President Obama has named Aneesh  Chopra to be the nation’s first chief technology officer.

The president announced the choice in his weekly radio and Internet address, adding Aneesh to a small group of advisers whose aim it is to enhance and modernize the delivery of government services.

You can learn more about him by checking out the fan club page of him on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/updates.php?id=60819069229&sent=1&e=0#/pages/Aneesh-Chopra/60819069229?ref=ts

Aneesh Chopra joins his friend Vivek Kundra who is now Federal CIO.  You can learn more about him on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Vivek-Kundra/56152836529?ref=ts

Below is a picture of them that I took at FightNight in Nov 2008 right after the election.  I will keep track of their progress and blog about their accomplishments in the future.  Stay tuned.

The adoption of new technology in government agencies might seem in some ways more labyrinthine than in the private sector. In fact, it usually proves true that what happens in the broader society eventually happens in government, and in much the same way.

Thus—the answer to the question of who will drive adoption of Web 2.0 in government is most likely a simple one. Users will.

To date, we have documented perhaps the most significant use of Web 2.0 as occuring in the American intelligence community, a once tightly siloed set of agencies that was nevertheless compelled to adopt Web 2.0 processes such as wikis because of the command from on-high to begin sharing information.

Two factors jump-started Web 2.0 in the IC, one being that agencies like CIA, DIA, National Geospatial-IA, and others already met a higher security standard and thus were better able to accommmodate the “open” processes that define Web 2.0.

The other factor that has led to advanced adoption in the IC is that intel analysts tend to be younger, more recent hires to government. They came to their workstations simply expecting to use systems and methods readily available to them in their social lives.

Those searching out areas of government likely to be new adopters of Web 2.0 processes would be well-served to look at the financial/CFO community, or so said Anthony Rainey, a fiscal officer for the CTO of the District of Columbia.

In a blog recently posted by the Association of Government Accountants, Rainey listed specific Web 2.0 processes he thinks public sector CFOs should begin exploiting if they want to be “more proactive rather than reactive.” (Link here) Such areas include: IPv.6, a broader use of popular browsers, XML and XBRL, wikis, blogs, social bookmarks and networks, and emerging collaboration tools.

Rainey said the use of such tools were crucial to the 2008 presidential campaigns and would likely bring major efficiencies to daily agency operations as well.

John Kamensky, an IBM official who likewise analyzed the way the campaigns used Web 2.0, concluded that the “low entry barriers” for collaboration tools (including shared content and shared tools) would logically make 2.0 an easy fit for any “millenial generation” workforce.

To adopt such tools, agencies will have to be willing to “give up and/or share control over information,” Kamensky said. (Link here)

But this same conflict has confronted agencies at every milestone of the information age, beginning with the advent of the PC and running through the evolution of the Internet—and, as we know, the users have almost always won out in the end.

It took a few years, but the federal government has finally become a part of the Web 2.0 community. Utilizing resources such as Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube to help spread involvement and awareness has been a step in the right direction. However, one of their most reason forays might be taking things a bit too far.

Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has undertaken a unique new campaign to help spread health awareness in the Internet community. The CDC has established its own “virtual outpost” in the Second Life community. For those who are unfamiliar, ‘Second Life’ is a virtual world (or “metaverse”) that can be accessed via the internet. It is not quite a video game, nor is it exactly a social networking site. Not unlike the Sims games popularized several years ago, Second Life allows a user to do exactly what that name implies - create a second life. Users create their own character (or avatar) which is capable of exploring an expansive virtual community. You can interact with other users, make friends, and engage in various games/activities. And now you can also use Second Life to visit the CDC for health advice.

There are some who will see this program as a waste of government time and money. The target audience for the CDC’s literature is typically low-income individuals, who likely do not have Internet access. Moreover, individuals with Internet access already have a wealth of resources for health advice. If you are connected to the Internet, you are probably using a site such as Web MD to get your information. Despite being accessible to millions of Second Life users, the CDC outpost only musters a few hundred visitors a month. But, bear in mind that this is a low budget operation. There is little expense in maintaining a virtual outpost in the Second Life world (in fact, associate director of communications John Anderton estimates the CDC has spent a mere 75 dollars on establishing/maintaining the CDC outpost); at the very least, it helps to serve as reminder to Second Life users that they should stay active and get physical activity every so often.
The CDC is not the only government agency found in the Second Life world. NASA, for instance, has its own headquarters. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has its own island, and Sweden is building its own virtual embassy. Private enterprises as well, such as IBM and MTV have their own locations, allowing their advertising to reach a new customer base. If you are interested in starting your own second life, simply visit their website at: www.secondlife.com

Watching so many big legacy corporations in the rel estate, insurance, financial and auto industries teeter if not topple altogether this year has given rise to the idea that the age of the “virtual corporation” has finally arrived. 

