Digital Government
Benefits of Web 2.0
A new <a href="http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Business_Technology/BT_Strategy/How_companies_are_benefiting_from_Web_20_McKinsey_Global_Survey_Results_2432">survey</a> by consultant McKinsey and Company of nearly 1,700 executives from around the world found that nearly 70 percent of respondents believe that their companies have gained measureable benefits from Web 2.0 and social networking tools. Successful companies also are not only tightly integrating Web 2.0 technologies with the workflows of their employees but are also creating a "networked company," linking themselves with customers and suppliers through the use of Web 2.0 tools, the study found. With the current recession, respondents overwhelmingly said they will continue to invest in Web 2.0.
Digital Government
Federal Pay Raise Update
Many lawmakers and federal employee groups are angered by the 2 percent figure, especially since many have pushed for pay parity between civilians and military service members, who are slated to receive a 3.4 percent raise if appropriators follow the guidelines in the 2010 Defense authorization act, or a 2.9 percent increase if Congress follows Obama's budget proposal. The president has cited a national emergency since Sept. 11, 2001, as well as the sluggish economy and high unemployment as his basis for the lower-than-average 2 percent figure.
Digital Government
Want a $2,000 Raise?
Nextgov reporter Gautham Nagesh on Thursday <a href="http://techinsider.nextgov.com/2009/09/kaine_touts_telework_day_resul.php">wrote</a> about a new <a href="http://www.teleworkexchange.com/teleworkdayreport/Telework_Day_2009_FINAL.pdf">report</a> from the state of Virginia that highlights lessons and statistics gathered from the state's participation in National Telework Day on Aug. 3. I wanted to highlight a couple of other findings from the report that pertain to the potential benefits of teleworking to the federal workforce:
Digital Government
IT Hiring to Surge by 2012
By fall of 2012, the federal government will hire nearly 273,000 new workers for mission-critical jobs, a large portion of which will be information technology specific, according to a new <a href="http://data.wherethejobsare.org/wtja/home">report</a> by the Partnership for Public Service. The latest "Where The Jobs Are" report, released Thursday, outlines governmentwide, mission-critical hiring needs through 2012 and is based on a survey of 35 federal agencies representing nearly 99 percent of the 1.9 million member federal workforce.
Digital Government
Banging the Cyber Workforce Drum
Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/56941-revamping-and-securing-our-countrys-civilian-cyber-infrastructure-rep-loretta-sanchez">writes</a> on The Hill's Congress Blog about the importance of securing a top-notch cybersecurity workforce in the federal government. The Defense Department, for example, has thousands of cybersecurity workers dedicated to combating cyber threats and building cybersecurity plans, but the Homeland Security Department has only 100 employees dedicated to this work. "With the gap between military and civilian cyber security personnel as large as it is," Sanchez writes, "there needs to be strong government leadership to increase recruitment pools and employ the next generation of cyber leaders that will help and protect our civilian networks."
Digital Government
Silicon Valley's Recruitment Model
Wired's Epicenter blog <a href="http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/08/what-the-obama-administration-is-learning-from-facebook-google-and-ideo/">highlights</a> a recent trip Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry made to Silicon Valley. The goal of the trip was to learn from companies like Facebook, Google and design firm Ideo about how to attract young, tech-savvy employees to the federal workforce.
Digital Government
Obama Stands Firm on Pay Raise
Alyssa Rosenberg <a href="http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=43512&dcn=todaysnews">writes</a> at <em>Government Executive</em> that President Obama will use his authority to set a 2 percent pay raise for federal employees in 2010, citing the economic crisis and the ballooning federal budget.
Digital Government
How's Work?
Rob O'Keefe <a href="http://www.talentbrew.com/">writes</a> at the TMP TalentBrew blog that the question, "How's work?" is no longer one brought up only in conversation among friends, but one that's happening everywhere, everyday -- through professional and social networks.
Digital Government
Health Records Come to SSA
The Social Security Administration announced Thursday that it has entered into an agreement with Microsoft to test the use of its HealthVault application in the process of determining disability benefits. The technology, which allows applicants to gather, store and manage their families' heath information and share that information with their physicians and health care providers, contains the same types of information that Social Security generally obtains from people applying for disability benefits.
Digital Government
Seeking Employees' Ideas Through Web 2.0
Federal Times <a href="http://www.federaltimes.com/index.php?S=4253740">reports</a> that the Obama administration is planning to seek ideas from the 18,000 employees of the Veterans Benefits Administration on how to reduce the backlog and more quickly get benefits to veterans. The effort will involve a Web-based survey that will test how the government uses the Web and new technologies as well as define new ways of how agencies listen to their employees.
