Modernization
Social Security expects to award mega-IT contract by October
The $2 billion pact continues a services agreement, but will expand to include health information technology work that will allow the agency to exchange more electronic medical data.
Digital Government
Obama sends 30 technology projects back to the drawing board
Initiatives will be dropped if agencies can't get them back on track.
Digital Government
Gates orders more information sharing to stop inside attacks
New policy will help alert Defense's investigative groups to threat information discovered during counterintelligence operations on department networks, systems and computers.
Ideas
White House Throwback Home Page
My colleague Tom Shoop, editor of Government Executive, <a href="http://blogs.govexec.com/fedblog/2010/08/open_government_v_10.php">posted</a> in the FedBlog an image of the home page for the White House website circa 1994:
Ideas
You Can Teach Old Dogs New Tricks
OK, that's not meant as a dig. But it's a good description of a quick turnaround for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who almost boastingly stated during his 2008 presidential campaign, "I don't e-mail," and then watched his opponent Barack Obama digitally fly past him to claim the presidency. The nearly 74-year-old senator came in at the No. 1 spot among senators in a Digital IQ ranking.
Digital Government
Google Now Owns Earth
Or, based on this <a href=https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=cb73f0c420f845c209adc2a22fb550d7&tab=core&_cview=0>sole-source contract announcement</a> from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, Google now owns, at the least, visualization of the planet.
Digital Government
Governator: 'Hasta la Vista, Paper.'
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger celebrated the launch this week of an ambitious "telehealth" system that will use a dedicated broadband network to link hospitals and clinics throughout the country's most populous state.
Cybersecurity
Attack of the Facebook Quizzes
Social engineering attacks are becoming increasingly prevalent, and I've profiled a few in this <a href="http://cybersecurityreport.nextgov.com/2010/08/social_media_guidelines.php?oref=latest_posts">blog</a>. But I recently read an intriguing <a href="http://www.sans.org/reading_room/whitepapers/privacy/disney-princess-you_33328">white paper/research report</a> on some of the dangers of Facebook and other social media websites. The real risk is divulging too much information about ourselves via online quizzes and user profiles. This particular white paper is titled "Which Disney Princess are YOU?" The author writes:
Digital Government
More Feds Receive Student Loan Help
Federal employees benefited more from student loan repayment programs in 2009, according to a new <a href="http://www.opm.gov/oca/pay/studentloan/html/CY2009StudentLoanRepaymentReport.pdf">report</a> by the Office of Personnel Management.
Digital Government
Military simulation training may lead recruits to view war as a game
Video games used to train recruits for war could also be masking the reality of the battlefield and creating a kind of detachment for those who become involved in the real thing.
Digital Government
Internet Explorer at 15: Kind of a punk, but still on top
This month, Internet Explorer turns 15 years old as the alpha dog among browsers, unfazed by occasional accusations of bullying and run-ins with the law.
Digital Government
Spurning the Internet: Many Americans not online at all--by choice
A study released recently by the Pew Internet & American Life Project reports that broadband adoption in the United States has slowed considerably in 2010 after a decade of steady growth. And a surprising number of people still don't use the Internet and don't want to.
Modernization
3 federal sites have top customer satisfaction
A recent survey highlighted the best and worst scores for customer satisfaction among federal departmental and portal Web sites.
Cybersecurity
DHS to automate watch list feeds
The Homeland Security Department and the Terrorist Screening Center will use a program to simplify how DHS receives information from the government's centralized terrorist database.
Digital Government
National Guard Bureau tells what not to write on Facebook
The National Guard Bureau is giving advice to guard members on what to write -- and not write -- on social media sites.
People
Lawmaker seeks hearing over proposed Joint Forces Command closing
Congressional pressure continues to build over Defense Secretary Robert Gates' plan to close the U.S. Joint Forces Command, headquartered in Norfolk, Va., which employs about 6,000.
Modernization