GoV-log: Editor's Video Blog

Newspaper: Obama Picks Cyber-Security Coordinator

2009-12-22T02:34:25Z

The Washington Post is reporting that President Barack Obama will soon name a former official in the George W. Bush administration as the U.S. cyber-security coordinator.

According to unnamed sources, the newspaper says Obama's choice is Howard A. Schmidt, a former cyber-security adviser to the Bush White House.

The Obama administration has made cyber-security and its coordination across government agencies a top priority. But over the past year the White House saw an exodus of top cyber-security officials, including presidential adviser Melissa Hathaway.

Are Train and Bus Schedules Copyrighted?

2009-08-21T16:31:48Z

The Advocate, the daily newspaper in Stamford, Conn., had a thought-provoking piece the other day that raises an interesting question. Many cities and counties are scrambling to roll out applications for mobile phones. Many of these "apps" are centered around public transit, i.e. helping commuters with schedules, travel times, and route planning.

Several cities, such as Washington D.C. and New York, have launched programs to encourage the public to design applications to share with fellow citizens. D.C.'s successful Apps for Democracy program has inspired New York's recently announced Big Apps. But its New York's Metro Transportation Authority (MTA) that's at the center of a recent controversy.

A Greenwich fellow by the name of Chris Schoenfeld created an iPhone app called StationStops. For $2.99, users can download the app and gain mobile access to MTA bus and train schedules. Earlier this month, Schoenfeld received a cease and desist order from the MTA. The MTA, it seems, believes the timetables constitute copyrighted data and the agency wants Schoenfeld to pay licensing fees as well as a $5,000 royalty fee in order to continue selling StationStops.

Schoenfeld argues that while the timetables themselves may be copyrighted, the data itself is publicly available. Furthermore, Schoenfeld says he's presenting the data in a format that's different from how the MTA presents it, specifically by building an iPhone app with the data, something the MTA hasn't done.

According to The Advocate, the MTA's issue is that any errors in Schoenfeld's app will result in complaints to the MTA instead of to Schoenfeld.

"The bigger concern is that he is not licensed by us, so we can't verify the information he is providing is correct," MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz told the paper. "If people have problems with his information, they won't be calling him. They'll be calling us."

The story has been picked up by the New York Times and is sure to receive further attention as the question of whether such data is or can be copyrighted is debated. Perhaps the bigger issue here is that if a third-party is doing a public service, and doing it well, should a government agency even pursue a copyright infringement claim, even if it is warranted?

What do you think?

Microsoft to Offer Online Office...for free

2009-07-13T21:38:35Z

Fortune is reporting that Microsoft will offer its Office suite of software online - and for free - with the 2010 version. Looks like the online iteration will be ad-supported. Will have more on this as it develops.

Senate Confirms Aneesh Chopra as National CTO

2009-05-27T00:20:15Z

The U.S. Senate quietly confirmed former Virginia Secretary of Technology Aneesh Chopra as the nation's first-ever chief technology officer on May 21.

Chopra joined other Obama appointees at a hearing on May 19 of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. The committee asked him just one question -- about using IT to improve rural health care. Chopra answered that as CTO he would work on the issue.

In Virginia, Chopra championed projects such as the Physics Flexbook, a Web-based open source textbook that supplements existing materials. He backed a social network built on Ning to connect health-care clinicians in small towns. He also initiated a scorecard system to rate the performance of Virginia's state agencies, and launched a one-stop Web site for business-to-government transactions and services. Last year the National Association of State Chief Information Officers awarded Virginia first-place honors for technology management.

"We worked to build a culture of innovation in the public sector that saw state employees translate simple ideas into funded prototypes expected to 4 to 1 return on taxpayer investment and aligned directly with legislative and executive priorities," Chopra told the committee.

Federal News Radio reported Monday that U.S. Rep. Gerry Connelly, D-Va., introduced a bill to "codify" the job roles of the CTO and CIO that President Barack Obama created by executive order. Vivek Kundra is currently the federal CIO.

Can Social, Participatory Gov 2.0 Work?

2009-05-04T15:39:36Z

The headliner at last week's NASCIO conference was federal CIO Vivek Kundra. But one of the more interesting presentations during the conference was Dr. Beth Noveck's speech on what the White House is doing to turn social networking tools into an outcome-oriented platform for the Obama administration.

