Ideas
Why Cyber Spending Will Increase
Barack Obama <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080718_2930.php">pledged</a> last summer to make cybersecurity a priority, but a better barometer of just how high network security will be on an Obama administration agenda is to look at where federal contractors are investing. And they are betting big on cybersecurity, <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10130225-83.html">according to CNet news</a>.
Ideas
A Call for More Social Networking
Craig Newmark, founder of Craig's List, wrote Dec. 29 on The Huffington Post Web site that the Federal Web Managers Council "itching for inauguration, but they're not waiting." He cites some points in a Dec. 23 <a href="http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/documents/SocialMediaFed%20Govt_BarriersPotentialSolutions.pdf">Web council paper</a> on what policies and strategies an Obama administration should ask agencies to do when it comes to social networking.
Ideas
More on the CTO
It's looking more like the chief technology officer whom Barack Obama says he plans to appoint will be more involved in technology policy and public outreach than government operations.
Digital Government
What's a chief transition officer?
Microsoft Federal has named a new kind of CTO. Carolyn Brubaker, chief transition officer, tells Nextgov how the company is preparing for the Obama administration and what it's hearing about how the incoming team might use technology to transform government.
Ideas
One Rosy IT Spending Outlook
If you want to feel better about the prospects for information technology spending, CompassIntelligence.com is the place you want to go. <a href="http://www.govtech.com/gt/articles/572700">They say federal IT spending</a> will hit nearly $100 billion by 2012. They also report that federal IT spending in 2008 increased 5.3 percent and they forecast 2009 spending will jump 5.5 percent again.
Ideas
The Chief Technology Outreacher
It's not exactly clear exactly what the responsibilities will be for Obama's new chief technology officer, but Carolyn Brubaker, head of business development for civilian agencies at Microsoft Federal, has some general thoughts. Brubaker, who last month was assigned the extra duty as the company's new chief transition officer (the first of its kind as far as we can tell), told Nextgov on Friday in a sit-down interview that the CTO might focus less on government operations and more on outreach to the public. According to talks she and her team at Microsoft have had with Obama's transition team, it's likely social networking technologies are going to be the CTO's main responsibility.
Ideas
Cerf on the New CTO
The Tech Daily Dose blog, published by Nextgov sister publication CongressDaily, has a short post on what Google's Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf thinks Obama's chief technology officer can do. Here's an excerpt form the post written by National Journal's Theresa Poulson (Tech Daily Dose is only available through subscription):
Ideas
The Empty Vessel of Transparency
Nextgov <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20081212_4966.php">reported</a> on Friday that the Office of Management and Budget updated its <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/egov/vue-it/index.html#path5/path5.json|path2/path2.json">Visualization for Understanding Expenditures in Information Technology</a>, which monitors federal information technology investments. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said he was disappointed that "OMB still won't provide the American taxpayers with all the information necessary to determine whether their money is being spent wisely." He added that he's "starting to think OMB isn't properly collecting this information."
Ideas
Needed: The Innovation Agency
The Industry Advisory Council, a group of federal IT contractors, recently met with the Obama Transition Team to talk about technology policy and management. The group gave Team Obama four reports. One of the more interesting <a href="http://www.actgov.org/actiac/documents/pdfs/Returning_Innovation_to_Gov_with_IT_final_draft.pdf">reports is on innovation</a>, which praises the incoming Obama administration for saying it will appoint a chief technology officer. But IAC says Obama:
Ideas
Before Pocket Calculators
Before there were pocket calculators there were nuclear-age slide rules. These circular cardboard calculators, shown on the <a href="http://www.orau.org/">Oak Ridge Associated Universities Web site</a>, measure all kinds of things related to nuclear blasts -- and, presumably, government officials needed dozens of special slide rules to measure them.
Ideas
How Useful, Really, is Google Flu Trends?
Two doctors, <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2206516/pagenum/all/#p2">writing for Slate</a>, ask the question: Is <a href="http://www.google.org/flutrends/">Google's Flu Trends</a>, which is meant to show as early as two weeks in advance, useful enough to stave off the spread of influenza?
Digital Government
DHS plans for tracking foreigners leaving the U.S. remain sketchy
Incomplete cost estimates and security concerns plague US VISIT exit system, GAO reports.
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