Digital Government

The Risks of Open Government

Too much insight into the policymaking process can stymie the goals of transparency, scholar says.

Ideas

Now It's Personal

One of the award winners at the Gov 2.0 Summit held in Washington on Wednesday (and continuing Thursday) was <a href="http://www.bart.gov/">BART</a>, San Fransisco's public transportation system, Bay Area Rapid Transit. A popular feature of BART's Web site is "<a href="http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2009/news20090327.aspx">Seen and Heard on BART This Week</a>," which posts photos and Tweets from BART riders -- like this one:

Digital Government

Defining Transparency

Open government is about more than catching agencies making mistakes, it's about helping citizens protect their interests, scholar says.

Ideas

Internet Turns 40

Robert Charette, a risk management consultant and a contributor to Tech Insider and <em>Government Executive</em> magazine, <a href="http://spectrum.ieee.org/blog/computing/it/riskfactor/internet-turns-40-">noted</a> on his Risk Factor blog that Sept. 2, 2009, marks the 40th anniversary of the "official" creation of the Internet, or its predecessor, <a href="http://www.computerhistory.org/internet_history/">ARPANET</a>.

Ideas

Chopra and Silicon Valley: The Video

Federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra was in Silicon Valley this week, where he spoke to the Churchill Club, the valley's premier business and technology forum. They liked what he had to say, according to some news reports.

Ideas

More Find EHRs a Hot Investment

The market for electronic health records is heating up, according to the <em>Wall Street Journal</em> blog Digits. Salesforce.com has bought a stake in a small EHR company. The company joins Google, Microsoft and even Wal Mart -- which this year "said it had partnered with Dell and . . . eClinicalWorks to sell an EMR from its Sam's Club stores," Digits <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/08/05/salesforcecom-dips-its-toe-into-electronic-medical-records/">reported</a> -- in the market, which has been fueled by President Obama's stimulus package.

Ideas

This is Your Budget on Stimulus

To learn just how the nearly $800 billion in stimulus spending is affecting agencies, consider this graph below. This is one slide from a presentation that Christine Shafik, director of the Office of Internal Review at the Energy Department, gave back in June at a conference for top federal executives. It shows just how much the budgets for certain offices within the Energy Department grew this year due to the stimulus bill -- money that federal employees must give out in grants and contracts.

Ideas

What's the Deal with Medicaid Systems?

One of the most complicated networks to assemble has to be a Medicaid claims processing system. Numerous states -- <a href="http://www.cio.com/article/20133/Maine_s_Medicaid_Mistakes">Maine</a>, <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/558169.html">North Carolina</a>, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/07/13/ap6647246.html">Indiana</a> and many others -- have reported during the past several years that the development of modern Medicaid claims processing systems are over budget, behind schedule and simply don't work.

Ideas

Former DHS CIO Cooper to FAA?

The federal information technology industry is talking about the rumored appointment of Steve Cooper as the chief information officer at the <a href="http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ato/">Air Traffic Organization</a> <strike>Federal Aviation Administration</strike>.

Digital Government

Spires named Homeland Security CIO, faces 'huge challenges'

The IRS' former chief information officer is credited with turning around that agency's modernization program, a feat that helped him land his new post, sources say.

Ideas

Asking About Cookies

Bev Godwin, director of online resources and interagency development for the White House new media team, <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Cookies-Anyone-the-http-kind/">asked</a> the public on Friday to weigh in on the decade-old federal policy that does not allow agencies to use persistent cookies on their Web sites.

Ideas

Why We Need E-Medical Records

We recently came across this <a href="http://cbs11tv.com/local/medical.mistake.military.2.1091010.html">story</a> from a CBS affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth about 20-year-old Colton Read, who serves in the Ninth Intelligence Squadron at Beale Air Force Base, Calif. He entered the David Grant Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base near Sacramento to have his gall bladder removed and ended up with his legs amputated.

Ideas

Energy's Chu on Facebook

From the Wall Street Journal's Digits blog:

Ideas

Rock Star CIOs

When names were being thrown around for possible top technology posts in the Obama administration, many tech titans said the White House needed some tech "rock stars" who could use their star power to dislodge the federal government from its 1960s era tech and bring it into the 21st century.

Ideas

More Comp for Federal Web Sites

Our colleagues at the blog Tech Daily Dose, <a href="http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2009/07/federal-rulemakings-made-easy.php">wrote about</a> a new site launched by transparency researcher Jerry Brito at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, to make it easier for the public to find and comment on federal regulations -- a direct competitor to the government's Regulations.gov.

Ideas

Hold On to That Laptop

It may be a good idea to keep that laptop as a carry on where you can keep an eye on it -- not <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/07/15/2009-07-15_sting_nabs_stickyfingered_jfk_airport_workers_going_through_luggage.html">packed in your luggage out of sight</a>.

Ideas

Feds Want Their Firefox

Top government executives -- even the very top, politically appointed execs -- need to understand that federal employees have some strong opinions about the technology they use in their jobs. That was evident at a town-hall event Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held for the department's employees.

Ideas

Why Government's Cool Again

We've heard working for government has become cool again. Here's some anecdotal evidence.

Ideas

Web Managers Drowning in Data

Our colleagues at the Tech Daily Dose blog report that Sheila Campbell, manager for government Web best practices and co-chairwoman of the Federal Web Managers Council in the General Services Administration's Office of Citizen Services, pegs the number of federal Web sites at about 24,000, the same number that's been used for years, although some have said it's higher than 25,000.

Digital Government

Veterans Affairs CIO launches bold plan to stop IT project failures

Program managers must meet milestones to deliver system components in six months or less, or face removal from a project.