Noveck is the deputy director for Open Government within the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House. Her efforts stem from President Barack Obama's memo issued on the first day of his administration calling for more transparency in government. But promoting transparency is proving harder than it seems.

Noveck got right to one of the points that has troubled me a lot about social networks as tools for civic engagement: they create a lot of "noise" but don't necessarily lead to collaborative ways to solve government's myriad problems.

"We see examples of civic participation, but it's divorced from government itself," she said. "We see example of how government responds to complaints...but they don't engage people in the process, nor do they track progress."

In other words, the marriage of social networks and government has been pretty much a one-way street so far. Lots of "noise" coming in, but very little in the way of collaborative solutions, based on citizen participation, coming out.

Noveck mentioned several efforts underway to resolve this new conundrum, including Harvard University Group Brain Project and the U.S. Patent Office's Peer-to-Patent Project, which is designed to reduce the enormous backlog of patent reviews that is costing the government huge sums in litigation costs. The Peer-to Patent project is attempting to link volunteer scientists, using social networking tools, with patents under review to speed up the application process.

Noveck has a sterling resume for leading the the trasparency program at the White House. She is the director of the Institute for Information Law and Policy at New York Law School and a recognized expert on the impact of information on public institutions; she has taught courses on e-government and has just authored a forthcoming book, called "Wiki Government".

She spoke forcefully about how collaborative efforts have the benefit of generating new solutions and ideas that would never be found by a single person, and that networks of problem solvers can mobilize action. Most importantly, she said "collaborative innovations drive performance."

But she recognizes that government's current approach to developing feedback mechanisms via social networks aren't well managed in terms of converting citizen input into outcomes.

Meanwhile, as government ramps up its use of social networks sites, privacy groups are speaking out with growing concern about government and social networking, especially in regards to the personal information it will get access to as it tries to create greater transparency. The charge towards Gov 2.0 is in danger of falling off the tracks if done incorrectly.

Noveck believes it can be done correctly and that CIOs must play a major role in helping their government embrace social networks for outcomes. Here are my (somewhat raw) notes from her multi-point principles on creating greater transparency without all the noise:

Ask the right questions.
Ask the right people: make sure to create opp for the right people to participate. (examples: CityScan, Peer to Patent)
Design process for desired end: Do you want a Wiki style or a Digg-style design for collaboration?
Design for groups. When you engage people as individuals you get individual responses. Instead create processes that use the wisdom of the crowd. Use the community to moderate, thereby increases efficacy of democracy.
Use the screen: Mashups that create meaningful and powerful. Make data real and show people they are part of the process.
Roles and tasks. If we show people what the job is we want them to do, you can get people to self select (rather than toss up any idea for consideration).
Reputation: there are tools for ranking ideas up and down. They help manage large scale influxes of information. These tools can turn feedback into something manageable.
Make policies rather than websites. Example: Getting feedback from employees. TSA has one. State Dept has one. Have to create some kind of feedback loop, otherwise it goes to waste. Need a process to manage feedback. Obama campaign had policy networks in moderated listservs. You need to channel expertise so it can be used and useful.
Pilot new ideas. NASA's XPRIZE program; Get people to submit innovation that exceeds the cost for the prize. Another example is Kundra's "Apps for democracy" project.
Focus on Outcomes: don't spend too much time measuring the inputs. Need to focus on what to achieve. You have to rethink transparency and collaboration to what end. What does better performance actually mean?

In closing Noveck said that it's up to public CIOs to bring their perspective to this unfolding process. "We need common platforms," she said. "We need CIOs to use their bully pulpit to push innovation to overcome resistance to experimentation while keeping in mind [public sector] obligations. We need to...champion the people are successful and innovative in engaging citizens."

Ok public CIOs. Your job continues to grow in importance as government transforms itself.

CDC Conference Call/Live Stream happening now

2009-04-27T18:03:49Z

Swine Influenza Investigation Update

Call in and live stream info

Latest Swine Flu Numbers

2009-04-27T17:42:52Z

According to the CDC, there are 40 confirmed cases of Swine Flu in the U.S.

