Opinion

Thanks to wireless technology, the number of non-urgent, unintended and prank calls to 911 has skyrocketed. But dispatchers have a number of tools and strategies at their disposal to fight back.

In many underserved areas of the country, to the chagrin of some early childhood experts, online early learning programs are growing as an alternative to traditional brick and mortar preschools.

When cities like San Francisco block the use of a technology that continues to mature, they stall its progress towards becoming a safe and useful tool for public safety. Education and regulation should be the responses.

GDPR has been in effect in the EU for one year, and regulators, consumers and businesses are facing its unintended consequences. Other countries can take those outcomes and do better with their own data protections.

Managing an IT crisis can be complex and difficult. But government CIOs and their operations teams can change the situation and improve the chances for success with better advanced planning, coordination and training.

Federal and state policymakers continue to ignore, weaken and, in some instances, block local input and control of broadband. This needs to stop if the country is to ever have viable, affordable broadband for all.

Overwhelmed by alerts and constrained by limited resources, state government needs a new battle plan to fight digital threats and attacks. Artificial intelligence could be the answer.

Citizens would like government to deliver more artificial intelligence-enabled services, but they aren’t confident it can be done ethically. That’s a trust issue, which CIOs can help solve by requiring AI fairness.

States and localities are saddled with legacy tech debt, but the problem can be fixed by delivering the variety, quality and timeliness of public services citizens expect, using this transformational, collaborative methodology.

Technology is evolving faster than ever before, from autonomous vehicles to facial recognition and beyond, but the charge of technologists to ensure it's introduced ethically is by no means new.

Some state and local governments are moving to ban increasingly popular cashless retail stores, citing equity issues, but there are steps policymakers can take to increase access to non-cash payment options.

This powerful technology requires oversight and caution to prevent it from being abused. But a ban would throw the good uses out with the bad ones.

Cities struggle to launch and fund smart projects that have the necessary components citizens want. The solution to both concerns can be found in an old piece of technology that has been repurposed for today’s needs.

A strong federal law could accomplish more than merely streamlining a patchwork of state laws. It could give all Americans a basis to trust that all personal information will be handled in ways consistent with their interests.

A growing number of governments are adopting a Silicon Valley, user-centered design methodology for creating better software programs, known as Minimum Viable Product. The results include huge time savings.

Whether it is technological advances, customer relations, financing, governance or collaboration, smart city initiatives and special districts share a lot of common ground, as this article explains.

With limited time, expanding technological demands and a litany of constraints, state CIOs have to focus on the essentials to ensure success in their job and in meeting the needs of their citizens.

High turnover and long learning curves have impacted the ranks of skilled caseworkers. But VR technology has the ability to change the status quo and deliver active learning techniques that can speed up training.