihood of President Obama's health care reforms actually reducing health care costs.
Ideas
Lawmaker Calls for Bailout Formatting
A Republican House member proposed a measure on Thursday that would demand banks receiving bailout funds hand over business results in a special format that is easily accessible, after many open government advocates had <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090501_1033.php?oref=search">urged the administration</a> to require such formatting.
Ideas
"Swine Flu," The Brand
One lesson learned from the swine flu outbreak is that cross-marketing the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention on other federal Web sites helped drive more citizens to sign up for emergency e-mail alerts, according to GovDelivery, a company that manages public communications for government agencies.
Ideas
Health IT -- The Musical
An editor at Government Executive came across this video today, which is apparently part of a campaign to raise public awareness about the benefits of increasing adoption of health information technology.
Ideas
IT Spending Up 7% (and Counting)
Most information technology executives were counting on President Obama to goose federal tech spending when he took office. The reasoning goes this way: Technology helped fuel his run for president during the campaign and he's basically a <a href=http://techinsider.nextgov.com/2009/01/obama_reunuted_with_blackberry.php?oref=search>technophile</a>.
Ideas
IG Throws Flag on Census
The Census Bureau's ongoing address canvassing exercises have been a topic of public interest lately, because it will be the only opportunity for the bureau to make use of the handheld computers it <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080925_8186.php?oref=search">spent $800 million developing</a>.
Ideas
What About Spending.gov Subs?
While the fiscal 2010 budget plan for federal IT investments cites efforts to build Recovery.gov, a federal site for tracking stimulus spending, it is silent on the extent to which subcontractor funding and performance will be disclosed. Lawmakers and interest groups are seeking more specifics on such transactions.
Ideas
Chopra Confirmation Hearing Scheduled
A Senate panel plans to examine on May 19 the nomination of Aneesh Chopra as the first-ever federal Chief Technology Officer, a White House Office of Science and Technology Policy official said on Tuesday.
Ideas
Swine Flu Social Media Stats
Bev Godwin, director of online resources at the White House, discussed last week how the Obama administration is using social networking to open government and provide information on a number of issues at a <em>Government Executive</em> Leadership Breakfast Series panel. She presented data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Web site that shows how the public accessed information on the swine flu as of May 3.
Ideas
Tar Heels Visit White House
Permit me a shout out to my alma mater (and Nextgov senior reporter Jill Aitoro's as well), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The NCAA men's national basketball champs visited the White House on Monday to meet President Obama, who <a href="http://techinsider.nextgov.com/2009/03/obama_likes_unc_as_hoops_champ.php?oref=search">picked</a> the Tar Heels in his bracket to win the championship.
Ideas