E-gov: What feds are up against

I mentioned that I was in Boston on Monday for The Marathon to cheer on two friends who were running. They did very well, thanks for asking -- George ran in 3:18:10 and Valerie ran in 3:30:49. Not bad for more than 26-miles, right?

But in terms of electronic services, here is a case in point for what feds are up against. Before the race, we went to the Boston Marathon Web site and we were able to sign up for either e-mails or SMS messages that would keep us updated on the runners progress through the race. There ended up being about a half-dozen alerts at various points through the race.

Meanwhile, if you went on the Web site during the race, you could get near real-time updates.

Here in Washington, D.C., I actually do get emergency alerts both by e-mail and by SMS
So if people seem frustrated that they can't get information more efficiently, this is probably part of the reason why.

Along these lines, FCW columnist Steve Kelman writes in this week issue about how his Harvard Kennedy School of Government students find government information. Essentially, Google still rules. And guess how I found the link to the DC emergency alerts?