The National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO) has again polled state CIOs to determine what's hot and what's not as we head into 2010. Here's my take on the…

The Advocate, the daily newspaper in Stamford, Conn., had a thought-provoking piece the other day that raises an interesting question. Many cities and counties are scrambling to roll out applications for mobile phones. Many of these "apps" are…

Did you happen to see the CBS 60 Minutes episode this past Sunday titled "Sabotaging The System?"  It seems like every time there's a TV story or newspaper article about cyber security, I spend the next few days answering questions from people…

Gary Robinson has been named the new chief financial officer for the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS).  Word of the appointment came in an e-mail announcement on Friday.The move reunites Robinson with his former…

The lack of communications and planning amongst public/private agencies within our States that are applying for broadband stimulus funding is of concern to many State…

Emergency management is short-term in its focus on immediate disasters and measures to clean up the damage. But climate change, the catalyst for droughts, forest fires, violent storms and extreme weather demands a long term response. Canadian…

At the start of the 20th century, only about 10% of humanity lived in cities.  Today, over 50% live in urban environments. By the middle of the 21st century, the number could be as high as 70%. For that reason, making cities smarter may well be…

As I continue to discuss government 2.0 with peers across the globe, I am happy to report that progress is being made! Specifically, I have noticed that the content of the dialog is changing.  For most of the past year, when I was…

On Friday, November 6th at 1:00 PM, five thousand people gathered in Seattle to grieve for Seattle Police Officer Tim Brenton who was murdered in his police cruiser.  At 3:30 PM the killer was caught, after a week of diligent detective work,…

With networks swamped by SPAM, pornography, hate speeches, illegal gambling and even terror literature, Internet blocking may have emerged as the apt illegal content handling solution for the cyber police. Rattled by the explosion of such content,…

Every day we read about organizations that have succumbed to the malicious intent of scrupulous coders and hackers.  As IT professionals we view the constant onslaught of scans, probes, penetration attempts,etc. as the unfortunate reality of…

Who would have thought that America's biggest and in some ways most traditional administrations would be one of the first megalopolis' to have a Facebook site for its Office of Emergency Management (OEM)?Earlier this year, Mayor Blumberg encouraged…

In a recent paper published by Dr. Kevin A. Hassett & Dr. Robert J. Shapiro, entitled "Toward Universal Broadband: Flexible Broadband Pricing and the Digital Divide," the authors make a very strong case for flexible broadband…