Writer Chris Yeh at Open Web Developer is among those who believe that more collaboration and cloud computing offer recession era alternatives to costly traditional vertical enterprise processes. Among many examples, in a recent article Yeh pointed to a mortgage company that gave up a shared server model for a wiki based system, and has managed to “thrive during turbulent times.”

Yeh cited other companies that are cutting down on email, file attachements and complicated document distribution schemes in favor of collaborative systems, less physical travel, outsourcing and off-shoring, and folder based collaboration that eliminates hard-to-tack email trails. In such systems, information reportedly flows faster and overhead is reduced.

Writing about the private sector, Yeh concludes, “While bad times hurt everyone, those who are most adept at doing more with less are likely to capture a bigger share of a shrinking pie, as customers and clients seek to lower cost, higher value solutions.”

The fact is, if commercial entities are able to prosper mainly or entirely because they have adopted the best Web 2.0 practices and tactics, government interests would be well suited to investigate such solutions themselves.

The cloud model has been identified by many experts as still “evolving.” Where it can be aligned at low risk with enterprise IT imperatives and meet requirements for management, security, governance and visibility, it is more than just promising and can be transformative, say experts like Dana Gardner, a principal analyst at Interarbor Solutions and host of a recent pod cast on cloud computing (link here).

Gardner reported that there are numerous innovations around the various cloud models that are now just emerging. In almost all cases, the cloud is enhancing communication across all interest areas within and outside enterprises and promising if not already delivering return on investment.

While it has never been a bad thing for government to lag behind the private sector, once the ROI on one side of the equation is established, agencies risk charges of foot-dragging if they don’t begin to adopt the better business model. Cloud computing looks like it could be a recession buster.

Sites like MySpace and Facebook, once reserved for teenagers and college students, have now grown-up beyond their initial audience.  One such site, Twitter, connects all manner of people.  Twitter is part of a new social phenomenon which combines the social networking aspects of Facebook with the personal journal style of blogs.   Twitter users post short messages (up to 140 characters), known as “tweets,” that include status updates and brief messages to other users.  It is a concept that has become known as “micro-blogging,” and it is being utilized by the both the public and private sector.



Last month, Twitter launched GovTwit, a compilation site which serves as a directory for various government agencies and officials.  The directory does not contain phone numbers or addresses, but instead provides links to the various online/social media the agency employs.  GovTwit is the product of BearingPoint, a high-profile management and technology firm.  They sought to create a directory that would “include all facets of government on Twitter: state and local, federal, contractors, reporters, academics and more.”



If used effectively, GovTwit stands to be a useful tool for both government officials and their constituencies.  Individuals and businesses who have their own Twitter accounts can easily find contact information for their local officials and agencies. Everything from the Office of the President-elect to public schools are included, as well as private enterprises and news media. Political officials have already found that sending “tweets” is a quick and effective way to get a brief message out to their constituents.



Even those without their own Twitter account can make use of the directory, which provides links not only to Twitter accounts, but the blogs, homepages, and other web-based media that are officially affiliated with various agencies, companies, and individuals.  The directory, which is currently broken down into several categories (Agencies and Executive Branch, The Hill, State and Local, Reporters and Publications, Industry, Academia, and Other, as well as International), already contains hundreds on entires.  Anyone involved in government, at any level, can use the site’s comments section to have their information added to the directory; and any business who services any element of government, big or small, will have a veritable sales list on their hands.



If left in its current formant, the directory stands to grow out of control.  The complete list, which is entirely contained on one page, is in a very basic HTML table, which makes for a seemingly endless webpage to scroll through.   As mentioned before, the comments section is used for add requests, only adding to the page’s length (as one commenter notes, the site would probably have been more functional as an open-source wiki).  Thankfully, most web browsers have a ‘find’ function, but the directory really should have it’s own search feature, if not drop-down menus, to sort through what is already a lengthy list.   Nonetheless, GovTwit is a page worth bookmarking.  Assuming it continues to grow, it will contain contact information for thousands of government related offices and officials.  As the internet eclipses older methods of communication, this tool only stands to grow more valuable.

Not long into the tragic 60-hour terrorist rampage in Mumbai, India, Web 2.0 emerged as a robust vehicle for news, rumor, speculation and expressions of grief, frustration, and faith.

Here in the US, where cable news “jip’s” of New Delhi Television (NDTV) were spotty, thousands if not millions kept up with minute-by-minute events via tools such as twitter.com. (A “jip” occurs when a network such as CNN or FOX joins another network such as NDTV in progress.)

