TECHNOLOGY AND THE BUSINESS OF GOVERNMENT
04/30/09 05:13 pm ET
Google this week piloted a new feature that, according to the company, "makes it easy to find and compare public data," but, in reality, Google itself can't find a lot of the public data out there.>>
04/29/09 02:48 pm ET
We've been seeing reports about the Census Bureau's address canvassing exercises popping up all over the Internet, but this blog post from Ryan Pope, who trained to check addresses for the Census Bureau's upcoming 2010 decennial count (and the writer behind Ryan's Ridiculous Real World blog), probably takes the cake.>>
04/29/09 11:00 am ET
The General Services Administration announced yesterday that it has signed a terms of service agreement with the social networking web site Facebook.>>
04/28/09 06:06 pm ET
Macon Phillips, the White House director of new media, has a proposition for open government advocates who want a federal Web site that will let them suggest recommendations for a forthcoming open government directive:>>
04/27/09 04:02 pm ET
In his weekly address on Saturday, President Obama asked federal employees for ideas on how to make government more efficient. The White House hasn't determined how it will collect the suggestions, so for the meantime Government Executive created a Google Moderator where you can submit your ideas and vote on others. Several ideas have been posted and votes cast.>>
04/27/09 01:17 pm ET
Google's chief executive officer is one of 20 individuals that will advise the president and vice president in formulating policy about science, technology and innovation.>>
04/27/09 01:08 pm ET
Recovery.gov, the government's window into stimulus expenditures, on Monday is kicking off a week-long online discussion with IT vendors to improve the site.>>
04/24/09 04:16 pm ET
The number of feds on the micro-blogging service Twitter has exploded lately, making the medium that much more effective for finding and sharing information about all things Government 2.0.>>
04/24/09 03:28 pm ET
Technology contractors attending a breakfast on Thursday where Vivek Kundra, Obama's new federal chief information officer (aka, "administrator of the office of e-government and information technology at the Office of Management and Budget" back in the olden days) appeared, got a hint of where he may want to take agencies and information technology.>>
04/24/09 01:41 pm ET
Following reports that surfaced last week, a White House spokesman has confirmed to Nextgov that Google executive Sonal Shah will be joining the Obama administration as director of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation.>>
04/24/09 11:11 am ET
The Washington Times reported yesterday that President Obama will soon be getting his hands on a souped-up, high-security Blackberry that the National Security Agency is currently developing:>>
04/23/09 05:22 pm ET
A surprise Federal Register request for public comment on a scientific integrity presidential memo placated some advocates who are calling for a chance to contribute to recommendations for an open government directive due next month. The administration took a similar approach to soliciting public...>>
04/23/09 10:16 am ET
It was probably the stark absurdity of the situation that created the final decision tipping point: release classified documents relating to the CIA waterboarding of captured Al Qaeda members, but move mightily to keep information about aircraft bird strikes from the public.>>
04/22/09 05:15 pm ET
In her first public speaking engagement since being named acting senior director for cyberspace by President Obama, Melissa Hathaway generally confirmed what was previously reported regarding the 60-day review of federal cybersecurity policies and initiatives: The White House should coordinate cybersecurity efforts; private sector needs to play a bigger role in securing cyberspace; and responsibility for the protection of federal computer networks and systems should be divvied among a number of agencies.>>
04/21/09 05:22 pm ET
Federal IT managers can breathe a sigh of relief. President Obama's proposal to trim $100 million from the federal budget is unlikely to affect ongoing IT projects, according to Deniece Peterson, principal analyst at market research firm INPUT in Reston, Va. She said the relatively small dollar figure means officials are likely to look elsewhere for savings.>>
04/21/09 05:05 pm ET
Phillip Dunkelberger, chief executive officer of e-mail and data encryption software vendor PGP Corp., will chair a cybersecurity council of industry executives.>>
04/21/09 12:50 pm ET
An interagency group is in the process of submitting to President Obama the findings and recommendations that resulted from a 60-day review of the federal government's cybersecurity initiatives. the study came to a close on April 17.>>
04/20/09 01:10 pm ET
Aneesh Chopra, the nation's first-ever chief technology officer, would serve as both "assistant to the president" and "associate director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy," if confirmed by the Senate, White House officials said on Monday.>>
