Apps for Democracy is a mashup contest being sponsored by DC’s Office of the CTO. Developers and designers will compete by creating web applications, widgets, Google Maps mash-ups, iPhone apps, Facebook apps, and other digital utilities that visualize OCTO’s Data Catalog, which provides real-time data from multiple agencies to citizens — a catalyst ensuring agencies operate […]
Online communities versus social networks
This past Monday blogger, FastCompany journalist and social media expert Marcia Connor tweeted, “So what’s *your* theory on why online communities get little press while social networks get all the buzz?” Her query was for an article or blog post that she’s working on. Here’s my take on it. In more than 140 characters. Online communities […]
Where can you get a 21st century education?
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the future of education. My 5 1/2-year-old daughter recently started public kindergarten. Her classroom, teacher, schedule and school set-up reminds me a lot of my own kindergarten experience. At first blush this was comforting; then quickly downright scary. Maybe it’s just the feel and smell of the 1930s school […]
Twitter challenges for government agencies
Today I read and commented on Silicon Valley Insider’s post “The US Government Catches The Twitter Bug, And Amazingly, Does It Well” by Eric Krangel. In the post Eric asserts that “some of the best and most innovative new media experiments going on right now on the Internet are coming from the U.S. federal government.” […]
Rethinking “2.0”…
So this morning I received an e-mail from my DoD New Media colleague, Jack Holt, asking for my thoughts on the idea of changing the name of the New Media Directorate to “Online and Emerging Media.” At first I pointed him to my post Official Announcement: It’s Just “2.0”. He pushed back with a good point that echoed […]
A world without boredom
I can still feel the boredom of riding in “the middle” of the back seat of my parents’ 1974 orange Datsun–without a car seat or even seat belt because they weren’t yet the law, let alone, safety features–and whining, “are we there yet?” and 30-seconds later, “when are we going to be there!” “In a little while,” my parents […]
Millenials’ game: are companies?
Today I’m at the second day of Digital Media Wire’s New York Games Conference. Speakers and panels are really excellent–very thoughtful, strategic and smart. The statistic that keeps coming up is that 97% of Millenials game. Wow. During the consumer panel yesterday of teens, we learned that many of teens don’t watch TV at all and […]
Social Networking Breeds Positive Offline Interaction
Chris Brogan wrote a good post this morning entitled The Me Game, in which he shares successful networking tips. As I commented on his blog, it reminded me of something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately: how the open, transparent and inclusive norms and etiquette of social media are impacting our behaviors–and thus the culture–of the […]
Social networks amplify and strengthen their own values: for good… as well as for evil
Social networks amplify and strengthen their own values: openness breeds openness, transparency breeds transparency, truth breeds truth. Twitter, Plaxo, LinkedIn, Facebook and the others are so valuable because their members share the common value and goal of helping one another. We believe that the whole is worth more than the sum of its parts; that working together […]
The Social Networker’s Dilemma
We’ve all been there. You receive a connection request on Facebook, Plaxo, LinkedIn, or another social network from someone you met at a networking event or conference. You chatted for a few minutes, didn’t have any immediate reason to be in touch, but exchanged business cards. Now she wants to connect to you on a […]