As of 10 AM PT, the numbers are:

California	7 cases
Kansas	2 cases
New York City	28 cases
Ohio	1 case
Texas	2 cases
TOTAL COUNT	40 cases

The CDC has also released some guidelines regarding the use of facemasks and/or respirators to prevent infection.
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/masks.htm?s_cid=tw_epr_76

Track Swine Flu on Google Maps

2009-04-27T15:17:49Z

A user claiming to be a biomedical researcher and who goes by the screen name "niman" has created a Google Map that tracks reported Swine Flu cases.

View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map

Disappearing CIOs? Possible Recession Trend

2009-04-27T14:47:14Z

Brian Watson, who writes a CIO column for eWeek magazine, came up with an interesting observation last week. (I would give you the link to Watson's column, but eWeek has this maddening habit of not posting online links to articles that appear in their print publication.)

In recent months a number of companies -- some rather large in size, including News Corp, ConocoPhillips, Harrah's -- are dropping the CIO title for positions that involve a corporation's IT operations. Instead, as these and other firms restructure, they are parceling out CIO duties to VPs and deputy CIOs.

Art Langer, a Columbia University professor, told Watson that "the CIO role has less legitmacy than other C-level positions, making it easier to discard in tough economic times." Unlike CEOs and CFOs who have been around for a while in organizations, CIOs "are relatively new to the C-suite and they lack a defined career/educational track -- and a professional organization to bolster their credibility."

Watson is writing about the private sector but there are parallels to the public sector. Most signfiicantly, public CIOs are relatively new to the c-level in government. It's only been in the past few years that we've seen a rise in the number of CIOs who report to the highest elected official in government. And while the position of the federal CIO is mandated by Congress and state CIOs have a strong professional organization (NASCIO), the role of the local government CIO is much more ambiguous.

I have yet to hear of any county or municipal governments dropping the CIO title, but they are under the most pressure to cut costs in the economic downturn and would be the most likely to jettison the position and restructure it into something that isn't called a CIO.

Because there's clear evidence of the problem in the private sector, Watson believes the CIO role is in a crisis. I don't think that's the case in the public sector, but his advice is something any CIO, public or private, should consider in these turbulent times. CIOs need to make sure they are "true" partners with their leaders, thinking strategically, collaborating closely with their executives and business units and "canning the tech-speak."

Government Reformation

2009-04-22T18:34:01Z

April has been a cruel month up here in Massachusetts. The weather has been chilly and wet (no surprise) and the Red Sox got their 2009 baseball season off to a horrendous start, losing 6 of their first 8 games.

If that wasn't bad enough, the state found itself facing a $1 billion deficit in the middle of the fiscal year, forcing the governor and state legislature to scramble and find ways to patch the gaping budget hole. So far, the suggestions on how to fix the problem haven't been pretty.

After years of just watching revenue grow, even as new more expensive programs were added to the budget, policymakers find themselves facing three stark choices:

Raise taxes
Cut services
Reduce expenses.

Not wanting to raise taxes and damage their chances for reelection, politicians in Massachusetts have opted for cutting services and reducing expenses. The final item on the list means trying to tackle that runaway train known as benefits, a sacred cow to the powerful government unions here.

Despite howls of protest, the unions and their legislative supportors have seen their arguments against change undercut by a series of articles in the (financially vulnerable) Boston Globe that have exposed just how costly and unsustainable some of the agreements have become between the state and its workers.

But that's not the only problem with government in Massachusetts and elsewhere. There's just too much of it. Too many agencies doing the same job (for example, Massachusetts has three large transportation departments).

The problem extends beyond the Boston bureaucracy. Massachusetts has 351 cities and towns, with way too many trying to maintain their own services when, in fact, they should be sharing.

Tom Brokaw, the former NBC news announcer, recently wrote an op-ed article in the New York Times pointing out how costly it has become to maintain government at the state, county and munipal level, especially in rural areas. As an example he cites the 99 counties that exist in Iowa, each with its own set of courts that continue to operate, whether they are truly needed or not.

But it's not all bad news. The city of Springfield, Mass., went bankrupt several years ago after local officials couldn't make the tough choices to raise taxes, cut services and reduce expenses. So the state appointed an independent financial board to take over and run the city

Today, one of the poorest cities in the Commonwealth (based on per capita income) has a $10 million surplus, despite the worst economy in over 60 years. The board imposed on the city its version of CompStat and put each department under intense performance scrutiny. As a result, the city has slashed a raft of wasteful and unncessary expenses and is saving another $1.7 million annually.

