Voterheads lets anyone keep track of any council meeting, down to the specific topic. CEO Karl McCollester shares how they’re making this possible.
Presidential Innovation Fellows made permanent through bipartisan TALENT Act
As of 20 January, President Obama signed the TALENT Act of 2017 (H.R.39) into law as one of his last acts as President.
Transforming U.S. government services in a digital world
18F has developed a framework for how it helps agencies with digital transformation efforts and has created a deck that offers a blueprint for others looking to do this on their own.
DOD advisory board approves innovation recommendations
The U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Advisory Board approved 11 recommendations “aimed at keeping the Defense Department on the cutting edge in technology, culture, operations and processes.”
‘Smarter Faster Better’ government
I finished reading Charles Duhigg’s latest book, “Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business,” and in it are two great government-related anecdotes around motivation and agile thinking.
e.Republic announces top 100 government technology companies for 2017
Government Technology and e.Republic Labs announced the 2017 GovTech100, “a listing of the leading 100 companies focused on government as a customer, having developed an innovative or disruptive offering to improve or transform government, or having created new models for delivering services.”
Event: Reimagining the Digital Reform of Government in the Trump Era
Reinvent will host Code for America Founder Jen Pahlka and O’Reilly Media Founder Tim O’Reilly on January 19 in San Francisco in a discussion on how civic-minded technologists should approach the ongoing reinvention of government in the Trump era.
GSA issues software-as-a-service request for information
The General Services Administration has issued a request for information related to the federal government’s use of software-as-a-service.
Neighborly inspiration from CEO Jase Wilson
Neighborly CEO Jase Wilson is an inspiring entrepreneur working to change how public projects are funded.
What’s different about GovTech?
I’ve spent the last eight years building and selling products to governments. At the risk of oversimplifying what works in govtech, I think success comes from three factors.
The power of digital governments around the globe
With the advent of artificial intelligence, augmented reality, smart sensors and the Internet of Things, the digital and physical worlds have become more integrated than ever.
Book: ‘How to Talk to Civic Hackers’
Civic hacker icon Mark Headd has written a book to help government officials best engage with community technologists.
Hacking for Diplomacy: What we learned with the State Department
By the end of the class our sponsors inside State had experienced a practical example of a new and powerful methodology which could help them better understand and deal with complicated international problems and apply technology where appropriate.
The long tail of political mail
Danielle Winterhalter, SpeakEasy co-founder and director of strategic partnerships, shares how they’re addressing a fundamental aspect of lowering the barrier to entry, especially when it comes to political (snail) mail, which is still more relevant than you might think.
Federal government progress in IT reform
The U.S. Government Accountability Office released a status report on federal government technology reform progress, and it’s an insightful read more than anything on the the lack of synchronization between agencies and GAO.
Passive intelligence for government
Every government wants to use data to make better decisions.
Transforming digital government
Earlier this year, 18F released a preliminary report on “what makes modern digital practices ‘stick’ within a government entity.”
Hacking for Diplomacy – The State Department takes notice
We’ve just held our seventh and eighth weeks of Hacking for Diplomacy at Stanford, and the attention our course is getting from Washington – and around the world – has been interesting.
Bringing California open data to life
Okay, I admit it: Even as a champion of open data, I find that it’s often mundane to view data on a portal. Simple lists of datasets — and even the maps and charts you can create — don’t truly show the intrinsic value of data that’s been freed to benefit communities.
Nudging residents to better engagement
“Behavioral Insights for Cities” offers anecdotes into how governments can improve constituent engagement by implementing smarter messaging and design into print collateral, email, texts and online interactions.
Obama ‘Wired’
President Obama served as guest editor for the November issue of Wired, and the entire print issue is worth investing in. Here are articles that might be of interest to those of you focused more on the civic and government technology fronts.
OpenGov expands to open source, open data
Open Gov’s CEO Zac Bookman shares how OpenGov the company’s new open data solution will impact public administration – including how governments engage with citizens such as civic developers.
Making open election data more accessible to voters
Having access to timely and comprehensive election data is fundamental to democracy.
GovPress update
Governments looking for website solutions can learn more at ProudCity.
Getting out the vote
Make sure you’re registered to vote.
Ekistic Ventures launches $15M fund to ‘solve critical urban problems’
Adding to the increased interest in investment opportunities around civic and government technology, a new venture fund, Ekistic Ventures, launched with the intent of “building a portfolio of companies that will solve critical urban problems.”
Driving smart city innovation with open sensor data (part 5)
While there is much technology that can be sifted into must-have, nice-to-have and maybe-someday categories without a negative impact on smart city advancement, there are a few basic pieces of technology cities will need in order to extract value from the real-time data that has already begun to flow through smart cities.
The government technology pitch
Crisis has a history of dictating government technology disruption. But innovators don’t wait for crises.
Bay Area cities team with startups to solve civic problems, scale government innovation
Bay Area cities San Francisco, Oakland, West Sacramento and San Leandro teamed with startups this year as part of the Startup in Residence program to “explore ways to use technology to make government more accountable, efficient and responsive.”
Ash Carter wants to keep DOD weird
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced the DOD will open its third technology innovation “outpost” in Austin, expanding the reach of the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental that serves as a “bridge between those in the U.S. military executing on some of our nation’s toughest security challenges and companies operating at the cutting edge of technology.”