Ideas
No More YouTube for Obama
After taking some heat from privacy advocates, the Obama administration has switched from using YouTube to post President Obama's weekly addresses to <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>, <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13739_3-10184578-46.html">according to CNet's Chris Soghoian</a>.
Ideas
A New Way to Manage an Agency
In this month's Government Executive magazine, Nextgov's Tech Insider blogger Robert Charette, a risk management expert who consults with federal agencies, <a href=http://www.govexec.com/features/0309-01/0309-01s2.htm>argues</a> that agencies would meet their missions better if they adopted risk management techniques as part of their strategic management plans.
Ideas
A Look at Agency Stimulus Tracking
A quick scan of the stimulus tracking sites shows that most agencies like to use text - a lot of text - to present information. That makes navigating a bit tedious. But some departments, like the <a href=http://www.hhs.gov/recovery/>Health and Human Services Department</a>, looks to have put a bit more effort into designing their site, using graphics and thinking about how to package content.
Ideas
Moving Tech Front and Center
The federal information technology community must still be pinching themselves to make sure they are not dreaming. Almost every administration relegated IT to the back rooms, thinking of the computer guys as propeller heads, and chief information technology officers as someone who were there to <a href="http://www.cio.com/article/20909/Federal_IT_Flunks_Out">fix the secretary's BlackBerry</a>.
Ideas
Cyberwarriors Fight the DOS Blitzkreig
The Defense Department has been conducting training exercises for cyberwarriors for years, but it finally formalized the operations in the National Cyber Range. From an article on MSNBC:
Ideas
Federal CIOs' Power on the Rise
For CIOs, some good news from the latest <a href=http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090224_9757.php CIO survey conducted by Tech America</a>, the industry association that was formed with the merger of the Information Technology Association of America and AeA.
Ideas
Headline of the Day
From the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Feb. 24 issue of TechBeat, the agency's biweekly tip sheet for journalists:
Ideas
Reading the E-Verify Tea Leaves
From my colleague Humberto Sanchez at <em>CongressDaily </em>comes the news that the $410 billion omnibus <a href="http://appropriations.house.gov/default.aspx">spending bill</a> unveiled on Monday by House Democrats includes authorization for the controversial E-Verify program through the end of the fiscal year.
Ideas
DHS' New Privacy Officer
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano <a href="http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1235067917533.shtm">announced today</a> that she has appointed Mary Ellen Callahan as chief privacy officer for the department. Callahan is a partner in the international law firm Hogan and Harston in Washington working on privacy and security issues.
Ideas
Where're the Details on GovTrip Hack?
First it was <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090210_9221.php">the FAA</a>. Now news comes of another government Web site<a href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9128173&intsrc=news_ts_head"> being hacked</a>.
Ideas
Cybersecurity: All Together Now
The latest in what seems to be an endless string of reports that take a stab at solving the nation's cybersecurity failures says more effective coordination, metrics, policies, and training is needed across markets. This seems to be a lesson everyone except government grasps.
Ideas
Air Force: No Security, No 'Net
If you're a soldier or a civilian working for the Defense Department, it's becoming harder and harder to do anything online. There's no YouTube, MySpace or even reading blogs for some. Now, for airmen at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, there's no Internet at all.
Ideas
From Sleepwalking to ZZZ-Mailing
Researchers from the University of Toledo, Ohio, report in the medical journal <a href="http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/620282/description#description"><em>Sleep Medicine</em></a> about the first case of someone emailing while asleep -- an act related to sleepwalking.
Ideas
More Recovery.govs Needed
Staying true to its word, the Obama administration launched Recovery.gov today in conjunction with the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act so that "every American can go online and see how their money is being spent," Obama said in a statement.
Ideas
Public Outreach, Warts and All
It's been just three days since Virginia's Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine <a href=http://techinsider.nextgov.com/2009/02/social_networking_the_stimulus.php>launched a Web site</a> soliciting Virginians' ideas about how to spend the economic stimulus money the state may receive. As of Friday afternoon, 1,274 projects (and counting) were posted on <a href=http://stimulus.virginia.gov/> stimulus.virginia.gov</a>.
Ideas