While cuts in staffing have been made, investments in technology are up. Way up. Springfield has implemented an ERP system to streamline financials and HR. And the city is about embark on 311, which will reduce the number of non-emergency calls made to the city's 911 system while improving service response.

Ripples of reform are appearing elsewhere around the country. Will they go far enough? In some regions of the country where the problems are deep, the answer is probably yes. We have the tools, thanks to technology, to share services in a way that wasn't possible 10 years ago. Now it will just take political willpower to make it happen.

California Sets Rules for Data Center Expansions

2009-04-17T18:55:28Z

Another day, another policy letter from the California Office of the Chief Information Officer. The office announced Friday that all construction of new data centers -- as well as expansion of existing ones -- requires prior approval from state CIO Teri Takai.

The state tallies more than 400,000 square feet of data center floor space, spread across 400 data centers and server rooms.

This week, OCIO also announced policies for enterprise architecture and project management.

High Time for High Speed Rail

2009-04-16T14:30:25Z

I live in the Northeast where travel by passenger rail is an option. In fact, there's an Amtrak stop just a few miles from my home, where I can board intercity trains that can take me to New York City and beyond.

For purposes of business, riding a train is great. I don't have to take off my shoes and have my bags inspected prior to boarding. Once in my seat, I can plug in my laptop computer, turn on my wireless broadband card, take calls on my cell phone and do just about everything I do back in my office. If I'm hungry, I can stroll down to the cafe car and get something to eat and drink. By the time I reach my destination, I'm far more relaxed and have accomplished much more than when I fly.

I also know I can only do this in the Northeast Corridor, where frequent and relatively fast rail service makes traveling by train both reliable and convenient. You can't do the same between, say Chicago and St. Louis, or Atlanta and Nashville or Los Angeles and San Francisco. There's nothing speedy, convenient or reliable when it comes to rail service in these and about a dozen other high capacity corridors of travel.

Fortunately, the situation is about to change. Today, President Obama announced plans to develop high speed rail in the United States. In February, Congress approved spending $8 billion to jump start the kind of intercity rail service that can be found throughout much of Europe, Japan and, eventually, China. Obama has included another $5 billion for high speed rail in the White House budget.

In his remarks, Obama spoke about the nearly $80 billion in lost productivity that happens annually in the U.S., thanks to congestion on the roads and at airports. High speed rail won't eliminate all the congestion; the country is too big and would require a train network too large to reach every corner and provide everyone service that's convenient, fast and reliable.

But by focusing on a dozen or so potential corridors between 100 and 500 miles in length, high speed rail can make a difference by becoming an option in terms of travel. We have the proof from highly successful rail systems built in the same manner overseas and within the northeast corridor, between Boston and Washington, D.C.

So what's this have to do with technology? Plenty. High speed rail is one component of smart transit, America's new infrastructure. Just as we're learning that IT can help create smart grids that make our use of energy more efficient, so too can IT help make surface transport more efficient, reliable and convenient.

Bits and pieces of smart transit have been popping up in recent years. Mapping tools help car drivers find their destination more easily; they help fleets of trucks and buses move more efficiently and, with the development of a high speed rail system, IT will aid in speeding up the movement of trains and give passengers up to the minute information for making connections between the trains and airports, buses and subways.

It's all about new, smart infrastructure that allows people to have more options for traveling easily without paying the high cost of lost productivity and environmental damage.

All aboad!

Texas Gov. Perry Backs State Sovereignty Resolution

2009-04-15T16:18:22Z

With "tea parties" going on across the country today, I thought this speech Gov. Perry gave was interesting. Are we in the early stages of a genuine populist uprising?

Cloud computing companies target government

2009-04-10T21:56:49Z

Cloud computing has quickly become one of the hottest buzzwords in the government IT market. Here are some of the latest moves by major vendors.

Product Review - Panasonic Ultra-Mobile Toughbook

2009-04-09T19:42:30Z

I recently got to try out Panasonic's CF-U1 ultra-mobile Toughbook. The little device packs a lot of power and is certainly rugged, but how well does it work? Watch the video to see.

GIS helps cities track foreclosures

2009-04-09T18:44:25Z

Check out this v-log in which Government Technology Features Editor Andy Opsahl pokes a little fun at GIS technicians while highlighting a nifty GIS tool that tracks foreclosures for local governments.

