May 7

May 7 Has Google Lost Control of Glass?

Change, Glass, Google, Media, Mobile, Mobile Tech, Privacy

What drives me crazy about the debates around Google Glass is the groups of people who keep on saying, “Society will adjust. People will get used to it. It’s no different than what we have now with omnipresent security cameras and smartphones in every pocket.”

May 6

May 6 Utilities and Cable Companies: What's a Monopoly To Do?

Dennis D. McDonald

Cable TV, Innovation, Internet, Monopolies, Television, Media

For me to bottom line is simple: government regulation, initially implemented to protect public interest, is now viewed by many as protecting special interests instead. This needs to change.

May 1

May 1 How Our Increasing Digital Connectedness Improves Government Program Evaluation

Dennis D. McDonald

Accountability, Big Data, List05, Metrics, Performance, Statistics, Transparency, eGovernment

There will always be a need to conduct formal evaluations of how well government programs perform. Such evaluations must take into account the complexity of programs and the need to distinguish among short term and long term impacts and the intervening conditions that also impact program effectiveness.

Apr 29
Apr 29 More Data, Please - and Don’t Hold the Pickle

Dennis D. McDonald

Big Data, Data Access, Glass, Google, Transparency

Robert Scoble’s explanation of why his employer is paying him to fly around promoting Google Glass makes perfect sense, especially this point:

Apr 19

Apr 19 Just Measuring Government Performance Is Not Enough

Dennis D. McDonald

Accessibility, Accountability, List05, Metrics, Performance, Transparency, eGovernment

The Washington Post article this past week “Why not measure how well government works?” asks the reasonable question, “Why aren’t more government programs evaluated?” Also asked, is “Why aren’t government programs that are evaluated and found wanting just canceled?”

Apr 17
Apr 17 Should Local Governments Rely on Facebook for Public Communications?

Dennis D. McDonald

Facebook, Media, Privacy, , Transparency, eGovernment

Am I being overly sensitive since I gave up using Facebook myself and don’t recommend it to others? Or should the fact that so many people use Facebook be the real deciding factor?

Apr 16
Apr 16 Keep Your Eyeballs to Yourself, Chathead

Dennis D. McDonald

Advertising, Chathead, Facebook, Google, Media, Privacy, , User Interface

Oh, I know you are supposed to be able to fine-tune all the all this via Facebook settings. But I have more important things to do than to constantly rejigger confusing Facebook notification and privacy settings.

Apr 10
Apr 10 When Are "Open Data" and "Hiding in Plain Sight" Synonymous?

Dennis D. McDonald

Accessibility, Big Data, Data Access, Democracy, Open Data, Openwashing, Transparency, eGovernment

At issue is whether the public will have the tools, skills, wherewithal, and resources to locate, understand, and make use of the data. If not, the division between the “haves” and “have nots” will be exacerbated, no matter how many data files are offered for download.

Apr 9

Apr 9 Comcast Must Die

Dennis D. McDonald

Cable TV, Customer Support, Media, Monopolies, Television

I feel sorry for Comcast customer support staff. I really do.

Apr 5

Apr 5 Is the Project Management Office Evolving or Devolving?

Dennis D. McDonald

Collaboration, Consulting, Knowledge Management, Knowledge Transfer, List_AR, PMO, Project Management

If you’ve ever run a PMO, you know how much of your time and energy are devoted to gathering, analyzing, and distributing information. Perhaps we are seeing that the project management organization is changing because how people communicate and share information is also changing.

Apr 1

Apr 1 Matching Technological Literacy with Delivery of Government Services

Dennis D. McDonald

Automation, Customer Care, Customer Support, Local, Open Data, Sequestration, Transparency, eGovernment

Is the “open government” movement’s emphasis on technology creating two classes of citizens based on technological literacy?

Mar 27
Mar 27 Is Jeff Jarvis Having a "Technopanic" Attack?

Dennis D. McDonald

Glass, Google, Google+, Jeff Jarvis, Media, Technopanic

Problem is, when it comes to Glass, Jarvis might be throwing the bathwater out with the baby.

Mar 25

Mar 25 On Defining the "Maturity" of Open Data Programs

Dennis D. McDonald

Big Data, Data Access, Definitions, List05, Metrics, Open Data, Transparency, eGovernment

Making government program data more “open” should be the responsibility of the program that is responsible for generating the data. The cost of doing so should also be part of the budget of that program.

Mar 23
Mar 23 Google's "Trust" Problem Isn't Going Away

Dennis D. McDonald

Glass, Google, Media, Reader, Transparency, Trust

Who wants to give over free access to every scrap of online behavior to a single company that “can’t be relied upon” to maintain the key value-generators of their infrastructure, especially since so much of their product offerings are subsidized through advertising sales?

Mar 21

Mar 21 Learning from the World Bank’s “Big Data” Exploration Weekend

Dennis D. McDonald

Best Practices, Big Data, Collaboration, Data, Data Access, List05, Statistics, Transparency

If you’re serious about data analysis there’s probably no substitute for getting “down and dirty” with real, live, messy data. Sometimes you just have to sift through the numbers with your “bare hands” if you really want to extract meaning from descriptive statistics, predictive models, and fancy visualizations.

Mar 15

Mar 15 Google Reader: Act First, Apologize Later

Dennis D. McDonald

Customer Support, Google, Jeff Jarvis, Media, Transparency, Trust

Mar 12

Mar 12 Who Knows What Google Should Do With Glass?

Dennis D. McDonald

Glass, Google, Innovation, Media, Mobile

What if Glass is an expensive and embarrassing failure involved in some awful disastrous accident? Will Google’s Board demand a shake up in its upper management — or its business model that covers giving away services? I hope nothing like this happens because we all benefit from Google’s success.

Mar 4

Mar 4 How Will We Know When "Sequestration" Hurts Us?

Dennis D. McDonald

Metrics, Sequestration, Statistics, Transparency, eGovernment

Given availability of data on government programs from sources as diverse as Performance.gov, Data.gov, Sunlight Foundation, and the State of the USA project, where can we go for impartial reporting on the impacts sequestration will have on the US economy?

Mar 1

Mar 1 Quitting Facebook Is Not Just About Privacy

Dennis D. McDonald

Facebook, Media, , , Trust

While on Google+ I ran across a link to what I thought was another one of those “Why I Left Facebook” posts, this time one by author Douglas Rushkoff called Why I’m Quitting Facebook on CNN’s website. His reasons go beyond privacy exploits and appear to me at least to be much more serious and profound.

Feb 26
Feb 26 Why I Hope Google Glass Succeeds

Dennis D. McDonald

Apple, Change, Glass, Google, Mobile Tech, Siri

You can’t follow the technology press without being aware of Google’s still under development Glass project. Recently a Verge video was published that illustrates how the video and information display functions of glass might operate. Geeks everywhere responded with oohs and aahs.