The “twitter” quick-text global messaging service became an eavesdropper’s feast for conversations taking place from the scene in Mumbai to faraway Finland or Boston. At a moment Friday night when none of the US cable outlets were jipping NDTV, we were nonetheless able to get an update on the events at the Taj hotel, where the last battle of the terrorist invasion of the city was about to occur.

“I estimate 4-5 militants inside the hotel,” came the report of one observer of Hindu language TV in Europe. Then, 21 minutes (and about a thousand twitter messages coded on “Mumbai” later) came this exchange:

“Any news from outside Taj”

“ak47 - 50 rounds just fired from taj…”

In between these messages, we read the forlorn message of one texter who had just learned that a victim of the terror in Mumbai was “a friend of the family.” A few hours later Friday night east coast time, the bloody siege of Mumbai was over.

In addition to twitter, the Mumbai blogosphere also quickly became a valuable source of first-hand information and reflections of the city’s inhabitants. We found way too much good stuff to list everything here. But, via a link posted at the US-based “freerepublic.com” site, we found a remarkably poignant post from the blogger Prem Panicker, a sometime observer of media and political events in Mumbai.

It went like this:

“…I was exhausted, heart sick, when I reached home late last night. The TV was on. The firefight at the Taj was on. The standoff at Nariman House was on. The siege of Mumbai was on.

‘Let us not celebrate Christmas this year,’ the wife said. I slid past her and into the apartment. All I wanted was a glass of water, and some space, in that order. ‘Let us do something for the poor. Or maybe something for those who died today.’

….I am not sure today how this not celebrating Christmas is going to make a difference; I am not sure how this is going to solve the problem—which, in one sentence, is that we happen to live in a city, a nation, in a constant state of siege. But we will do it, because everyone wants to do something, we are no exception, and this is indubitably something.

…Early this morning, bleary eyed after a night of failing to find sleep, I left for work. At the door, my wife hugged me.

It was not a husband-to-wife hug. For that brief moment when her arms were around me I felt, oddly, like a puppy—a lame one. It was that kind of hug—animated by a larger admixture of fear, sorrow, pity.

As I stepped into the elevator, it struck me why that hug felt odd. The wife wasn’t hugging me. She was trying, in her own helpless fashion, to hug this wounded city that has been home to us for 19 years. I suspect similar scenes, similar gestures, are playing out across homes and hearts throughout Mumbai….”

If there is any area within the realm of Web 2.0 more complex than all others, it must be Privacy.

In fact, the question of where a person’s privacy begins and ends as they interact with other persons and organizations in cyberspace will probably keep lawyers employed for decades.

Despite what the average person might think, personal privacy is not a guarantee of the Constitution. In fact, “privacy” as a concept distinct from the freedom from illegal search and seizure (the 4th amendment), was only first noted by future Supreme Court justice, Louis Brandeis in 1890. Click here for more information.

And you might be able to argue that the more often government deals with privacy the more expansive the definition of it gets. In 2004, Congress passed 400+ pieces of legislation that contained specific definitions of “privacy.” As you might imagine, not all were the same.

In recent weeks alone, issues involving privacy have arisen in regards to the advent of how information should be protected as government adopts “cloud” computing; the apparent rifling of Joe the Plumber’s records by as many as six state of Ohio agencies; the possible end of “secret ballots” in favor of “card check” voting where unionization is concerned; the request by the Obama transition team that all job applicants to the new administration give up access to their past emails, blog posts, and Facebook links; and, the intrusion into the president-elect’s cell phone logs by Verizon company employees.

Finding privacy at the core of so many controversies is hardly new. After all, the most debated Supreme Court decision of recent history, Roe v. Wade, was decided ultimately as a “privacy” matter. The sheer force of “personal privacy” as a public concern in health (HPPA) and other areas likely explains more than half of all shredder machine sales and shredding services in America today. And, in the name of privacy, celebrities seek court injunctions against paparazzi who “invade” privacy (for a living).

According to the dictionary “privacy” is a synonym of “seclusion,” evoking references to the place Greta Garbo or Howard Hughes preferred. Cyberspace is a place where “anonymity” is more a synonym of privacy, though it seems like few of us spend very much time online before we give up our identities as part of a voluntary transaction of one kind or another. Once we do, we risk “identity theft,” a growing threat to privacy.

Privacy is a complex matter and it’s no wonder organizations struggle with it as they seek to adopt Web 2.0. Privacy increasingly seems to come like a puzzle, with pieces in a box that have to be fit together one after the other after the other.