The Woz to Star in Footloose Remake

2009-04-03T15:47:17Z

Had to share this - from the Jimmy Kimmel Show

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Failing Grade: Electronic Content Management

2009-03-31T14:45:23Z

Is the content -- paper and electronic documents, reports, forms, messages, emails -- still out of control in your agency or government?

You are not alone. Nearly 50 percent of organizations say that managing content is "a challenge" and that the latest communication channels -- instant messages, text messages, blogs and wikis -- are not under control for 75 percent of governments and businesses, according to a recent report published by AIIM, the electronic content industry organization.

"For many organizations, poorly managed and out of control information represents a huge potential source of bottom line savings in this tight economy, if only organizations would take this cost savings seriously," said John Mancini, president of AIIM.

ECM and document management is a huge issue in government. Our Public CIO survey ranked it as the number one technology priority for 2009.

Yet the problem with managing paper and electronic documents and content has bedeviled the public sector since I first started covering government IT back in 1989 (remember Wang?) and has only grown more complex today.

We may think that information is more digital in 2009, but government is still saddled with handling paper, as we found in our 2008 article on document imaging:

"Despite the e-government trend and the move toward enterprisewide information systems, there's still no end of paper in the public sector. Between government's historical archives and the myriad forms used to transact business, paper management is still a major challenge."

Some success stories are out there, however. I'm hearing from some CIOs that their jurisdiction or agency has developed document management platforms that leverage ECM technologies, which reduces implementation cost while shrinking workflow labor costs.

But it's clear, government is barely able to keep up with how it manages all the information it creates and captures.

What's your story? Have a success out there worth sharing? Or an ECM situation that's out of control?

Let us know.

Uncle Sam Wants Your Help

2009-03-30T19:40:50Z

Specifically, the Government Accountability Office is urging private citizens, government workers, contractors and others to "report waste, fraud, abuse or mismanagement of stimulus funds distributed under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act."

As part of the government's transparency push, the GAO announced today that FraudNet, an e-mail, phone and fax hotline, will handle allegations about federal agencies and federally funded programs. The GAO is hoping responsible citizens will identify improper activities and report them to FraudNet. The GAO's press release doesn't specify what we're supposed to be watching out for, but I'm guess they assume we will know fraud and abuse when we see it.

FraudNet has been around since 1979 as a toll-free phone number: 1-800-424-5454. Now tipsters can use email: fraudnet@gao.gov or write to GAO FraudNet, 441 G Street NW, Mail Stop 4T21, Washington, DC 20548. For more details, visit FraudNet.

Has Open Source Lost Its Luster in the Public Sector?

2009-03-24T14:56:56Z

In the latest issue of Public CIO, we published our annual survey of government IT executives. One of more interesting findings was how low respondents rated open source as a technology priority for 2009. I've been wondering about that result, and it's not the first time we've tried to get to the bottom of why open source appears to be just a step child in public sector IT.

I've been doing some research and talking with CIOs to find out what has happened to open source. When it became popular, the free software movement seemed like a natural for cash-strapped governments. But the big shift to open source never happened as its proponents hoped.

Several issues have bubbled to the surface.

1. Open source does cost money. Sure, the software is free, but as any CIO will tell you, there are support costs, training costs and back-end integration expenses. Bottom line: open source is definitely not free.

2. Government, especially small jurisdictions, lack open source skills. Over and over, I've heard CIOs say they brought in an open source application because one worker took an interest in finding out if open source might be the solution. It didn't happen because of some policy. It didn't happen because IT workers were trained in the use of open source. It just happened. The downfall, of course, is that when the one IT worker with open source knowledge leaves the organization, there's no one to take his place.

3. Vendors don't like working with open source. Sure, there are many IT firms that have embraced open source as part of their platform, but in the government market, that seems to be the exception rather than the rule. Many vendors just don't want to mess with open source.

4. Open source is socialism. Ok, this one is a bit far-fetched. But there is a buzz out there that many in the American public sector see open source as some kind of zany European form of socalism that shouldn't be part of our capitalist system.

So is open source dead? Not likely. Despite the problems, open source appears to be embedded in many IT systems, especially at the state and federal level (though some local governments have embraced it wholeheartedly). What you don't hear is a lot of talk about these open source projects. For the most part, they seem to be flying under the radar.

