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IT Trends: Gulf Oil Spill Crowdsourcing, Washington State Legislature's Award-Winning Website

Electric car-charging stations come to San Jose.

Gulf Spill Crowdsourcing

 

More than 20,000 people submitted ideas to BP and the U.S. Coast Guard for stopping the Deepwater Horizon oil spill before the well was capped in July. Ideas were accepted via the Web and a Houston-based call center operated by BP. A team of 30 technical and operational personnel reviewed submissions and sorted them into three categories: not possible or not feasible; already considered or planned; or feasible. About 100 ideas warranted further review, according to the Deepwater Horizon Unified Command.

 

Charged Up

 

Before electric cars can be widely used on U.S. roadways, vehicle-charging infrastructure must be in place. In July, the parking structure for San Jose, Calif.'s McEnery Convention Center unveiled charging stations for public use. The charging stations were created by ChargePoint America, a stimulus-funded program that aims to bring charging infrastructure to nine regions across the nation to serve a new generation of plug-in electric cars like the Nissan Leaf.

 

More About You

 

A CDW survey asked more than 500 IT professionals about their work and personal lives. Here are a few of the findings:
57% have been in IT for more for than 10 years.
17% have been in the field more than 25 years.
53% find about 10 hours per week to pursue leisure activities.
36% listen to rock music.

 

Web Winner

 

The Washington state Legislature runs the nation's most user-friendly legislative website. That's the conclusion of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), which gave Washington lawmakers its annual Online Democracy Award in July. The NCSL said the site provides extensive information that's simple to find and understand, offers an easy and accurate search function, includes downloadable Web services and provides student pages geared to different grade levels.