FCW Insider: Holiday catch-up... Barry West's new digs... e-voting... people like the Internet... and China watch

It is the first "real" workday of 2008, so we're all getting back to it.

Rounding up items:

* Fed 100s... the countdown continues

Yes, I did post some about Fed 100 awards. There are about five days to get your Fed 100s in. Nominate away at www.fcw.com/fed100. The deadline is the end of the day Jan. 7. (More Fed 100 stuff at www.fcw.com/blogs/editor/fcw.)

* Radio appearances

I was on the radio this morning [Windows Media file] talking about one of the features in the 01.07 issue of Federal Computer Week looking at the 12 months and counting for the Bush administration.

FCW News Editor Jason Miller got an interview with Clay Johnson and the senior OMB management team about what they hope to accomplish in the last year of the administration -- and how. You will be shocked to learn that everybody is looking at programs and policies that will carry past next January.

One of the things I think you'll be hearing a lot about is Government 2.0. Government 2.0 essentially is government's use of Web 2.0, and OMB is working with the Wikinomics folks to look at these issues. As FCW reported last year:

The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment this week is expected to extend by 45 days an already month-long investigation into the proposed $2.2 billion buyout of network equipment maker 3Com by a consortium that includes a Chinese company, the Financial Times reports. The committee, an executive-branch agency with the power to block deals with sensitive security implications, wants to know what they might be for the 3Com takeover, which is being led by Bain Capital and would leave a good chunk of 3Com in the hands of Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei Technologies. "The deal has sparked political concerns in the U.S. because 3Com supplies intrusion-prevention technology to the U.S. Defense Department," the FT notes. And "the Pentagon believes that hackers in China conducted a massive cyberattack on its systems in 2007."

Extension of the 3Com investigation would come six months after the Bush administration quietly relaxed some export limits related to some politically delicate technologies on their way to China, the New York Times notes. The easing of restrictions was aimed at boosting sales of products that include advanced aircraft engine parts and navigation systems for U.S. companies, the Times adds. "But today the administration is facing questions from weapons experts about whether some equipment -- newly authorized for export to Chinese companies deemed trustworthy by Washington -- could instead end up helping China modernize its military," the paper says. "Equally worrisome, the weapons experts say, is the possibility that China could share the technology with Iran or Syria."

Two high-level findings.

* Government documents should be created and delivered in all shapes and sizes. A plurality of respondents said they prefer access to government documents on the Internet, but significant numbers said they still would prefer to get printed government publications by mail or from government offices and libraries.

* E-government is not an option, it’s a necessity. The vast majority of Americans want and expect information about government programs to be available on the Internet. People have different preferences for dealing with government, depending on the issue they face. They prefer to use the Internet for information queries, but they want to use the phone or face-to-face visits to address more personal matters.