Meanwhile, some of the biggest opponents of open source seem to be softening their position in regards to the software. Open source has put its foot in the door, quietly. It's there for the taking, or not.

Maybe that was how it was supposed to be.

What do you think? The time has passed for open source or just coming very slowly?

Cloud Computing Will Grow Significantly

2009-03-18T14:43:30Z

If you don't think too many organizations, including government, are using cloud computing, you are right.

But if you think that's the way it will remain, you are wrong.

That's the message from IDC's annual IT analyst conference in Boston yesterday. IDC, which defines cloud computing as "shared services,under virtualized management, that are accessible over the Internet via Internet standards," puts the current adoption rate at 15 percent - 25 percent. But in three years, expects those numbers to jump to 25-50 percent.

(These numbers come from a global survey of CIOs in 2008, prior to the economic meltdown.)

Here's what organizations are putting in the cloud:

IT management applications
Collaboration apps
Personal apps
Business apps
Application development/deployment tools
Server capacity
Storage capacity

And here are the 7 reasons why CIOs are using the cloud (in order of importance):

They are easy/fast to deploy
You only have to pay for what you use
Low monthly payments
Less inhouse staff
Offers the latest functionality
Encourages more standard IT
Sharing systems

Notice that economics (saving money) is NOT the first reason. Rather, it has to do with speeding up the deployment schedule.

But why are nearly 85 percent of organizations steering clear of cloud computing? Here are the top reasons why:

Security concerns
Performance concerns
Availability issues
Hard to integrated with in-house IT
Not enought ability to customize
Worried that cloud computing will cost more
Bringing back applications inhouse will be difficult
Not enough major suppliers

Frank Gens, IDC's senior VP, said that organizations are looking for suppliers who can move their cloud offerings back on premises if the need arises. Clearly organizations want flexibility when it comes to cloud offerings.

And government? For now, expect to see private clouds emerge as the stage where cloud services will be made available by the IT department to user agencies.

Finally, CIOs who decide to move on-premises IT into the cloud are doing it because they want to:

Consolidate
Virtualize
Automate.

Is it easy? No.

Is it expensive? Yes.

But it is going to happen.

Microsoft U.S. Public Sector CIO Summit

2009-03-05T22:09:51Z

I just got back from Microsoft HQ in Redmond, Washington, having attended the annual Microsoft U.S. Public Sector CIO Summit. The very well attended event featured a number of Microsoft bigwigs who detailed the role the company is looking to play as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) kicks into high gear. The conference was also meant to explain what Microsoft's plans are for IT in the public sector and in general.

The event, which ran from Tueday through today, was most meaty in the middle, with speakers like Microsoft's Vice President of U.S. Public Sector Curt Kolcun, General Manager of Industry Unit Joel Cherkis, and even the big man himself, Steve Ballmer.

The IT standbys like CRM, business intelligence and unified communications were thoroughly discussed, but the real star of the show was cloud computing. Kolcun helped set the pace with opening remarks Wednesday morning, followed by the highly engaging Cherkis hosting several cloud-heavy sessions. I think many attendees, myself included, were surprised by how much investment the traditionally proprietary Microsoft plans to invest in cloud computing. The subject came up again and again, from a public sector IT perspective to education to Government 2.0.

In addition, Cherkis showed off some fancy Microsoft tech like Surface and Silverlight. Surface technology can be seen here in this video we did a few weeks back. Silverlight, the streaming media technology Microsoft developed and launched for the Summer Olympics, is apparently a big part of Microsoft's future plans. Cherkis provided an excellent demonstration of Silverlight's capabilities by directing the audience to http://memorabilia.hardrock.com/. Once there, do yourself a favor and play around with the interface. If you can locate an image of an old letter, zoom in on the stamp. Keep zooming, you'll be amazed at how far you can go.

Following the morning sessions I was treated to a special lunch with Teresa Carlson, GM of Federal Government, Gail Thomas-Flynn, GM of State and Local, Mary Cullianne, Director of Innovation and Business Development for Microsoft Education Group and Stuart Mckee, Microsoft's national technology officer for U.S. public sector. Cloud computing, ARRA, and transparency were the focus of the lunch discussion. Carlson told me Microsoft is counting on its Elevate America program to help aide in retraining workers in technology so they can compete for some of the jobs ARRA is designed to create.

