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Posts Tagged ‘Federal Government’

IdeaScale Powers 24 Crowdsourcing Sites For The U.S. Government

Yesterday, California’s Chief Technology Officer, P.K. Agarwal, wrote that the government is using a crowdsourcing tool, IdeaScale, to get a consensus on the ideas to spur IT innovation around the California’s IT systems. IdeaScale, which is a crowdsourcing tool produced by startup Survey Analytics, is gaining serious traction as a crowdsourcing tool for government agencies. Currently, 24 agencies in the U.S. Federal Government are using IdeaScale to power crowdsourcing initiatives.

IdeaScale’s technology allows citizens to submit ideas to a site and then vote on their favorite ideas via a Digg-like voting system. The ideas that have the most favorable votes bubble to the top. Agencies can also participate in the discussion by commenting on ideas and posting updates, effectively creating a community around this ideation.

For example, the U.S. Department of State is using IdeaScale to crowdsource ideas and suggestions on policy. The Obama administration also used IdeaScale to solicit ideas from government agencies on its Open Government initiative last year. Of course, IdeaScale’s tool can be used for non-government initiatives as well. According to its website, the platform has been used by Microsoft, RedHat, Navteq and others.

President Obama’s government has been a fan of crowdsourcing, and has used similar tool Google Moderator to power citizen participation on Change.gov, and Town Hall meetings.

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Augmented Reality App Shows Recovery.gov Funding Near You

Want to see who got part of the hundreds of billions of dollars in Recovery.gov funds near you? Now you can point your iPhone 3Gs or Android phone in any direction and see the closest recipients, thanks to the publication of the official data set onto the Layar Augmented Reality platform. Sunlight Labs published the marked-up information and the results are fascinating.

This may be the most accessible way to view this information yet. I must confess, I am surprised to see that an auto shop and a Bible college in my neighborhood received a lot more money than the technical college, eco-car company and Native American youth program down the road. Fire up Layar on your phone, search for “Sunlight” and you can see the effects of the funding program on your own neighborhood. This is the kind of thing that standardized data makes possible.

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As Sunlight explains: “Layar is an application that overlays your view of the real world with waypoints representing your favorite coffee place, the movie theatre you’re trying to find, or in this case, where some of that $787 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is going.”

Fortunately, the Recovery funding information was published by the Federal government in KML format – making it easy for 3rd parties like Sunlight to mash it up with services like Layar. I wish there was an option in the interface to Google the name of the recipient, not just look up its location. Right now there’s no information made immediately available beyond name, sum and address.

Sunlight was deeply critical of the initial release of data by the federal government this Summer. This is a great example of what kinds of things they and other groups can do when they get their hands on data.

So how does funding in your neighborhood look?

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The Feds, not Forrester, Are Developing Better Definitions for Cloud Computing

Several months ago, the federal government drafted definitions for cloud computing. They were generally recognized as doing some excellent work.

The definitions are a work in progress. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) last updated the definitions on October 7. The latest version is available for download. It’s free.

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Forrester Research says we need better definitions for cloud computing services. Principal analyst James Staten maintains that vendors are “cloudwashing,” providing their own sets of definitions that are just confusing customers.

He outlines eleven cloud computing services that he places in three categories:

• Rented software
• Application services that allow developers to build platform
• Infrastructure services

The problem is that analyst groups like Forrester just make it more confusing when they make up their own definitions that really are only meant for paying customers. It just turns into a circus. We guess Forrester believes that they are helping the process but it feels more like they are looking for a way to put their stamp on how we all define cloud computing.

We do not have access to the Forrester report that has more about these three categories and eleven services. It is available for download. The cost is $1749.

NIST is not super aggressive about promoting its definitions. And the comment system is pretty archaic. You can subscribe to an email list to provide feedback If there was a more public face to the process, the definition game may be a bit less confusing for everyone.

In the meantime, for all of our benefit, we’d like to share some of the latest definitions that have been drafted by NIST:

Definition of Cloud Computing:

Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model promotes availability and is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models.

Service Models:

Cloud Software as a Service (SaaS). The capability provided to the consumer is to use the provider’s applications running on a cloud infrastructure. The applications are accessible from various client devices through a thin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based email). The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage, or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exception of limited user-specific application configuration settings.

Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS). The capability provided to the consumer is to deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquired applications created using programming languages and tools supported by the provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, or storage, but has control over the deployed applications and possibly application hosting environment configurations.

Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). The capability provided to the consumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating systems and applications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage, deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networking components (e.g., host firewalls).

Deployment Models:

Private cloud. The cloud infrastructure is operated solely for an organization. It may be managed by the organization or a third party and may exist on premise or off premise.

Community cloud. The cloud infrastructure is shared by several organizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns (e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and compliance considerations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third party and may exist on premise or off premise.

Public cloud. The cloud infrastructure is made available to the general public or a large industry group and is owned by an organization selling cloud services.

Hybrid cloud. The cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or more clouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting for load-balancing between clouds).

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CitySourced gives Ranters an iPhone App

Are you pissed off about potholes, graffiti or broken street lights? Similar to the Federal government’s efforts with Data.gov and Google’s recent Public Sector release, CitySourced is offering users a chance to take government matters into their own hands. This year’s TC50 third place runner-up, CitySourced is a crowd pleaser on a number of levels. If you’re the type of person who writes letters to congressmen, editors and counsillors, you’re likely to help power this app.

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CitySourced offers citizens a chance to photograph their local pet peeves directly from their iPhones. Users send their pictures and complaints to their local municipalities with a couple clicks. From here, governments are recognize the needs of their constituencies and are forced to take action.

While programs like Apps for America and Apps for Democracy work to crowd source programmer-driven applications, CitySourced can be utilized by a non-technical user. In addition to the decision-making data being generated from this service, cities also offer users an active outlet for their frustrations. Instead of sending out arbitrary rants and suggestions to their Twitter accounts, users still get a chance to complain while receiving a direct line to their municipal reps. If cities have the courage to make these complaints public, the site could become as entertaining as Craigslist’s Best Of page while still maintaining its usefulness.

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