August 2010 Archives
By Allan Holmes
08/31/10 06:39 pm ET
Stephen Baker, author of the Numerati, wrote in his blog on Tuesday that there may very well come a day when eye witness accounts could be less of a factor in courts and replaced by the ever increasing deluge of data provided by security cameras, digital recorders and databases. He points to research that indicates humans typically focus on just 1 percent of their field of vision when observing their surroundings and fill everything else on the periphery from memory. That's not a good thing when recounting what you saw in a court of law.>>
By Allan Holmes
08/30/10 05:15 pm ET
For years, federal managers have complained they lose workers to the private sector mostly because they are not able to pay them as much as the private sector offers. The best and brightest go to companies for more money, as well as a faster track to upper-level management and a more entrepreneurial spirit. At least that's what most former feds have told me. Oh yeah, also because they face a huge college tuition bill for their teenage children, which is much harder to afford on a government salary.>>
By Allan Holmes
08/27/10 05:45 pm ET
Older Americans are quickly becoming avid users of social media - something their children are sure to be embarrassed about.>>
By Aliya Sternstein
08/26/10 01:43 am ET
Lockheed Martin has fattened its health information technology portfolio by securing a $9 million contract to demonstrate nationwide exchanges of patient data, following the government contractor's successful test of electronic health records at the Social Security Administration. The company Wednesday afternoon announced that the...>>
By Allan Holmes
08/25/10 05:08 pm ET
The SANS Institute, a cybersecurity research and training company in Bethesda, Md., is conducting a survey of how much information security workers make in the federal government. And they want to hear from you, Mr. and Ms. Federal Cyber Employee.>>
By Allan Holmes
08/24/10 06:34 pm ET
What are the most popular Web ions on the Web? For a visualization of the top 2 million "favicons," sized by relative popularity of the sites, go here. Make sure you use the online viewer to drill down. Zoom in and try to find your federal agency.>>
By Allan Holmes
08/23/10 11:13 am ET
The Office of Management and Budget just released its high-risk list of information technology projects. A full story will be posted later today.>>
By Aliya Sternstein
08/23/10 11:57 am ET
State Department officials, following the United Nations lead, now are accepting donations via text message to help support recovery and reconstruction in Pakistan where floods have displaced about 20 million people and spread deadly waterborne diseases.
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By Allan Holmes
08/20/10 05:47 pm ET
My colleague Tom Shoop, editor of Government Executive, posted in the FedBlog an image of the home page for the White House website circa 1994:>>
By Allan Holmes
08/20/10 04:47 pm ET
OK, that's not meant as a dig. But it's a good description of a quick turnaround for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who almost boastingly stated during his 2008 presidential campaign, "I don't e-mail," and then watched his opponent Barack Obama digitally fly past him to claim the presidency. The nearly 74-year-old senator came in at the No. 1 spot among senators in a Digital IQ ranking.>>
By Allan Holmes
08/19/10 03:29 pm ET
Intel Corp.'s announcement that it would by security firm McAfee Inc. for $7.68 billion could have an interesting play in the federal information technology market, according to Washington tech analysts. By having a McAfee at your fingertips, Intel can bolster the security in its chips, giving it a leg up in agencies looking for safer PCs, laptops, and wireless devices, some federal IT market watchers say.>>
By Allan Holmes
08/18/10 05:38 pm ET
North Korea is on Twitter and the United States asked the communist country if it was "prepared to allow its citizens to be connected as well?" tweeted Philip J. Crowley on Tuesday welcomed North Korea, assistant secretary of State for public affairs.>>
By Aliya Sternstein
08/17/10 06:18 pm ET
Two former employees of federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, back when he served as the District of Columbia's chief technology officer, have been sentenced to more than year-long prison terms for participating in a kickback scheme, according to the New York Times. >>
By Aliya Sternstein
08/16/10 06:03 pm ET
The chairman of the board that oversees Recovery.gov released on Monday a statement promoting the transparency of the stimulus-tracking website, just as Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee alleged the site is a public relations effort aimed at inflating the accomplishments of the administration. >>
By Allan Holmes
08/13/10 04:37 pm ET
The New York Times had a front-page article on Friday on how the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, drug and medical-imaging companies, universities and nonprofit groups worked together to try to find the biological markers that show the progression of Alzheimer's disease.>>
By Allan Holmes
08/13/10 12:07 pm ET
Looks like the editors over at Wired's Danger Room blog are working on a piece on NMCI, the Navy's massive intranet, which is up for an upgrade. They want your opinions, according to a Tweet.>>
By Aliya Sternstein
08/12/10 02:01 pm ET
A rearrangement of staff within the White House may dilute the already weak enforcement of the president's open government directive, the Washington nonprofit Sunlight Foundation contends.>>
By Allan Holmes
08/11/10 05:25 pm ET
The 1996 Clinger-Cohen Act, which established the chief information officer position at agencies, among other things, was signed into law this month 14 years ago. By most accounts, it hasn't lived up to expectations. In fact, many say it's a downright failure.>>
By Allan Holmes
08/10/10 02:40 pm ET
A lot of reports and articles -- including many on this site (here and here) and on Government Executive (here and here) -- that depicts younger workers and the Internet as joined at the hip. The 'Net, and the social networking it spawned, are indispensable to the so-called Net Generation (those between the ages of 17 and 31) and they demand to have the tools at the ready at work, sociologists say.>>
By Aliya Sternstein
08/09/10 05:02 pm ET
Ari Schwartz, a longtime advocate for protecting privacy in the age of Web-based government, is leaving his post at the Center for Democracy and Technology to press for change from within the administration at the National Institute for Standards and Technology. >>
By Emily Long
08/06/10 03:27 pm ET
The U.S. Postal Service's web-based program to collect employee ideas on customer service, productivity and revenue generation lacks transparency, leaving submissions in limbo, according to the USPS inspector general. >>
By Aliya Sternstein
08/05/10 11:01 am ET
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., at a hearing the other day criticized the head of the board overseeing stimulus spending for being unable to cite an instance where the board's analytical software prevented fraud and abuse.>>
By Allan Holmes
08/04/10 06:06 pm ET
Two years ago I wrote about how state's Medicaid claims processing systems seem to be one of the most difficult IT projects to develop. Maine, North Carolina and Indiana, just to name a few, were having difficulties building workable systems. Now it's Idaho's turn. As reported by the Idaho Statesman:>>
By Emily Long
08/03/10 02:10 pm ET
An obstacle I encounter regularly in this job is locating contact information for specific individuals in the federal government. Unless I've met someone directly or been given their email and phone number by a colleague, it takes a good amount of time to track them down. I regularly have to ask, "Do you know the email standard at [agency name]?">>
By Emily Long
08/02/10 01:00 pm ET
Information technology budgets may be going down in the next few years, and chief information officers will be asked to do more with less. However, strained resources could promote innovation and efficiency, according to a state IT professionals. >>
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