Digital Government
Stealing IT Workers?
David Huber <a href="http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2009/08/26/contractors-worries-feds-fish-for-their-employees.aspx">writes</a> at Washington Technology that government contractors have become fertile ground for federal agencies looking to hire information technology professionals. While some believe recruiting IT contractors is a way to find the needed talent in government, many in the contracting community believe the practice crosses the line.
Digital Government
Competing for IT Skills
The new Employment Dynamics and Growth Expectations report <a href="http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/08-25-2009/0005082376&EDATE=">shows</a> that the demand for technology skills will increase significantly over the next 12 months, as companies look to restore positions affected by layoffs or hiring freezes and the pace of hiring begins to accelerate. The report, which is based on an annual survey of more than 500 hiring managers and 500 workers by staffing firm Robert Half International and CareerBuilder, shows that information technology, customer service and sales jobs will be the first to be filled as the economy improves.
Digital Government
Twitter's Popularity
<em>The New York Times</em> has an interesting <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/26/technology/internet/26twitter.html?_r=1">piece</a> on the explosion of Twitter's popularity being attributed not to teenagers, but rather older generations.
Digital Government
Social Media Revolution
Zack Whittaker writes at <a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/igeneration/?p=2561">ZDNet's iGeneration blog</a> about an interesting set of statistics presented in a video by <a href="http://socialnomics.net/2009/08/11/statistics-show-social-media-is-bigger-than-you-think/">Socialnomics</a> on the social media revolution. The statistics are from numerous sources, and they're a solid set to provide to social media non-believers.
Digital Government
2010 Per Diem Rates
Attending an IT conference or planning other official travel this next fiscal year? The General Services Administration on Monday released fiscal 2010 per diem rates, which will go into effect on Oct. 1. Most rates will increase marginally, but in some of the 402 areas where rates exceed the nationwide standard of $70, per diems will decrease slightly. Per diem for meals and incidentals, however, will increase in fiscal 2010, ranging from $46 to $71, depending on location. The incidental expense rate will increase from $3 to $5.
Digital Government
The Value of Twitter
Pear Analytics, a San Antonio-based research firm, recently released a <a href="http://www.pearanalytics.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Twitter-Study-August-2009.pdf">study examining what people are using Twitter for</a>. Their initial hypothesis was intended to prove that Twitter was being used largely for senseless babble or self-promotion, and while babble made up more than 40 percent of tweets, the researchers found that more than 37 percent of tweets were conversational and almost 9 percent had pass-along value. Only 5.85 percent of tweets were for self-promotion, the study found. As Twitter continues to evolve, not only as a brand but from a user's perspective, it is likely that usage patterns will change, the study concluded.
Digital Government
Goodbye XYZ. Hello, Generation C
There are countless studies, articles and blog posts out on the <a href="http://wiredworkplace.nextgov.com/generational_divide/">differences among different generations</a> in the workplace and their perceptions and uses of new technology. Steve Ressler, founder of Young Government Leaders and GovLoop, a social networking site for federal employees, told Wired Workplace on Tuesday that while there is a generational divide between older federal workers and younger ones who simply grew up digital, the Generation Content, or Generation C, concept, which characterizes people of any age who actively uses social media and engages others on the Internet, is taking hold.
Digital Government
Unrealized Vision in the SES
The Senior Executive Service is outdated and fails to provide a unified, government-wide cadre of federal career executives with shared values, a broad perspective and solid leadership skills, according to a new <a href="http://www.ourpublicservice.org/OPS/publications/viewcontentdetails.php?id=136">report</a> by the Partnership for Public Service.
Digital Government
Face-to-Face Buzz
Robert Behn, a professor at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, <a href="http://www.hks.harvard.edu/thebehnreport/August2009.pdf">makes a case</a> in this month's issue of his public management report that effective management - which motivates people to creatively develop effective strategies for producing better results - cannot be achieved through e-mails, conference calls, or telecommuting in your pajamas, but rather through creating face-to-face buzz. Behn also contends that people are more productive, creative and effective when they work closely together.
Digital Government
TSP to Unveil New Web Site
Alyssa Rosenberg <a href="http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=43420&dcn=todaysnews">writes</a> at <em>Government Executive</em> that officials overseeing the Thrift Savings Plan will launch a redesigned Web site during the first quarter of 2010.
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