San Francisco Chief Digital Services Officer Carrie Bishop published an excellent commentary piece that touches on several issues we in the digital government industry don’t talk much about, or at all.
White House adds ‘agile and responsive’ security practices to trusted internet connections updates
The White House announced updates to the federal government Trusted Internet Connections initiative with the intent to empower agencies with security practices that aim to remove barriers to modern technology adoption.
New center wants to help Congress grok deep space, deep fakes
The U.S. Government Accountability Office launched a new Center for Strategic Foresight to help Congress better understand issues related to emerging notorious technologies, such as deep space and deep fakes, that impact a well-functioning democracy.
GAO tells Defense Department to ‘fully implement’ open source pilot program
The U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report assessing the lackluster status of the Defense Department’s open source pilot program, saying that until the agency effectively implements this, “the department will not be positioned to take advantage of significant cost savings and efficiencies.”
United Nations digital economy report gives comprehensive insight into global emerging tech trends and the future impact on us all
The United Nations published its 2019 Digital Economy Report that is a comprehensive must-read for civic leaders who want to understand how emerging technologies will impact the global labor market, security, privacy, economy and more.
Policy hackathon in SF to address U.S., European city challenges
A policy hackathon will be held in San Francisco on September 24 to “tackle problems brought by cities from the U.S. and Europe.”
How civic hackers helped California’s DMV get digital momentum
CivicDMV and the Code for America Brigades helped inspire DMV to “unlock” California’s DMV Web Services.
The Government We Need: How we can code a better government
The Government We Need talks with Code for America founder Jen Pahlka about how technology can be a force for civic change.
Intelligence community names privacy, civil liberties leaders
ODNI and CIA named new leaders of their respective privacy, civil liberty units.
New GovPress update
After a long hiatus, GovPress — the WordPress theme for government — has been updated.
A playbook for government as a platform
There seems to be a playbook for all things digital government, and now there’s the “Government as a Platform Playbook” that provides deeper insight into the wonky word technologists often use to describe a more exponential approach to government service delivery.
Democracy and ‘The Great Hack’
The new Netflix documentary, The Great Hack, is an eye-opening account of how voter and social media profile data, particularly from Facebook, combined with a sophisticated, incendiary digital media campaign, can undermine democracy, as we saw happen with Brexit and the 2016 presidential campaign.
In-Q-Tel explains explainable artificial intelligence
The intelligence community’s venture capital arm, In-Q-Tel, published a helpful primer on explainable artificial intelligence.
The Government We Need: How we can bring more diversity into elected office
The Government We Need talks with Run for Something’s Sarah Horvitz about the changing face of local politics and how we can bring more diversity into elected office.
Pineapple or pepperoni? Homeland Security’s pizza analogy hopes to educate the public on foreign interference of elections
Because “responding to foreign interference requires a whole of society approach,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has published resources that help educate the public on ways hackers can impact U.S. elections.
Government-funded report on government-funded research not accessible to the people who funded it
A federally-funded grant that researched the impact of government-funded research on innovation, such as private-sector intellectual property and inventions, is inaccessible to most of the people who funded it.
Intelligence community creates executive role to lead U.S. election security efforts
The Director of National Intelligence announced the creation of a new DNI executive position focused specifically on election threats. The new position will be led by Shelby Pierson, who previously served as DNI election security crisis manager during the 2018 midterm elections.
CivStart wants to help government leverage technology that serves the needs of vulnerable, underserved communities
CivStart is a new government-focused start-up accelerator that wants to ensure civic technology products “don’t get made in a vacuum — that they serve the needs of our most vulnerable and underserved communities.”
Register for the 2019 DKAN Open Data Summit
For those interested in government open source and open data, registration for the 2019 DKAN Open Data Summit is now open.
What went wrong with the open data movement
Kin Lane offers insightful commentary on what went wrong with the open data movement, and why it failed to live up to initial exuberance and expectations.
NSF to governments: Science must be open, transparent, collaborative
The National Science Foundation issued a statement admonishing governments that “endeavor to benefit from the global research ecosystem” and fail to uphold the agency’s values of openness, transparency and collaboration.
Is the cloud saving government money?
The U.S. Government Accountability Office published a bullish report on the impact cloud services has had on federal government agency technology savings.
Coast Guard alert shows that even commercial vessel security is just basic government security
Based on recent cyber incidents aboard commercial vessels, the U.S. Coast Guard issued a security alert to vessel and facility owners and operators that is essentially basic security practices, even ones that could potentially save governments from the ransomware attacks we see happening more frequently.
Find the truth. Tell the truth.
“Find the truth. Tell the truth.” is a core value of the U.S. Digital Service, and Ben Damman uses the mantra to share his sentiments on how it applies to California technology projects, particularly related to the nascent Office of Digital Innovation.
Code.gov gets a U.S. Web Design System refresh
Code.gov — the platform that makes it easier to find open source code developed by the U.S. Government — announced updates that includes aesthetics aligned with the U.S. Web Design System and better adherence to accessibility standards.
Government open innovation labs
The United Kingdom and Argentina governments are working on what they call the Policy Innovation Exchange that creates the potential for a much-needed, broad-scale government-to-government open collaboration organization that addresses common issues each — and others — have.