McKee said many of Microsoft's customers were struggling with the magnitude of the economic downturn as well as the enormity of the monies headed their way. Commenting on the Elevate America program, McKee added that if those looking for work could get Microsoft Certified, a number of well-paying jobs are or will be available.

One of the challenges, it was agreed, is that never before have states had the problem of potentially getting so much aide from the federal government that they may be unable to spend it fast enough or adequately enough. Filtering through funding streams, McKee said, is going to be difficult and agencies are looking to companies like Microsoft to deploy solutions to help.

The discussion eventually headed back into the cloud. I was informed pharmaceutical giant Glaxo-Smith Kline had recently partnered with Microsoft for a large-scale cloud computing rollout. Carlson furthered clarified for me what Microsoft is doing in the cloud. She explained the company will be offering what she termed "choice in the cloud". Essentially, agencies that go through Microsoft to get into the cloud can go all in or develop a hybrid model with some of their apps remaining local.

Afterward, I was able to sit down with Gail Thomas-Flynn to discuss in-depth what the ARRA means for Microsoft and for state and local governments. Thomas-Flynn said that with everything happening so fast, everyone is still trying to get their arms around the stimulus. She said Microsoft is doing its own work to understand how funding is going to work and that the company is talking with states to see that their key areas are.

One of the ARRA issues everyone is concerned with is that funding, which Thomas-Flynn said "has a limited time period. Once the funding is exhausted, what then?" Microsoft, she added, is also looking at the states in an effort to figure out where technology can be an enabler to sustain the initiatives agencies are going to be planning and implementing.

She also told me about her recent visit to the National Governor's Association. She lauded the nation's governors for having what she said was an excellent grasp on the critical role IT will play as ARRA rolls out. Health IT was a top-of-mind issue for most governors, she said. "Putting the citizen more in control of their health," she noted, was roundly called for at the NGA. She added that connected HHS is a big Microsoft initiative, with the company's HealthVault playing a major part.

Before Gail and I wrapped up our conversation to go see Ballmer speak, she mentioned that Microsoft's first big foray into the cloud is the company's Business Productivity Online Suite, or BPOS. BPOS is a set of hosted solutions that include Exchange, Sharepoint, Office and Live services - all available online. BPOS, Thomas-Flynn said, will open the door for every Microsoft product to one day be available in the cloud.

Ballmer ended the day with a boisterous, if not particularly interesting, speech. Basically, the Microsoft CEO recapped the day's sessions and offered a bit of insight on emerging tech trends like new user interfaces, affordable telepresence, and foldable displays. Ballmer did shine, however, during the Q&A that followed, offering surprisingly honest answers to some tough audience questions. When one audience member explained that he had to hire an outside consultant to make sense of Microsoft's enterprise agreements, Ballmer seemed genuinely ashamed his salespeople were unable to help. He was also contrite about the fact the company had yet to devise a way to offer better choice for its bundled services after one attendee complained Microsoft treated him like a cable customer who wants one channel but has to buy 25 others to get it.

Besides taking heat from the audience, Ballmer did give a hint of what's to come from Microsoft, suggesting Windows Mobile will see significant improvements this year. He also advised us to expect significant developments with Windows 7 soon. But clearly Ballmer's speech was about one thing - rallying those in attendance to look to Microsoft to help sort through ARRA. While the company isn't as agile and open as it ought to be, it is getting there. My takeaway from the event was that, were I a public CIO, there is definitely technology and expertise at Microsoft that deserves my attention.

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Report: Vivek Kundra to be appointed 'federal CIO' Thursday

2009-03-05T02:19:10Z

The favorite guessing game among public-sector IT watchers the past few months has been who President Barack Obama would ultimately name to two key technology positions: e-government administrator of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and a newly created federal chief technology officer.

Several media outlets reported the past few weeks that Washington, D.C., CTO Vivek Kundra would indeed become the OMB's e-gov chief.

But there could be a bit of a surprise ending. The Washington Post is reporting that on Thursday Obama will name Kundra the "federal chief information officer," and this newly created position will work "under the auspices of the White House."

The Post reported that the federal CIO will oversee IT spending and have the power to launch new systems and kill enifficent projects. Obama reportedly still intends to hire a federal CTO as well.

