2012

People To Watch: Dmitry Kachaev

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Dmitry Kachaev was selected as a Presidential Innovation Fellow for Project OpenData as part of the new White House Presidential Innovation Fellows program. The program pairs top innovators from the private sector, nonprofits, and academia with top innovators in government to collaborate on solutions that aim to deliver significant results in six months.



The Open Data Initiatives program aims to “liberate” government data and voluntarily-contributed corporate data to fuel entrepreneurship, improve the lives of Americans in many tangible ways, and create jobs.

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This is one in a series introducing 18 Fellows working on five initiatives that are part of the White House Presidential Innovation Fellows program.

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Kachaev is a civic-minded software engineer with more than a decade of experience in the private sector, public sector, and academia. Half of his career was spent working for the District of Columbia where he established and ran a technology innovation group called OCTO Labs. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 11, 2012 at 3:00 PM

Online Survey To Probe Business Community for Economic Census

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The Census Bureau is planning for the first time next month to conduct the Economic Census of more than four million businesses using its own web-based system instead of relying solely on paper forms – a lesson for every federal agency looking to cut costs.

It will be the largest survey conducted online by the Census Bureau since it developed its web-based Centurion system in 2009. Until now, the Census has used Centurion for 50 smaller surveys from the monthly wholesale trade survey to the quarterly plant capacity survey. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 11, 2012 at 11:00 AM

Government Business Owners, Not Just CIOs, Need ‘The Risk Talk’

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Communication about the perils of taking inappropriate risk – and how to accept or not accept IT risk in government – is seriously lacking these days. There is clearly a link missing in the chain that connects government business managers with matters of importance such as IT risk.

Take for instance, the Utah data breach and all of the “lessons learned” that have been discussed since following a data breach that exposed the health data of 500,000 people and social security numbers of 280,000 Utah Medicaid recipients. The incident, which took place earlier this year, led the executive director of Utah’s Department of Technology Services to resign in May. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 11, 2012 at 9:00 AM

Women@NASA: Procurement Manager Builds Career Focused On People, Relationships

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This is one among a collection of videos and essays from women who contribute to NASA‘s mission. They are part of the agency’s efforts to create a collaborative and supportive community of women at the agency, inspire girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and to encourage openness and accountability at NASA.

As a child, I really did not think about or plan my life toward any particular career. We lived in Nashville, Tenn., and I was the oldest of five children. After my parents divorced, we moved to Huntsville. My mother would often work 16-hour days to take care of us. Being the oldest meant I was responsible for tending to my brothers and sisters while she was working. Unfortunately, this was not an easy task because they saw me as their equal and not someone with any authority. In spite of that, I believe being placed in this role at an early age taught me some lessons in responsibility. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 11, 2012 at 7:00 AM

People To Watch: Nathaniel Manning

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Nathaniel Manning was selected as a Presidential Innovation Fellow for Project OpenData as part of the new White House Presidential Innovation Fellows program. The program pairs top innovators from the private sector, nonprofits, and academia with top innovators in government to collaborate on solutions that aim to deliver significant results in six months.



The Open Data Initiatives program aims to “liberate” government data and voluntarily-contributed corporate data to fuel entrepreneurship, improve the lives of Americans in many tangible ways, and create jobs.
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This is one in a series introducing 18 Fellows working on five initiatives that are part of the White House Presidential Innovation Fellows program.

_______________________________________________

Manning is the Director of Business Development and Strategy at Ushahidi, a nonprofit tech company from Kenya that specializes in developing free and open source software for information collection, visualization, and interactive mapping. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 10, 2012 at 3:00 PM

The White House Takes Cyber Action

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For weeks now rumors have been circulating about the White House working to draft an executive order, which will put in place cybersecurity measures to protect the critical infrastructure of the United States.

A glimpse of the draft’s intent was released in news reports in recent days, including a Washington Post report, which among other points, noted that the plans called for voluntary standards. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 10, 2012 at 1:30 PM

Feds@Work: Leading International Crisis Response

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This is one in a series of profiles on the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features a finalist for the National Security and International Affairs medal Michelle Bernier-Toth, managing director for Overseas Citizens Services in the Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs.

When American citizens got caught up in the uprising in Syria, the overthrow of governments in Egypt and Libya, the earthquake in Haiti or other overseas crises, they turned to U.S. embassies and consulates for information and assistance. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 10, 2012 at 1:00 PM

Continuous Monitoring Required For Digital Data Everywhere

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Digital data is exploding and government agencies are facing a data visibility crisis.

By 2016, analysts predict there will be 760 million tablets in use worldwide and 1 billion people will own smartphones. And according to a survey by CDW Government, 99% of federal IT professionals have deployed mobile devices to agency employees with 44% of federal employees reporting using their personal mobile devices for work purposes. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 10, 2012 at 11:00 AM

What 205 Prize Challenges Have Taught Government Agencies

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In September 2010 the Obama Administration launched Challenge.gov, a one-stop shop where entrepreneurs and the public can locate and tackle tough problems – and win cash prizes doing it. Two years later, 45 federal agencies have awarded more than $13.9 million in prize money in 205 challenges, with some 16,000 citizen “solvers” taking part in the competitions.

These impressive numbers demonstrate the impact made by the administration’s efforts to make incentive prizes a key part of agencies’ problem-solving and innovation arsenal, White House officials said. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 10, 2012 at 9:01 AM

Security Or Access? New DISA Strategy Seeks To Strike Balance

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The Defense Information Systems Agency wants to kick down a lot of existing security boundaries so that commanders can work together efficiently without having their email, video and text messaging hung up in a thicket of contradictory security requirements. But increasing access to classified command networks calls for some tradeoffs between security and utility, Anthony Montemarano, DISA’s director for strategic planning said in an interview this week.

To meet its goals and protect military networks, DISA, is working with Cyber Command to share information and develop tactics and policies to respond quickly to cyber attacks. The agency is also working closely with the NSA on security technologies such as encryption for mobile devices, Montemarano said. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 7, 2012 at 1:30 PM
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