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The article discusses how vendors on Digital Communities task force are asking for more specifics from government on sharing models they like to buy as governments argue that they are not equipped to suggest new sales models to vendors. It notes that in the absence of developed specifics, vendors are left with financially risky option of creating new sales models for sharing applications and services local governments do not want. It suggests for more feedback for vendors from the government.

The article discusses the highlights of the Champions of Change meeting among 16 citizen software developers with U.S. President Barack Obama's administration information and technology officials. National chief technology officer (CTO) Aneesh Chopra who joked that developer Conor White-Sullivan looks like singer Justin Bieber. Developer Michael Riedyk gave an overview of his YouTown software. Chopra also commended the Mom Maps software developed by Jill Seman because of its benefits to parents.

The article considers the conversion of carpool lanes into high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes as an option to address downtown traffic in the U.S. According to the "2010 Annual Urban Mobility Report" from the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University, traffic congestion burns extra fossil fuels and generates heavy carbon emissions. Kirk Avila of the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) said diverting vehicles into HOT lanes should speed up traffic in all lanes.

The article focuses on the efforts of chief information officers (CIOs) in U.S.-based local governments to explore collaborative software licensing arrangements with vendors. To cut software costs and earn revenues for the local government, such arrangement include selling in-house developed applications to other municipalities and hosting their databases without any additional licensing fees. As a vendor, Microsoft has developed the "mobility licensing" policy that allows customers to transfer existing licenses to other hosting environments.

The article discusses a trend popularized by the District of Columbia's Apps for Democracy contest challenging programmers to use open data published by U.S. government agencies to make useful applications (apps) for the public. Offering 35,000 U.S. dollars in prizes, the district reportedly got back 2.3 million in apps, initiating a trend. It presents views from experts and contest winners, with some questioning the strategy's usefulness after 3 years. Apps include Brian Sobel's iLive.at, Daniel Odio's Park It DC and Joachim Pfeiffer's TransiCast.

The article discusses the potential of the Web 3.0 Internet technology for use in government services. It defines Web 3.0 as a concept of machine-to-machine communication in the Internet. According to former Minnesota chief information officer (CIO) Gopal Khanna, the Web 3.0 technology will become an important mechanism for the implementation of the government's programs to its citizens. The opinion of the nonprofit organization Code of America's Jennifer Pahlka on the issue is also cited.

The article discusses information technology (IT) models for collaboration among counties and cities in the U.S. that can enhance digital infrastructure amidst the widespread budgetary cuts as of December 2010. These models include the Local Government Information System (LOGIS) in Minnesota, a quasi government agency of which the applications is used for permits and inspection, equipment management and human resources. Pueblo County in Colorado hosts the entire San Luis Valley property assessment management for assessor offices and treasurer's offices.

The article discusses the controversy between local government information technology (IT) departments and IT vendors concerning proposed reduction of vendors' maintenance fees. IT departments want to reduce fees in order to cut costs. Big IT vendors such as SAP and Oracle are reluctant to renegotiate fees citing among others, contractual obligations. A number of local government chief information officers (CIO) have addressed this problem by changing to scaled-down service plans or by transferring to lower-priced vendors.

The article reports that the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) in California plans to install 600,000 smart electric meters by December 2011. The project will be funded by 128 million dollars in grants received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). SMUD believes that the smart grid system will enable customers to more effectively manage their energy consumption and it will also help the utility deliver power more efficiently. The utility will need to train employees to handle billing questions.

The article focuses on the hybrid approach to consolidation that required city agencies to add basic data to a new enterprise Geographic Information System (GIS). An overview of the situation prior to consolidation is provided along with the solution proposed by Max Samfield, deputy director of the Houston Planning and Development Department in Texas, involving a repository delivered to end-users from a central server farm. Efforts that paved for a 95 to 98 percent accuracy are discussed together with the benefits of the Citrix technology.

The article discusses the problems local U.S. governments face in availing and qualifying for stimulus funds offered by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Their lack of manpower combined with the strict conditions for grant qualifications impede their ability to apply for stimulus funding. Some restrictions of broadband grants cited include unserved or underserved coverage requirements for cities or counties, and grants with purposes intended for certain agencies only.

The article addresses some of the security issues associated with the usage of social networking sites in government. Security officials worry that the Web 2.0 tools will expose government networks and sensitive information to dangerous cyber-threats. It details the social networking policy of California and Delaware. It describes how Koobface virus affected social networking site Facebook.

