The U.S. Office of Personnel Management has launched a new Open Government site, meeting President Obama’s December 8th, 2009 requirement that federal agencies establish a site within 60 days and publish their open government plan within 120 days. The initiative was created to enhance government transparency and increase civilian participation with the government. Now that [...]

NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden has appointed Robert D. Braun the agency’s Chief Technologist.  Braun serves as the principal advisor and advocate on matters concerning agency-wide technology policy and programs. The appointment comes on the heels of NASA’s new initiative “that targets technologies that could be transformational in their ability to improve the capability, reduce [...]

Following a nine month delay, Martha Johnson has been appointed to the position of head of the GSA. The road from nomination to senate confirmation had been a rocky one for Johnson, who faced a significant challenge from Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo). As reported by Executive Gov’s Ellen Scott: “Bond’s hold was put into place [...]

The Washington D.C. metro area is preparing for a potentially paralyzing snowstorm that will hit mid-Friday and last through Saturday evening. With snowfall accumulation projected to be anywhere from one foot to over two feet, compounded with heavy winds and continued frigid temperatures throughout the week, cancellation or delay of scheduled federal events is likely. [...]

Federal CTO Aneesh Chopra has unveiled a new initiative: “Text4baby,” a free mobile information service designed to promote maternal and child health. According to the program’s site, it is an educational program of the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB), text4baby provides pregnant women and new moms with information they need to take care [...]

President Obama will be making a series of steps as part of his “comprehensive strategy to enhance American energy independence while building a foundation for a new clean energy economy, and its promise of new industries and millions of jobs.” “Now, I happen to believe that we should pass a comprehensive energy and climate bill,” [...]

It may not be Harvard, but the Cincinnati State Technical and Community College is branching out to offer a degree in Smart Grid studies. While the Smart Grid concept has had some issues getting off the ground, the initial validation from higher education should come as moral victory for backers of the idea. The major [...]

Are you a worker in the federal government?  Then Federal CIO Vivek Kundra needs your help. Kundra took to his blog to underscore the importance of making federal data open to the public, a major piece of the Open Government initiative.  As part of his message, he pointed out several ways that federal government employees [...]

In a effort to bolster progress being made in developing wide-reaching government Electronic Health Records (EMR)s, President Barack Obama included funding for the jeopardized initiative. According to Reuters: “His plan calls for $268 million to expand efforts to compare various medical treatments to see which ones work best as well as $110 million for additional [...]

In case it hadn’t already been made abundantly clear, the Obama administration has put an increasingly intense emphasis on Web 2.0 initiatives. The president has announced plans for a YouTube event this week in which he will take questions from users about the current state and direction of the nation – think of it as [...]