Weekly Round-up: February 03, 2012

Gadi Ben-Yehuda

Gov 2.Overseas!

• Across the Pond. Alex Howard covers the release of GOV.UK, which in time is slated to be a single portal through which Brits can access all government agencies and, in Alex's words, "aims [to] deliver[] faster digital services to citizens through a much improved user interface at decreased cost."  Importantly, and again quoting Alex, "GOV.UK is open source, mobile-friendly, platform agnostic, uses HTML5, scalable, hosted in the cloud and open for feedback."
• Moderation, As Practiced Down Under. Craig Thomler writes about the various types of comment-section moderation used by Australia's government agencies. My go-to piece on this topic is (in internet time) from the late Baroque period--April 2010. "Online comments need moderation, not “real names”"
• And to the North. In The Atlantic, Nate Berg writes about the mayor of Calgary, who is opening up his city's budgeting process.
• Bonus! From The Republic of Foggy Bottom. This is one of the best dashboard sites I've seen in a long time: Tech@State's site for today's (and tomorrow's) confab.

Dr. John Bordeaux

• "We're all cyborgs now."  Building on Andy Clark's observations in "Natural Born Cyborgs," another exploration into the cognitive sharing we all experience with our machines.  Carr warns us that our we are becoming more shallow - whether you agree, it appears we may be influencing, in interesting ways, our own cognitive evolution.
• Staying with this theme, what did we do before GPS?  We created spatial maps in our minds to help us navigate our environment.  If it's true that our efficient brains offload unneeded processing, what is happening to this ability in the era of GPS?
• And some days the bear gets you.  A cautionary tale of a social media campaign gone awry:  What happens when a fast-food chain asks Twitter to share their "stories?"

Dan Chenok

• White House encourages identity management ecosystem: 
• Shared Services
  -- Citizen input into Strategy:
  -- Government leaders promote need for sound business case:
• Could Procurements: ready for prime time?

John Kamensky

• Status of Fast Track Reorg Legislation.  Lisa Brown, director of the government reform for competitiveness and innovation initiative at the Office of Management and Budget, spoke at a conference about Administration plans for reorganizing the government’s trade and competitiveness functions.  Federal News Radio’s Sean Reilly says that while Fast Track reorganization legislation will be sent to Congress soon, but that the President’s FY 2013 budget – to be released February 13 -- won’t contain any reorganization details.
• Designing Evaluations, 2012 Edition.  The Government Accountability Office’s top-downloaded report this week is an updated guide on how to design program evaluations.  This “methodology transfer” guide has been a perennial favorite among a select crowd in government!
• “Terminator” Technology Today.  Government Computer News’ Henry Kenyon reports that DARPA is developing a new contact lens for combat soldiers “which would work by projecting digital images onto tiny full-color displays next to the wearer’s eyes.”  This optics program is called the “Soldier Centric Imaging Via Computational Cameras” project. . . amazing stuff shows up on Federal Biz Ops! 

The Business of Government Radio Show: Erin C. Conaton

Federal News Radio 1500-AM
Mondays at 11 a.m., Wednesdays at 12 p.m., Fridays at 2  p.m.

The Business of Government Hour features a conversation about management with a government executive who is changing the way government does business. The executives discuss their careers and the management challenges facing their organizations.

Ms. Erin C. Conaton is responsible for the affairs of the Department of the Air Force on behalf of the Secretary of the Air Force, including the organizing, training, equipping and providing for its members and families.

Broadcast Schedule: The show airs Monday, February 06, at 11 a.m., Wednesday, February 08, at noon, and Friday, February 10, at 2:00 PM on Federal News Radio 1500AM WFED

If you can't wait, though, you can listen to (or download) this week's program and all our previous interviews at businessofgovernment.org and by searching our audio archives.