The article tackles the issue of telework in Texas. The Department of Environmental Management (DEM) has teamed up with other agencies to come up with a formal policy on telework practices by 2007. States and government agencies try to expand their telework program to alleviate problems on high price of gasoline, traffic and pollution. Austin started its formal telework policy in 1999 and features a well developed Web portal for telecommuting and better productivity from teleworking employees have been reported.

The article describes how information technology (IT) projects in the U.S. help agencies reduce Medicaid costs. According to most states, inappropriate visits to emergency rooms is the primary factor driving up the costs of Medicaid. Most states understand that early intervention is essential to avoiding grave illnesses that are expensive to treat. In 2000, California made tracking Medicaid fraud a major IT agenda and has appointed Electronic Data Systems to manage the details. INSET: War Against Diabetes.

The article reports on the state and local government projects for environmental concerns in California. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said data centers consume 1.5 percent of all electricity in the U.S., and they consolidated to reduce their consumption by eliminating unnecessary cooling and processing as well as reducing the floor space. Will Semmes of California Department of General Services (DGS) said California will track how much energy is used and where it is used to comply to the 20 percent cut in energy consumption.

The article offers information on online public education to homeschooled children in grades three to eight through Texas Virtual Academy (TXVA). The TXVA students are required to take the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) exam to verify the minimum performance standards of the enrollees and are provided with computers and boxed materials for the school year. Online sessions are held through Elluminate Live and quizzes are administered through the software QuizStar. A certified educator is available for questions and for online teaching.

The article discusses the benefits of using WiMAX in municipalities in the U.S. It stresses that WiMAX is a better way to produce wireless cloud connectivity to an entire city using a few base stations. WiMAX networks require access points every two square miles for urban areas and one every six square miles for rural areas. It also adds that WiMAX can offer stronger signals and faster service than Wi-Fi. Despite of these benefits, some Wi-MAX critics point to the technology's higher cost

The article focuses on the possible return of the U.S. nuclear power industry in 2007 following its inactivity caused by a series of accidents during the 1970s. Unit 1 Browns Ferry Reactor of Alabama resumed its operation in May 2007 and announced plans to build approximately 30 reactors for Southern states in the next two years. Director of Cato Institute Jerry Taylor is pessimistic about the success of nuclear power plants in satisfying the forthcoming power demand increases in the South.

The article reports on the efforts of U.S. states to generate power from renewable sources. California will require its public utilities to generate 20 percent of their power using renewable energy sources by 2010. New Hampshire and Minnesota have passed the highest renewable energy requirements of public utilities, which is 25 percent by 2025. According to Warren Karlenzing, chief strategy officer of SustainLane, wind and solar are the two main sources of renewable energy sources.

The article discusses the malfunctions and the vulnerabilities of direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting machines, which was used in the U.S. elections to eliminate paper ballot hazards. Most of the criticism for DRE machines revolves around the lack of a paper trail or tangible documentation. The controversy in Florida's 13th Congressional District brought by voting irregularities is discussed. Mathew Zimmerman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said that electronic voting suffers from a lack of transparency.

The article presents views on offshore outsourcing of government work. Some economists and organizations argue that offshore outsourcing results to an increase in employment in the U.S. Others say that it will promote the rising trend of privatizing government functions which results to better services received by taxpayers. On the other hand, critics say that it will hinder the promotion of citizen employment. Legislators are said to be hindering offshore outsourcing through laws.

The article focuses on information technology project problems in Colorado. The deployment of the Colorado Benefits Management System was established by the Department of Human Services and Department of Health Care policy and Financing to replace several legacy systems with a single integrated program. However, the project failed because benefits were given to those people who did not qualify while some who did qualify did not receive the benefits.

The article focuses on the complaints raised by vendors on the terms of the contract for the 21st Century Project payroll system of the California government. Accenture withdrew its commitment to the project when the state refused to negotiate on warranty requirements. Avanti Advisory president Peter Iannone cites that negotiation on liability requirements for government officials and business executives is difficult.

This article explains that the San Diego County in California will be among the first in the U.S. to switch IT outsourcing partners. With this move by the San Diego County, its current IT provider Computer Sciences Corp. will be replace by Northrop Grumman. The county started outsourcing its IT since 1999. Other local governments in the country that want to successfully out source the first time can get helpful insight from the lessons learned by San Diego County.

