Government agencies will be able to make more geospatial data available to developers and the public.
New Apps “Listen” For the Secrets Behind Political Ads
Today is the day for Shazam-inspired transparency in open government. First came news about a new SuperPAC iPhone app from MIT Media Lab students that uses audio recognition to identify who’s behind online and television political advertisements. A few hours later, a similar app from the Sunlight Foundation called Ad Hawk went live. Ad Hawk enables…
“Green Button” Open Data Just Created an App Market for 27M US Homes
Earlier this year, influential venture capitalist Fred Wilson encouraged entrepreneurs and VCs to get behind open data. Writing on his widely read blog, Wilson urged developers to adopt the Green Button, the project that former United States Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra launched in 2011 to unleash energy data.
Today, the Obama…
Brother Can You Spare Some Code?
To paraphrase President Kennedy: Ask not what your country can code for you — ask what you can code to help your country. If you’re a developer, consider empowering your fellow citizens help the homeless veterans in your community. The Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, and the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation…
Open Govt Programming on Your TV? Now There’s an App for That
Last month, open government technologists at the non-partisan Sunlight Foundation released three new Roku applications that bring audio and video from the White House, Congress and Supreme Court to television. Roku is an Internet TV appliance.
“We know Americans want the kind of immediate access to government that the Internet can provide…
Defending Innovation and Net Neutrality at eG8 [Video]
At the eG8, 20th century ideas clashed with the 21st century economy. The inaugural eG8 forum, held in Paris before the G-8 summit of global leaders, showed that online innovation and freedom of expression still need strong defenders. As Nancy Scola reported at techPresident, at the eG8, civil society groups re-staked their claim to the ‘Net…
New Consumer Protection Agency Launches ConsumerFinance.gov, Crowdsources Fraud Reports
This morning a startup in Washington, D.C. launched its website. What’s the news? The website is a .gov, not a .com, and the startup is a government agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 established the agency last year. Republican lawmakers have been highly…
Moving Closer to House 2.0: @SpeakerBoehner Leads the GOP’s E-transition
Today is the first day of the 112th Congress of the United States of America. One way that the incoming Republican majority will embrace innovation and transparency in the legislative process will be increased use of video and new media. As Marshall Kirkpatrick wrote at ReadWriteWeb, commenting on CNN’s report yesterday, Facebook will livestream…
How to Follow Post-Election Protests and Violence in Belarus
This weekend, Alexander Lukashenko won a fourth term as president of Belarus. Official statements that he received nearly 80% of the vote have been met by the West decrying flaws and violent clashes involving thousands of protesters that have turned out into the streets. Eight of the 10 opposition candidates are reported to have been arrested…
Will Social Voting Increase Real-World Participation? Foursquare Founder Says Yes
This morning, the new Foursquare Elections page went live. And when the polls open, Foursquare users who check in at polling places around the country will receive an official badge. If they choose, they can shout out to friends on Foursquare or their followers on Twitter using the #IVoted hashtag.
In the interview below, filmed at the NASA…
Uncle Sam Wants YOU to Help Track Social Media in Government
If you’re a social media-savvy citizen, Uncle Sam wants you to help populate a brand new timeline of the most important moments in government social media use.
Earlier today, David McClure, the associate administrator of the General Services Administration’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, introduced a government social…
Katie Couric: We Need Better Filters for a “Tsunami of News”
Will hanging out with the geeks improve network news? Judging from CBS News anchor Katie Couric’s comments at the Web 2.0 Expo yesterday, the potential is there.
Will it matter? In a news environment that has been irrevocably disrupted by the Internet, the role of broadcast news anchors has evolved out of necessity. Their ability to focus…
Could Location-Based Services Increase Civic Engagement in Millennials?
Location-based social networking services like Foursquare, Gowalla and SCVNGR are increasingly popular, particularly among young people. Could game dynamics and technology be used to increase civic engagement and participation among them? Some intriguing tweets by the founder of Foursquare and an interview with the co-founder of Gowalla suggest…
Crowdsourcing National Challenges With the New Challenge.gov
Next month, the federal government will launch a new .gov website with a big idea behind it and high hopes that there will be big ideas generated within it. Challenge.gov is the latest effort in the evolution of collaborative innovation in open government. Should the approach succeed, challenges and contests have the potential to leverage the…
@SG on Twitter’s Government Liaison and Plans for Gov 2.0
Over the past four years, thousands of government officials, representatives and agencies have joined Twitter. Over 200 members of the U.S. Congress are on the service now, according to TweetCongress. How will the social media darling of Silicon Valley serve the government market? What will its first “government liaison” do? “Ev and Biz are excited…
Library of Congress Gets a Mobile App
Last week, an approved application that gives mobile users access to the United States Library of Congress Experience went live in the iTunes App Store. The app is compatible with iOS 3.1 on up and will run on the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.
The new app (iTunes link) won’t provide avid Twitter users access to their archived tweets just yet…
FCC’s New Mobile Apps Could Shape Federal Policy
Last week, the Federal Communications Commission built upon its growing new media prowess with the launch of its own iPhone and Android applications.
The FCC’s new apps allow users to test the speed of mobile broadband services and report deadzones where mobile broadband is not available. The FCC iPhone app is a free download from iTunes or the…