Weekly Round-up: February 04, 2011

Gadi Ben-Yehuda

• Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake created an open data initiative for Baltimore City: http://data.baltimorecity.gov/.  Already, the most widely accessed feeds are Real Property Taxes, Parking Citations, and 311 Customer Service Requests - an interesting datum in itself.  On a related note. . . 
• Federal Computer Week cites "An Open Government Implementation Model: Moving to Increased Public Engagement," an IBM Center for the Business of Government report, to discuss some of the hurdles government agencies face when trying to implement open government directives.  On another related note. . .
• Alex Howard discusses why all those open government directives matter anyway in his article, "Why does government social media use matter to citizens?" 
• Finally, Alex also published "How GIS technology and social media helped crisis response in Australia."  (A topic that echoes another Center report, "Using GIS to Increase Citizen Participation," Check out the video: 

John Kamensky

• Some Things Take Longer Than You Think. Back in the mid-1990s, the Defense Department and Veterans Affairs agreed to develop joint electronic medical records. A new GAO report, “Electronic Health Records: DOD and VA Should Remove Barriers and Improve Efforts to Meet Their Common Needs,” says they are still working on it, and are a long ways from achieving a system that will work. Sigh.
• Let’s Get Organized! President Obama committed to reorganizing the government in his State of the Union address. This reminds me of another GAO report, from 1981, with one of my all-time favorite titles that just says it all: “Implementation: The Missing Link in Planning Reorganizations.” (don’t be alarmed; GAO scanned the report into their system upside down, but it is still readable).
• Improving Program Design. The Center for American Progress released a terrific report and checklist for assessing the effectiveness of existing programs and for congressional staff to use when designing new programs, titled: “The Secret to Programs That Work.” Here’s hoping it doesn’t stay a secret.

Dan Chenok

• Hill taking up cybersecurity in earnest.
• A way to beat cloud security? 
• White House CTO Aneesh Chopra provides more detail on "Startup America" innovation agenda.
• Expertnet explained.

Business of Government Radio Show: Rafael Borras

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. Past government executives include Administrators, Chief Financial Officers, Chief Information Officers, Chief Operating Officers, Commissioners, Controllers, Directors, and Undersecretaries.

Rafael Borras oversees management of the Department of Homeland Security's $56 billion budget, appropriations, expenditure of funds, and accounting, and finance.  

Each week, The Business of Government Hour interviews government executive who are changing the way government does business. The show airs four times a week on two radio stations in the DC Metro Area. If you can't wait, though, we also put it online. You can also search our audio archives for your favorite interview.