Focuses on the transition of broadcasters to digital television in the U.S. Agreement of the U.S. House and Senate to extend broadcasters' digital transmission switchover deadline to February 17, 2009; Recipient of 24 megahertz of spectrum by firefighters, police and other emergency first responders; Views of Ron Haraseth, director of the automated frequency coordination division of APCO International, on the added spectrum for first responders.

The article discusses the 2010 Digital Counties Survey which revealed strategy trends among county information technology (IT) departments to survive the economic recession in the U.S. Among the government IT best practices identified are joint service deliveries, data center consolidations and mergers of redundant agencies. The poll also showed that agency managers are becoming more open-minded about giving up control and embracing new technologies as agency staff are trimmed down.

The article reports on the funding received by telecommunications companies from the broadband stimulus in the U.S. in December 2009. It says that all last-mile and middle-mile grants went to small telecommunications firms when awardees were publicized. According to the author, private vendors received close to 173 million U.S. dollars, which is better than the funding received by broadband adoption programs and public computing center expansions. The reason behind the shutout of government broadband stimulus applications is also discussed.

The article announces the winners of the Digital Counties Survey 2009, a program that identifies counties that provide best practices and innovative service for the citizens, held in Nashville, Tennessee in July 2009. These include the Cost Reduction/Investment Blog of Oakland County, Michigan which generated 600,000 dollars savings from employees' inputs and the online property tax calculator of Montgomery County, Alabama which enables homebuyers to get estimates of taxes to buy a house.

The article reports that the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) has announced the approval of a national standard that would enable alarm companies to automatically transmit alerts to 911 centers in the U.S. Bill Hobgood of the Richmond, Virginia Department of Information Technology explained that this standard could eliminate 32 million of these calls nationally. It is said that once an alarm company determines an alert to be legitimate, an alarm monitoring software transmits the alert to the 911 center under the standard.

The article presents the innovations done by the Houston Public Library (HPL) in Texas to stay relevant amidst the prevalence of the Internet. Activities such as the placement of gaming rooms and running of seminars related to information technology (IT) are part of the tactics employed by the HPL to foster more interaction between its visitors. Renovations included an interior design that mirrors the atmosphere of a retail bookstore with a cafe.

The article looks at the use of electronic file storage and management, online interfaces, and interactive voice response systems by the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) to streamline business processes and improve eligibility determination accuracy. The services of the FSSA were outsourced by director Zach Main to IBM due to a major internal change. A case management suite powered by Cùram Software was deployed by IBM. It also established a centralized call center to attend to clients' questions.

The article reports that the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) uses what it calls "knowledge-based" practices to negotiate with powerful vendors such as IBM, Dell and Northrop Grumman which include systematic market research, analytics and pricing benchmarks. This process provides local governments hundreds of prenegotiated deals with vendors for hardware, software and contracted labor. The DIR has also taken steps to make it easier for public entities to use the contracts to meet their needs.

The article focuses on Utah government's efforts to consolidate their IT operations. The state appointed Stephen Fletcher CIO to develop a transition process that satisfied all agencies and incorporated their input. The state's approach seeks to gain the benefits of IT centralization without sacrificing the flexibility and specialized knowledge developed by agency specific IT staff .

Deals with the adoption of benchmarking by state and federal agencies in the U.S. Problem with the comparison of government agencies with public sector organizations in terms of efficiency; Contract of state governments with the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers for the adoption of benchmarking; Impact of benchmarking on state workforce.

The article discusses the developments in the efforts by public safety agencies in the U.S. to convert their land mobile radio (LMR) functionality to narrowband from wideband. It claims that in 2004, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) set January 1, 2013 as the deadline for the conversion. The opinion of the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau's David Furth on the developments is also cited.

This article focuses on the concern of U.S. emergency management experts regarding the failure of communities hit by disasters to pay attention to long-term recovery. Experts argue that federal, state, nonprofit and volunteer groups tend to respond to emergencies independently. The need for more coordination between the different players in a recovery, the promotion of a culture of realistic expectations regarding long-term recovery, and a challenge of the long-term recovery discussion are explored.

The article discusses the use of satellite communication in emergency management. The Satellite Mutual Aid Radio Talkgroup (SMART) program, which was developed by SkyTerra and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), has an interoperable talkgroup accessible to various responders like fire services. Eric Frost of the San Diego State University Immersive Visualization Center Satellite said that one critical application of satellite is the transmission of images of an incident to a command center for processing on high-performance computers.

