The White House is providing a new tool for the public to talk to its government.
It’s making it easier for the public to petition the government online through the tool,
We The People. An official response is guaranteed for any petition that draws enough signatures – 5,000 names within 30 days. Keep reading →
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s new mobile product, the OSHA Heat Safety Tool, allows workers and supervisors to calculate the heat index for their worksite, and, based on the heat index, display a risk level to outdoor workers.
The app, which is available on Android devices, pulls data from the National Weather Service for it’s calculations. Keep reading →
Being “good” at providing a high quality service to our customers – everyone we encounter everyday – is a given. We all understand the importance of making great impressions although our reasons could be different in different situations.
We may be trying to serve more people in the same amount of time, prevent people from getting upset and frustrated, calm someone who is upset and frustrated, seek repeat business, or foster our general belief that the noblest motive is in fact the public good. Keep reading →
Last week’s 5.8 magnitude earthquake along the east coast and the subsequent battering by Hurricane Irene unleashed not only a heavy dose of nature’s fury, but also a torrent of social media messaging.
And perhaps more than ever before, the federal government played a prominent role in the dialogue. While figures for this past week’s activity are still being gathered, a snapshot of social media use by federal agencies in mid-August, assembled by Breaking Gov, shows its no longer just the White House that is gaining a growing social media following. Keep reading →
The Federal Disaster Relief Fund, the pot of money used to help communities and individuals hit by disasters, is nearly depleted. That’s bad news for victims of both Hurricane Irene and other disasters like the tornadoes that hit earlier this year.
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate said Monday that the agency’s fund has fallen to less than $800 million. With less that $1 billion on hand, the agency is only authorized to pay for emergency repairs. That means that long-term projects, like rebuilding roads, schools and other damaged structures in the tornado-ravaged southeastern states and Joplin, Mo., will have to wait. Keep reading →
As Hurricane Irene threatens the East Coast, FEMA has introduced a new mobile app to get information about how to prepare for and recover from hurricanes and other disasters.
Administrator Craig Fugate, who’s been quite busy this week, demonstrates the new app in a video on the FEMA blog. The tool allows users to: Keep reading →
The new National Mall App from the National Park Service allows iPhone or iPad users to take along a tour guide during a stroll around Washington, D.C.’s memorials and monuments.
The newly released app allows users to take virtual tours, view maps, send postcards and get news updates on more than 70 sites. Keep reading →
A new free mobile app from the FBI allows parents to instantly share crucial information with authorities if a child goes missing.
Child ID app-the first mobile application created by the FBI-provides a convenient place to electronically store photos and vital information about your children, such as height and weight, that can be show to security or police officers on the spot. It also allows users to quickly and easily e-mail the information to authorities. The FBI and iTunes will not collect or store any photos or information that you enter in the app. All data resides solely on the user’s mobile device unless it’s sent to authorities. Keep reading →
In the latest installment of his “On the Go” series, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood answers questions submitted by the public via Facebook, Twitter, and his blog.
His efforts to use social media are part of a management style that has also earned him a relatively high degree of clout in social media circles. Keep reading →
While 23 out of 24 major federal agencies now routinely use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to interact with the public, a new report by the Government Accountability Office released Thursday warned that only seven of the 23 agencies had taken necessary safeguards to protect against malicious activities.
The new report highlighted what amounts to mixed progress in agencies’ effort to use social media to inform and engage the the public, citing concerns in managing and identifying federal records, protecting personal information, and ensuring the security of federal information and the systems that host that information. Keep reading →