You can’t really see the wind. But if the laundry is flapping on the line and the leaves are rustling in the trees you know it is windy outside.

By the same token, it might be hard to know how well any organizational process is going if your view is limited to a specific moment in time and is framed without much context. It is harder still to measure the likely effectiveness of a contract as its requirements are being assembled.

In fact, many will tell you that contracting is a lot like the wind. You only see how effective (or ineffective) a contract is as you sort through the number of task orders calling for modifications to it that are subsequently produced.

It is probably true that not every contract modification reflects a faulty or missing requirement. But most agency executives and contracting experts will be the first to say that requirements are a place where many programs bog down or fail.

Senior managers and leaders often hear about “mission creep” or “scope creep” but maybe not as much about “requirements creep.” A GAO study indicated that as many as 60 percent of defense contracts suffer from requirements creep of some kind.

The fact is, though, that before managers are likely to identify “creep” they need to understand what it is that is doing the creeping, so to speak. That is, to know for sure in the first place what a requirement is.

Ralph R. Young, principal software systems engineer at Mitre Corp., writes that a requirement is most commonly used in a formal sense in systems or software engineering, describing what a particular product or service is or does.

As a functional statement in a contract, a formally expressed requirement generally follows the word “shall,” not “should” or “might,” and comes with a need for verification and compliance. In an oft-cited 1993 symposium paper by Ivy F. Hooks, a former NASA official and founder of Compliance Automation, Inc., it is noted that in a contract: “All shall statements (requirements) must be verifiable, otherwise, compliance cannot be demonstrated.”

Experts stress that requirements are not wishful statements or utterances of organizational goals and can not be vague references to a contractor providing unspecific “support” to be useful.

At his very helpful website, Young states that requirements are rigorous items that might have to be identified, analyzed, defined, clarified, prioritized, derived, partitioned, allocated, tracked, managed, tested, verified and/or validated.

In large government IT programs, functional requirements tend to come from stakeholders or the ultimate system users. The gathering process itself can be massive, costly, time-consuming and chaotic. A few agencies have spent up to 12 years gathering requirements before even issuing an RFP, a process in which the first requirements were long out of date by the time the last were documented. Not good.

http://www.ralphyoung.net/
http://complianceautomation.com/papers/writingreqs.htm

Not many remember, but the CIA (formed in World War II as the OSS) was founded by experienced Wall Street stock market analysts. It makes sense when you understand that most of the work done by the American intelligence community (IC) is analysis.

Or, make that (big A) Analysis

When we think of spies and spying it’s fun to think of intrigue and lots of derring-do, drinks shaken not stirred and dazzling damsels. But the fact is, the soldiers of the IC mostly stay put in federal offices analyzing immense amounts of information. And the categories for such information are by themselves enormous, encompassed by 16 distinct US intelligence agencies not to mention allied agencies abroad, all increasingly sharing intel.

The WWII-era analysts of the OSS could have hardly imagined the coming of A-Space, or Analyst Space as it is known. A-Space is the IC’s evolving Web 2.0 platform that re-works the MySpace/Facebook model into an encrypted, web browser-based collaboration tool. It is all underpinned by three terabyte-sized databases of information, or so it has been reported.

The A-Space SOA structure supports an evolving roster of Web 2.0 apps like blogs, wikis, social networks, RSS feeds, collaboration w/p, content tagging, etc. The Big Idea when A-Space was launched last year by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence was to open up info sharing among agencies that traditionally don’t like to share. The lack of sharing in the IC was a problem identified by many in Washington in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on America.

The image of wizened Cold War-era intel spooks getting excited about “wikis” would be a reason to doubt A-Space acceptance. But according to recent reports, more than half of the IC’s analysts today have less than 5 years on the job. Federal officials like Chris Rasmussen,  knowledge manager of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, have noted that today’s analysts come to the IC agencies expecting to use modern Web 2.0 tools, not resisting them.

“Web 2.0 is helping the intelligence community move away from passive consumption to active consumption,” Rasmussen told me when I interviewed him earlier this year. Click here to read.

For more of what Rasmussen said to me about Web 2.0 in the IC. Click here

In a future blog I’ll look at A-Space in more detail.

I just joined a new social network called The Federal Contractor Network www.federalcontractor.us.   The membership is free and it’s hosted on Ning.

It was only launched in August and boasts over 2,000 members.  The site offers a crossover between LinkedIn and Facebook with a business focus on Web 2.0.

I am always on the looking for quality social networks in the government contracting sector.  I would encourage anyone doing business with the federal government to check it out.  Please let me know your thoughts.