Technology

We're hearing right now about a big improvement in the way the U.S. government manages data and gets stuff done. This really is big.

Vivek Kundra, federal CIO, is doing a great job for the country.

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Even though we’ve moved way beyond e-mails with texting, Instant Messages, Twitter, Facebook and what have u, e-mails are still in play. But we have never understood what they really say.

So as another in my series of vital public services, I am interpreting the language of electronic mail. Here’s what the words actually mean:

“Dear Jim: I hope you are well”


(“Actually, I couldn’t care less. This is about me.”)

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Hey, if you're interested in using social media in your organization, and you should be, Social by Social: A practical guide to using new technologies to deliver social impact is the real deal.

Its focus is on how to get your organization really using the stuff, looking at practical measures like getting buy-in from the top and the bottom:

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Anything that might help vets is great, and the folks at the VA are changing their culture in a big way.

Here's a big deal, breaking news ...

The Vet Benefits Administrators are the people who help vets get the benefits they need. They know how to make things work better, and now they have a way to get heard and to put those ideas into practice.

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"Front groups,” sometimes called "Swift Boaters," are people paid by shady politicians or corporate executives to deceive citizens.

Their usual intent is to defeat measures that help Americans but might threaten the profits or power of the front groups' clients.

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The deal with SeeClickFix is that it's about people working with local problems they need fixed.

You can report problems, and then they're sent to local government to get them fixed. To some extent, you can even track progress.

Also, you can define a "watch area" and see what people report. Read more...

Candi Harrison has a lot of real experience in government Web work, and addresses the issue that Web workers need management support to serve the citizenry.

The federal CIO and CTO are there, but we need help from other layers of management.

Check out Candi’s site: Read more...

Beth's the U.S. deputy CTO on Open Government, charged in large part with enabling the reinvention of the U.S. government. That's the Gov2.0 / eGovernment stuff.

She just spoke on "On the Media," which is a really good podcast from WNYC, of how well the media performs.

Specifically, she talked about a successful government application, PeerToPatent, which uses crowdsourcing to get lots of help for patent review.

She also discussed Open Government and her book, Wiki Government, which I've read and highly recommend.

This really is a big deal, under the radar for the most part.

Candi has worked a lot on this, and now she's free to speak out regarding real advice and experience in Now the Real Innovation Begins.

There's a lot of people in government ready to go, providing better customer service and internal processes, but there are regulatory issues and internal politics. Read more...

Jeffrey's a Web manager at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who has lots of serious experience and advice for good customer service for government.

Check out Social Media: Some Resources and A Challenge, including: Read more...