The Government We Need: How government can secure us in the internet+ era
The Government We Need talks with Bruce Schneier about internet+ security and government’s role in keeping us safe.
Introducing The Government We Need
After my earlier call for collaboration, The Government We Need, a podcast exploring the government of the future and how it can best serve everyone, is officially live.
California levels up on digital, seeks director for new innovation office
California is officially for looking for its first director of the newly-established Office of Digital Innovation.
Idea: Procurementeers, an open, collaborative government procurement community
It’s cliche to say that government procurement needs to be fixed, but much of the conversation around this topic happens randomly on social media, in a vacuum through exclusive or elusive groups, or through traditional organizations that operate in a closed, dated mindset with respect to broader inclusion or true innovation.
Digital government transformation at scale
While several books have contributed to the knowledge share of the digital government narrative, few have effectively addressed transformation holistically from firsthand experience, and Digital Transformation at Scale: Why the Strategy Is Delivery does just this.
Podcast idea (call for collaboration): The Government We Need
Two years ago, I had an idea for a podcast that focused on the whole of government, and how big thinkers are re-imagining and changing how civil society operates along the civic spectrum.
Golden State dot-gov
California is on the cusp of ushering in a new era of government digital services, one that our elected leaders can finally align, prioritize and execute on, and prove to the people of the Golden State that our representatives are ready to innovate just as other industries here have done.
Part 2: Re-imagining the California DMV website
It’s been a week since I published my thoughts on re-imagining the California Department of Motor Vehicles website. During that time, the issues I had with not receiving my REAL ID were resolved and the process inspired me to think and prototype a little more on the first iteration.
Re-imagining the California DMV website
I recently visited my local California Department of Motor Vehicles field office to renew my driver license and, because I scheduled an appointment ahead of time, my experience wasn’t the nightmare it’s traditionally made out to be. However, the designer in me couldn’t help but think about how the entire DMV process could be re-imagined, offline and online.
We want you: Recruiting and hiring for government digital services
If government truly wants to transform digital services and effectively serve the public at scale, it must start with how it attracts and retains top technology talent.
For and with the people: An introduction to government digital service
As the general public increasingly expects the civic user experience to be as refined as the ones we have with our consumer electronics, digital service delivery has become a priority for governments locally and globally.
Liquid democracy: Blockchains and governance in the post nation-state era
Intrigued by what Democracy Earth Foundation is doing to leverage the power of blockchain to empower a different approach to democracy, I asked the team to share more about its work.
GovFresh Q&A: New Accela CEO Gary Kovacs
Gary Kovacs is the new chief executive officer of Accela, a provider of cloud-based government productivity solutions. We asked Kovacs to share his perspective on various aspects of the government technology landscape, and where he sees Accela’s role in all this.
Newsom proposes new California Office of Digital Innovation for 2019-20 budget
California Governor Gavin Newsom has proposed a new Office of Digital Innovation as part of the state’s 2019-20 budget with initial start-up costs of $36.2 million and 50 positions. The proposal also includes an innovation academy and $20 million innovation fund.
Newsom’s first-day executive order prioritizes government technology procurement reform
California Governor Gavin Newsom wasted no time on his first day in office addressing what many see as the most critical — albeit bureaucratic — issue impacting the state’s government technology challenges: procurement.
The security book everyone in government must read in 2019
If we’re ever going to get security right, technologists must embrace the need for policy and government leaders must do the same with technology, which is why Bruce Schneier’s Click Here to Kill Everybody: Security and Survival in a Hyper-connected World is the 2019 must-read book for every government leader, elected and administrative.
Canada adopts open source mandate for government software
The Government of Canada has issued an information technology directive on business, information, application, technology and security architectures that includes a mandate to prioritize open source software.
Governmental digital: A framework for scalable, sustainable digital government services
Given its nascency, however, for now we must continue to use the phrase ‘digital government services’ to define both informational and transactional online activities, and provide a framework for public sector success into the future.
U.S. Defense Department escalates commitment to open source software
The U.S. Defense Department is escalating its commitment to open source software with a proactive push for agency participation to publicly share custom-developed code.
‘Government Digital’ with Canada CIO Alex Benay
Alex Benay is the Chief Information Officer Government of Canada and an open and relentless advocate for digital government innovation. He is also the author of the new book, “Government Digital: The Quest to Regain Public Trust,” so we asked him to share his thoughts on the role of the CIO, Canada’s proactive move to technology modernization, and what it means for government to go digital.
How Marquis Cabrera avoided ‘being a knucklehead’ and became a champion of global government innovation
Marquis Cabrera is extremely insightful on many topics, a great thinker, conversationalist and intelect that brings a sense of humor, humility, genuine purpose and passion much needed in government technology.
Kiba Gateaux on how blockchain can facilitate peace
Kiba Gateaux shares his thoughts on the role blockchain can play in making the world a more “hospitable and prosperous place for everyone,” and how others can get involved.
California releases state government website standards
The California Department of Technology has published unified design standards and accompanying resources for official state government websites.
Hudson Hollister and government open data leadership
As he steps down from his role as executive director of the Data Coalition, Hudson Hollister reflects on the organization he founded and shares his insights, appreciation and advice to the open data community at large.