04/20/09 11:30 am ET
Officially squashing rumors of an IBM purchase once and for all, Sun Micro Systems will be acquired by software company Oracle for about $7.4 billion, The New York Times reported this morning.>>
04/20/09 10:38 am ET
The Library of Congress launched its own YouTube channel on April 7. The site currently offers 74 videos organized by the following playlists:>>
04/17/09 05:14 pm ET
The Internet is buzzing about the release this week of a controversial report from DHS' Office of Intelligence and Analysis detailing the threat of returning military veterans being recruited by radical right-wing groups (think skinheads, Timothy McVeigh).>>
04/16/09 06:33 pm ET
The rapid communication achieved through text messaging and twittering has made citizens impatient for the government to go interactive.>>
04/15/09 04:54 pm ET
Seems like the White House got the memo on the importance of social media to national security.>>
04/14/09 05:49 pm ET
Military veterans will have access to IT training and certifications funded by a program that auctions off used computer equipment.>>
04/13/09 06:33 pm ET
Lobbyist watchdog Web site OpenSecrets.org is releasing the data underlying its searchable databases so that anyone can download and manipulate the information, the site announced on Monday.>>
04/13/09 04:10 pm ET
Our friends over at Tech Daily Dose blog report that the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, which was held today, was more high tech than in the past. Not a surprise coming from this wired administration. "For the first time, tickets were distributed online, allowing families from across the country to attend the annual tradition," according to the blog.>>
04/10/09 04:18 pm ET
Gautham Nagesh reports: Wired's Danger Room blog has a preview of a study from the National Defense University titled "Social Software and National Security." The paper, written by NDU scientist Mark Drapeau and former Pentagon CIO Lin Wells, is expected to be released early...>>
04/10/09 03:50 pm ET
Gautham Nagesh files the following update: Earlier this week I asked you for any anecdotes you may have heard about the handheld computers currently being used by Census Bureau enumerators to verify addresses ahead of next year's decennial count. I'm happy to say I've...>>
04/09/09 07:30 pm ET
Federal auditors say an experimental web-based method of surveying pilots to identify predictors of airline accidents, which took 10 years to develop, does not adequately represent the wider population. The project, the National Aviation Operations Monitoring Service, was started by NASA in 1997 to...>>
04/08/09 04:54 pm ET
Spring is in the air and that means the Census Bureau is preparing for address canvassing, during which 140,000 enumerators will go block-by-block to verify the addresses to which census forms will be mailed next year. Reports about the exercises have been popping up...>>
04/07/09 05:14 pm ET
An open government advocate said on Monday that he noticed the wind shift at last week's annual conference on an EPA program that shares figures on outdoor chemical pollution with the public. Sean Moulton, OMB Watch's director of federal information policy and a keynote...>>
04/07/09 04:35 pm ET
The General Services Administration announced two modifications to the Networx contract today that will allow agencies to purchase secure Internet connections under OMB's Trusted Internet Connection initiative. Sprint Solutions Inc. and Qwest Government Services will join AT&T in offering managed trusted Internet protocol service...>>
04/07/09 03:38 pm ET
Kudos to the Library of Congress for understanding just how to meld information technology with its mission. The largest library in the world, which currently touts nearly 142 million items in its collections, will launch a Web site on April 21 featuring unique cultural...>>
04/06/09 06:15 pm ET
Gene L. Dodaro, the acting chief of the government's watchdog agency, tagged federal contracting as a high-risk area in the government during a recent presentation on promoting accountability and transparency in government. He was speaking at his alma mater, Williamsport, Pa.'s Lycoming College. The...>>
04/06/09 05:04 pm ET
Plans for a buyout of Sun Microsystems by IBM came to a screeching halt Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reports . On Saturday, Sun's board rejected a formal acquisition offer by IBM and terminated its right to exclusive merger talks. That led IBM to...>>
04/02/09 04:03 pm ET
In case you missed the news on Monday, GSA assistant commissioner of the Federal Acquisitions Service's Integrated Technology Service John C. Johnson announced his retirement effective May 2.>>
04/01/09 05:43 pm ET
A forthcoming book, "Democratizing Data," by e-government guru W. David Stephenson probably provides some inside knowledge of President Obama's future tech agenda. That's because the book's former co-author is none other than newly appointed Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra.>>