The article details how the interoperable communication system in Orange County, California, was established and how it became beneficial for the county's emergency responders. The system became possible through a technical-liaison committee which assured that the technical and operational issues were resolved and the branching off of the county's communications staff into several radio shops. One of its benefits is the acceleration of response actions involving both police and fire departments.

The article reports that according to the officials of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), it has distributed nearly $4 billion to state and local hospital preparedness efforts since September 2001, however, hospital emergency departments and emergency medical services (EMS) would be unable to handle a mass casualty event. Increasing hospital capacity, alternatives to increased capacity and defining EMS are discussed.

The article discusses how national standards on disaster preparedness may be ineffective at dictating local issues. Emergency preparedness and disaster response are said to be usually done at the state and local level. An alleged lack of national consensus on how the U.S. should prepare in disaster cases hampers the country's biological and chemical preparedness efforts. Local governments are said to have received fundings after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks but Congress needs to do more strategic funding. INSETS: NUCLEAR ATTACK;A NEW ROLE FOR TECHNOLOGY.

The article discusses the move of local chief information officers (CIOs) in the U.S. to appeal with technology vendors to lower their fees to align with municipal budget shortages. However technology vendors insist that those fees finance the product upgrades and service quality. An alternative recommended by CIOs is for multiple local governments to share applications, hardware, and services regionally.

The article previews electronic products including eQuill from Ricoh, Optical Media Destroyer from Security Engineered Machinery, and tablet computer covers from Tuff-Luv.

The article looks at the major competition in the cloud computing market among Microsoft, Google, and Amazon Web Services. Enderle Group principal analyst Rob Enderle tells that local governments must rely on Microsoft and Google services in terms of e-mail and business solutions. Enderle adds that Google Apps for Government is useful for city, town, and county governments while Amazon cloud services are meant mainly for data storage.

The article discusses the efforts of the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) to shift software infrastructure toward open source. The inventory of open source software by TriMet can be divided into three categories, including open source software supported by a vendor. The practice of considering open source products alongside off-the-shelf selections was done by TriMet Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Tim McHugh. He said that working with the larger open source community is making their programmers more open to criticism.

The article discusses the approaches used by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commision and the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget to maintain their Facebook page up-to-date and interesting. According to Nancy Ledbetter of the Arkansas commission, they employ six public affairs staffers to maintain their Facebook account on a weekly basis. The opinion of Kurt Weiss of the Michigan department on how they maintain their account to provide up-to-date information is also cited.

The article discusses how government agencies at Anaheim, California, Greenboro, North Carolina and Round Rock, Texas use SnapStream Server, a television (TV) search engine, to monitor TV coverage of their agencies from their desktops. The Police Department of Anaheim cuts down the time to daily search through video during high-profile cases from 3 hours to 10 minutes by using SnapStream Server with a digital video recorder (DVR). The article also mentions that the Round Rock Police Department has found the system to be a convenient public relation tool.

The article presents opinions from customers regarding their preference for Microsoft or Google as cloud computing vendor. Randy Paul, Information Technology director for Klamath County, Oregon thinks that Microsoft is comparable to Google except that with Microsoft, he did not have to train users on a new application. Rosa Akhtarkhavari, client support manager for Orlando, Florida said that they chose Google because city officials believe it offered more functions on its browser-access version than Microsoft although it required training sessions.

The article discusses shared application initiatives as a way for counties and cities in the U.S. to function efficiently amidst the financial crisis of 2010. According to the article, working together to purchase and host applications can help cities and counties reduce cost substantially and lighten their information technology (IT) workloads. It adds that most of this county-cities collaboration will be in public safety, roads and bridges, parks and museums provided that they have the same technology infrastructure in place.

The article focuses on the decision of the local government of Corpus Christi, Texas to cut the number of cellular telephones it issues to employees as a cost reduction measure. Criticisms from employees include a policy that they need to submit their personal telephone bills and indicated the calls either as city-related and personal calls. It states that some workers do not want to give their personal telephone numbers on the grounds that it is a private information.

The article discusses the launch of Texas.gov, the redesigned Web portal of the local Texas government. The web site, which is financed by various electronic service transaction fees, has a crowdsourcing platform that allows the public to offer their opinions about the government. The portal permits the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) to provide Web hosting services that are free of charge to local government agencies in the state.