Ideas
Addressing USASpending Problems
Before he was elected to the White House, Sen. Barack Obama was a proponent of putting more information about government contracts, grants and loans online, teaming up with Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to introduce the <a href="http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1207/121407n1.htm">2006 Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act</a>, which requires full disclosure on a Web site maintained by OMB of all organizations receiving more than $25,000 in federal funds.
Ideas
GovLoop Hits 10,000
<a href="http://www.govloop.com/">GovLoop</a>, the social networking site for federal employees, announced it signed up its 10,000th member in less than a year of operation.
Ideas
Cyber Review Results Coming Soon
Results and recommendations of the Obama administration's 60-day cyber review will be revealed in the next few days, perhaps as early as Tuesday, said Melissa Hathaway, senior director for cyberspace for the National Security and Homeland Security councils.
Ideas
For Google, Public Not Always Public
Google this week piloted a new <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/adding-search-power-to-public-data.html">feature</a> that, according to the company, "makes it easy to find and compare public data," but, in reality, Google itself can't find a lot of the public data out there.
Ideas
Another Take on Census Training
We've been seeing reports about the Census Bureau's address canvassing exercises popping up all over the Internet, but this <a href="http://ryansridiculousrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/04/few-thoughts-on-census-bureau-training.html">blog post</a> from Ryan Pope, who trained to check addresses for the Census Bureau's upcoming 2010 decennial count (and the writer behind Ryan's Ridiculous Real World blog), probably takes the cake.
Ideas
GSA Signs Facebook Agreement
The General Services Administration announced yesterday that it has signed a terms of service agreement with the social networking web site <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nextgov/36630325798?v=info&ref=mf">Facebook</a>.
Ideas
'Government Not Always the Solution'
Macon Phillips, the White House director of new media, has a proposition for open government advocates who want a federal Web site that will let them suggest recommendations for a forthcoming open government directive:
Ideas
Obama Wants Your Efficiency Ideas
In his weekly address on Saturday, President Obama <a href="http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=42568&dcn=todaysnews">asked federal employees</a> for ideas on how to make government more efficient. The White House hasn't determined how it will collect the suggestions, so for the meantime Government Executive created a <a href="http://moderator.appspot.com/#16/e=5ad32">Google Moderator</a> where you can submit your ideas and vote on others. Several ideas have been posted and votes cast.
Ideas
Google CEO Tapped for Council
Google's chief executive officer is one of 20 individuals that will advise the president and vice president in formulating policy about science, technology and innovation.
Ideas
Seeking Recovery.gov Help
<a href="http://www.recovery.gov/">Recovery.gov</a>, the government's window into stimulus expenditures, on Monday is kicking off a week-long online discussion with IT vendors to improve the site.
Ideas
A Twitter Tweak For Cheeky
The number of feds on the micro-blogging service <a href="http://twitter.com/Nextgov">Twitter</a> has exploded lately, making the medium that much more effective for finding and sharing information about all things Government 2.0.
Ideas
What to Expect From Kundra
Technology contractors attending a breakfast on Thursday where Vivek Kundra, Obama's new federal chief information officer (aka, "administrator of the office of e-government and information technology at the Office of Management and Budget" back in the olden days) appeared, got a hint of where he may want to take agencies and information technology.
Ideas
Sonal Shah Appointment Confirmed
Following <a href="http://www.indiawest.com/readmore.aspx?id=1080&sid=1">reports</a> that <a href="http://socialentrepreneurship.change.org/blog/view/former_googler_sonal_shah_to_lead_white_house_office_of_social_innovation">surfaced</a> last week, a White House spokesman has confirmed to Nextgov that Google executive Sonal Shah will be joining the Obama administration as director of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation.
Ideas
The ObamaBerry Coming Soon
<em>The Washington Times</em> <a href="http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/23/inside-the-ring-77808870/">reported yesterday</a> that President Obama will soon be getting his hands on a souped-up, high-security Blackberry that the National Security Agency is currently developing:
Ideas
The CIA Memo Transparency Test
It was probably the stark absurdity of the situation that created the final decision tipping point: release classified documents relating to the CIA waterboarding of captured Al Qaeda members, but move mightily to keep information about aircraft bird strikes from the public.
Ideas
Hathaway Confirms What We Knew
In her first public speaking engagement since being named acting senior director for cyberspace by President Obama, Melissa Hathaway generally confirmed what was <a href=http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090403_9076.php?oref=search>previously reported</a> regarding the 60-day review of federal cybersecurity policies and initiatives: The White House should coordinate cybersecurity efforts; private sector needs to play a bigger role in securing cyberspace; and responsibility for the protection of federal computer networks and systems should be divvied among a number of agencies.
Ideas
IT Too Big for Obama Budget Cuts
Federal IT managers can breathe a sigh of relief. President Obama's proposal to <a href="http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=42526&dcn=todaysnews">trim $100 million from the federal budget</a> is unlikely to affect ongoing IT projects, according to Deniece Peterson, principal analyst at market research firm INPUT in Reston, Va. She said the relatively small dollar figure means officials are likely to look elsewhere for savings.
Ideas
TechAmerica's Cybersecurity Council Chair
Phillip Dunkelberger, chief executive officer of e-mail and data encryption software vendor PGP Corp., will chair a cybersecurity council of industry executives.
Ideas