Digital Government

Data Mining: Government spending by the numbers

Predicting IT spending; the most vulnerable Web browsers; public satisfaction with federal Web sites on the rise.

Digital Government

DISA's Star Trek Communicators

One of the most tantalizing lines buried in the <a href=http://comptroller.defense.gov/defbudget/fy2011/budget_justification/pdfs/01_Operation_and_Maintenance/O_M_VOL_1_PARTS/DISA_FY11.pdf>fiscal 2011 budget request for the Defense Information Systems Agency</a> is a $102.8 million single item for a Senior Leadership Enterprise communications system.

Digital Government

Meshing of US and allied defense sensors gaining importance

Networking of sensors could help bring about reduction in nuclear stockpiles, says military's vice chaiman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. James Cartwright

Digital Government

Agencies on track to meet open gov deadline

Most agencies will meet the Feb. 6 deadline for creating an open government Web page and securing technology for engaging with the public as required by President Barack Obama's Open Government Directive, according to the General Services Administration.

People

GSA looks to crowdsourcing to fix e-gov travel services

The agency will offer a prize worth up to $25,000 for proposing a better approach to its troubled e-gov program.

Ideas

Open Government Deadline Eve

Tomorrow (February 6) marks the next deadline in the Obama administration's Open Government Directive, the date by which agencies must have a new Web page up and running.

Ideas

NASA's Version of R2

NASA and General Motors Corp. unveiled on Thursday a robot the two organizations have developed for use in space exploration and car manufacturing. What's striking about Robonaut 2 is the dexterity of its fingers, although its thumb is rather elongated. The YouTube video below shows R2, as it is referred to, gently moving back a piece of cloth to pick up a manila envelope.

People

Meyerrose: Takai would be qualified for Defense CIO post

California CIO Teri Takai, the expected nominee as the Defense Department's chief information officer, has a proven track record in IT leadership, but the military poses a new set of challenges.

Digital Government

OPM Launches OpenGov Web Site

The Office of Personnel Management on Thursday launched its new <a href="http://openopm.ideascale.com/">open government Web site</a>. The new site is in response to President Obama's open government directive, which was issued on Dec. 8 and instructs agencies how to make the federal government more open, how to bring citizens into the policy-making process and how to collaborate with other government employees, the public and private industry. The directive requires agencies to create within 60 days an open government Web site and publish within 120 days an open government plan that describes how it will improve transparency and boost public participation.

Digital Government

Fed Health Plans Commit to Health IT

The Office of Personnel Management on Friday released a list of 45 health plans in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program that have made a commitment to health information technology through offering Internet-based personal health records and providing online tools for accessing health care quality, and price and cost information.

Modernization

Preservation Road: Visual and audio records say more than text ever could

NARA works to ensure that future generations can continue to learn from the past, and that increasingly requires the agency to digitize audiovisual records.

Ideas

DHS Wants Public Dialogue

The Homeland Security Department completed the first step of a three-step process to better link operations to agency missions by submitting a review of long-term strategic goals to Congress. Technology played a crucial role, said a DHS official, by providing representatives from all segments of the homeland security community with the opportunity to contribute.

Modernization

Library of Congress defines the state of the art at Culpeper facility

Some agencies that grapple with the challenges of maintaining video and audio recordings are looking outside the Beltway for inspiration.

Digital Government

Government has gone Tweeting mad!

Remember those cute shots last year of some members of Congress madly tweeting on their smart phones during President Obama’s first address to them? That was so yesterday.

Digital Government

Teleworking Through the Storm

Federal agencies in the Washington, D.C. area will close four hours early on Friday due to a major snowstorm. Alyssa Rosenberg <a href="http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=44540&dcn=todaysnews">writes</a> at <em>Government Executive</em> that the latest snowstorm has drawn attention to the administration's efforts to increase telework at federal agencies.

Cybersecurity

DHS CIO midway through IT programs review

The Homeland Security Department continues a review of its 79 major information technology programs to identify ways to help troubled programs and fix systemic weaknesses.

Digital Government

Shelby blocking scores of Obama political appointees

The Washington Post repors that Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) has placed a blanket hold on more than 70 Obama administration nominees because of home state concerns with the future of the Air Force's tanker fleet and disagreements with the White House over funding for anti-terrorism programs.

Modernization

SSA sets goal of 50 percent online applications for retirees

The Social Security Administration has set targets for increasing its online application rate for retirees and the disabled by 2012.

People

Fresher data would improve Data.gov, watchdog groups say

The Data.gov transparency Web site could be improved if it had newer data, used better data formats and offered more options for searching, transparency advocates said in a letter to the White House.

Digital Government

The dark side of crowdsourcing?

Crowds may have wisdom, but some crowdsourcing concepts could be turned to evil purposes, writes blogger Steve Kelman.