At first blush, does this mean Kundra's position will have considerably more responsibility than former OMB e-gov administrator Karen Evans did under George W. Bush? And will Kundra be given the autonomy to wield influence across all federal departments?

We'll know more Thursday. Stay tuned.
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Obama Administration Reaches Out to State CIOs

2009-03-03T23:49:07Z

President Obama's Recovery.org portal is driving new cooperation between states and the federal government, according to NASCIO President Gopal Khanna.

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Maryland Comptroller's Office Leveraging YouTube

2009-02-23T23:13:03Z

The Maryland Comptroller made a YouTube video spoofing beer ads to encourage online tax filing.

The full video is below:

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NASA Accepting Applications for Weightless Experience

2009-02-23T23:03:01Z

NASA announced it is accepting applications from any person or organization for free rides on the Vomit Comet. Check out the video for more details.

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Gene Kranz, Apollo 13 Flight Controller, Urges Support for NASA

2009-02-23T22:29:37Z

Gene Kranz directed NASA's effort to save the crew of Apollo 13, the ill-fated 1970 mission to the moon. He recently spoke at Government Technology's GTC Southwest in Austin, Texas. Here's what Kranz had to say about the importance of space exploration to the country's future.

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Gunshot Detection System

2009-02-05T00:21:49Z

Johns Hopkins University's gunshot detection system allows officials to know in real time when a gun is fired on its Homewood campus or the offsite Charles Village neighborhood. By teaming up with the Baltimore Police Department, university security officials are trying to keep the university as safe as possible.

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Death Map Reveals Most Dangerous Natural Hazards

2009-02-05T00:15:27Z

It's called the Death Map. You'd be surprised to see what kills more Americans than hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires. Check out the real killers.

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The 25 Most Dangerous Programming Errors in Software

2009-02-04T21:43:32Z

Want to know why your software's full of security holes? Your answer may be in the CWE/ SANS Top 25 Most Dangerous Programming Errors list.

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Report: Chief Performance Officer Appointee Withdraws

2009-02-03T17:26:26Z

Nancy Killefer, President Barack Obama's choice for chief performance officer for the Office of Management and Budget, has withdrawn because of tax problems, several media outlets are reporting Tuesday.

Killefer is a former Treasury Department official who worked to modernize the IRS. In the newly created position, she would have worked in the OMB and overseen the efficiency of federal programs and spending.

She is the third Obama apointee to run into tax difficulties. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner admitted he failed to pay thousands in back taxes, but later rectified the mistake; Congress soon after confirmed him. Tax trouble has also hit former Sen. Tom Daschle, Obama's pick for health and human services secretary. The President publicly backed Daschle after the revelations, but Congress hasn't confirmed Daschle yet.

Read more here.

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Georgia May Sell Ad Space on Traffic Cameras

2009-01-26T20:18:49Z

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper, the Georgia Department of Transportation is considering selling advertising space on the sides of Highway Emergency Response Operator (HERO) trucks and on traffic camera feeds. Strapped for cash, the transportation agency's commissioner, Gena Evans, took a grilling from the state Legislature as she reported the agency's grim budget picture.

To read the newspaper's full story, click here.

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Government Agencies Adopt Cloud Computing Platform From Salesforce.com

2009-01-22T01:38:51Z

Last week, Government Technology spoke with executives from Salesforce.com, the popular provider of hosted CRM services, about how the company is bringing its cloud computing model to the public sector. And they showed off a few of their government customers.

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911 Alert Standard Coming?

2009-01-15T18:52:20Z

The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials will soon announce the fate of a proposed national security standard for automatically routing alarm company alerts to 911 centers.

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Wrist Phone Debuts at CES

2009-01-13T20:02:47Z

One gadget getting attention at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas was first conceived by Chester Gould 78 years ago in the pages of the Chicago Tribune -- the wrist radio. Electronics giant LG Gave a modern tweak to concept by ditching the radio and adding a phone.

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Colorado CIO Mike Locatis Urges New Funding Approach

2009-01-12T20:32:57Z

Colorado CIO Mike Locatis is urging the Obama administration to rethink how the federal government distributes money to state and local governments. Locatis and others want President-elect Barack Obama to replace the current program-specific distribution of these funds with a coherent, enterprise funding strategy.

Locatis said he met with Obama's senior policy advisers in July during the Democratic National Convention in Denver and came away impressed with their understanding of the issue.

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