Monthly Archives: May 2009

Some Random Links

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I’ve recently moved out to Colordado (for my job with Jefferson County). Lots of links piled up, and I wanted to share some.

The Wall Street Journal had a great story on how Google uses complex algorithms (imagine that) to project which employees are likely to quit.  Governments are beginning to need to project retirements (really, they have been trying to do this for a while), and a little Google help could go along way.  There are so many factors that go into employees leaving or retiring, some real science would be really helpful.  I’m optimistic.

This story broke while Emily and I were moving, when it was featured on Good Morning America.  Everyone was saying that the Ida fossil was the “missing link”.  I was skeptical after the GMA report and interview, because a long time ago, a good anthropology professor told my class that there is never a “missing link” find.  All finds look to be a missing link because they have never been seen before, but each only adds to our knowledge.  The theory of evolution almost details that there will never be one missing link, because changes are gradual over long periods of time and these are difficult to be found in one fossil.  And then Ars Technica followed up all the hype by detailing the media circus and the long-term damage done to science.

Lastly, ComputerWorld has an excellent article about the advancement in municipal technologies (dubbed “City 2.0″).  Besides the fact that I hate everyone using the 2.0 deal to classify anything as new, there is a lot of good stuff here.  The article talks about new electricity initiatives and technology, the use of social media and social networking in local governments, city-wide wireless internet possibilities, sustainable data centers, and use of the cloud.

This little bit, though, bugs me:

San Jose, Calif., is one of the most high-tech cities in the U.S. Over the next few years, the city will create a social network on Wikiplanning that helps citizens learn about the city, chat over instant messaging, complete surveys and download city podcasts.

What bugs me is that the technology exists to deploy this, for free (see WordPress, BuddyPress, Jabber, etc.), right now.  And it’s easy to do!  A city might need a Linux server, but this can be deployed very quickly.  So why is this going to take years???  You can use these technologies to increase the communication with your citizens and stakeholders right now!

Ok, enough for now, I have to get back to unpacking.

Government Social Media Policy

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Mashable has a post asking the question “Should Your Company Have a Social Media Policy?“. Mashable’s answer is a clear yes. This leaves me wondering, do governments have the same types of social media policies? And how do these types of policies not infringe upon employees freedom of speech? I wonder if Jefferson County has a social media policy (since I will be starting there soon).

Last Day as Intern with Unified Government

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City Hall of Unified GovernmentToday I completed an internship with the Budget Office of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas.

It was a little sad to leave this afternoon.  I’ve worked with my boss and coworkers for nearly a year, and made a certain bond with them.  You know people are dedicated when they are sitting at a budget work session after midnight (here’s the tweet to prove it), after arriving at work at 8am that morning.  A close bond forms at times like those.

I’ve also learned the Unified Government (and it’s funds and departments) inside and out.  And I’ve met so many people that serve the citizens of Wyandotte County and Kansas City every day.

And I’ve bugged all of these wonderful public servants.  From learning to do accounts payable and trying to understand the fund structure, to surveying busy people for school projects, I know a lot of people have helped me without complaint.  Thank you all.

Unified Government LogoI have learned so much from my boss, my coworkers, and everyone else.  It is my hope that I contributed just as much in my time with the Budget Office.  I’m going to keep this post short, but I have many more thoughts about learning at the Unified Government and my experiences, most of which made it into a Moleskine or two.

As a side note, there were lots of events that took place at work.  Of note are seeing the Thunderbirds practice over Kansas City and witnessing a massive wreck on the way to work (and how social media got pictures of the wreck on the evening news).

Thank you, Unified Government.