Edmonton, Alberta, Unveils Open Government Projects
The move for open government and transparency isn't confined within U.S. borders. This is evident in Edmonton, Alberta, where earlier this month city CIO Chris Moore announced five initiatives that are in the planning stage: a partnership with Open311, the initiative San Francisco spearheaded that will build open standards for an IT platform that handles service requests; an iPhone app that will allow citizens to submit 311 requests; an "apps4edmonton" design contest; issuance of an RFP for next-gen office productivity tools; and the creation of a "Code for Canada" partnership.Source: IT World Canada
Argentinean Hacker Defaces Chicopee, Mass., Web Site
The Chicopee, Mass., Web portal was temporarily taken down Sunday, March 7, after Internet graffiti in the form of "images of dancing bananas and the flag of Argentina" was put up by an unknown hacker. The defacement was tracked to Argentina. No personal data was compromised, according to a Chicopee IT official.Source: MassLive.com
Columbia, Mo., Seeking Ultra-Fast Google Fiber
Leaders in Columbia, Mo., and Boone County are putting together an application for Google's 1-gigabit-per-second broadband pilot, which will be installed in at least one U.S. community. Officials hope a Web site, discussion group, Facebook fan page, Twitter account and a YouTube channel will be enough to persuade Google to bring the blazing-fast broadband to Missouri. Other rural communities in Missouri are applying for broadband grants through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.Source: Columbia Daily Tribune
Report: White House Planning Contest Management Platform
The White House's IT leadership plans to release a Web-based platform within the next four months that would give federal agencies the means to manage crowdsourcing contests that offer incentives and prizes, InformationWeek reported Tuesday, March 9. While serving as Washington, D.C.'s IT chief in 2008, federal CIO Vivek Kundra launched such a contest called Apps for Democracy, which challenged citizens to build software applications that utilized data released by the district government. The contest model has since been emulated by New York City and other municipalities.Source: InformationWeek
