People

The first affliction of the federal workforce: Low expectations

The surest way to nurture mediocrity is to expect mediocrity. That, in a nutshell, is one of the major afflictions of the federal workforce in many offices across the government, according to readers commenting on stories at FCW.com.

People

The federal workforce: Abandon all hope, ye who work here

Federal employees voice anger and resignation about their working conditions, their bosses and the likelihood that anything will change.

People

Gov 2.0 -- Defining an era in 140 characters or less

Twitter is a key Gov 2.0 tool, but can it help define the movement? Readers try their thumbs.

People

A makeover job for federal hiring

Would-be public servants rejoice at the prospect of a shorter, more transparent hiring process.

People

Social media divides federal workforce

The role social media plays in the workplace is contributing to a generational divide, feds say.

People

Knowledge management's generation gap

Reaction to a recent blog post by Steve Kelman highlighted one of the barriers to knowledge management: animosity between those who know and those who need to know.

People

One way to improve security: Punish the ignorant

Perhaps federal agencies would have more success with information security training if employees knew they would be punished for allowing breaches through ignorance.

People

Does anyone outside D.C. really care about open government?

That buzz you're hearing about open government? It's more of whisper caught up in an echo chamber. Tell us what you think about it.

Digital Government

The town meeting meets the national dialogue

AmericaSpeaks, a nonpartisan group that organizes public discussions on federal, state and local policy issues, has developed an approach that seeks to blend the online national dialogue with the traditional town hall meeting.

People

TSA's No-fly system tripped up by human factors

The near get-away of Fasai Shahzad stemmed from a process requiring human intervention, according to several news reports.

Modernization

PowerPoint combatants go at it again

One of the military's top leaders reignites a battle over the merits of the ubiquitous presentation software.

People

4 strategies for nurturing a Web community

Public engagement is "about really bringing people together in a problem-solving community," said Lena Trudeau, vice president of NAPA. A new report from the group recaps past experience and offers suggestions for future conversations.

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity failings defy answers

Readers share their theories about why cybersecurity is so lousy in the federal government.

Cybersecurity

Blogger Spotlight: TSA's Blogger Bob

Curtis 'Bob' Burns brings subject-matter expertise and a sense of humor to the Transportation Security Administration blog.

People

Blog brief: Air marshals, gripes about the mail, and distracted driving

A roundup from the best of recent federal blog posts, plus a profile of GSA exec and blogger Edward O’Hare.

People

Cyber Command's congressional commotion

Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander's confirmation hearing highlighted the murky nature of cyber operations, writes John Monroe.

People

Google puts censorship on the map

The Internet giant steps up pressure on the U.S. and other countries that ask to have content removed from its sites, writes John Monroe.

People

Open gov unleashed in a flurry of plans

Reaction to the latest round of agency plans was muted last week — not by a lack of interest but by the overwhelming volume of information.

Digital Government

Security-minded program could aid cloud transition

If approved, FedRAMP would develop a common core of security requirements for cloud services.

People

Acquisition training: The classroom vs. the real world

FCW readers agree with a recent blog post that questioned the quality of acquisition training available to federal employees.