Case Studies

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Last week, CivSource reported on the launch of a new initiative in Virginia to grow that state’s cybersecurity economy. The initiative, called Semper Secure, included a partnership with Northrop Grumman. Now, Virginia is rolling out the next phase of the plan – MACH37 – a cybersecurity accelerator.[read more]

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Yesterday the Liberal-National Coalition released its broadband policy for Australia, in front of a high-tech set at Sky News, in contrast to the Labor Government's NBN plan and current rollout.[read more]

This is a presentation I gave on Monday to NSW Health, including a review of Australian social media adoption, how agencies have been using social media, risks to watch out for and some examples of good public sector social media execution.[read more]

Whether emergency service personnel and management ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ Facebook, Twitter or other social media and online channels is now irrelevant. Citizens, media organisations and other groups increasingly rely on them to share information, tactics and to organise outside of any central control by an agency and regardless of their wishes.[read more]

What can social media do for law enforcement? A new study finds nine different ways that police are using social media in Europe.[read more]

I’ve always felt that a lot of innovation happens where resources are scarcest. Scarcity forces us to think differently, to be efficient and to question traditional (more expensive) models. This is why I’m always interested to see how local governments in developing economies are handling various problems.[read more]

During a media event this afternoon, Ohio Governor Kasich lit the state’s ultra high-speed 100gbps broadband network. The idea for the network was first announced during the Governor’s 2012 State of the State address. Ohio leads the nation in the amount of fiber laid per person in a state. At this new speed, smartphone data will be 50,000 times faster and the state’s hospitals will be able to send 8.5 million medical records per second.[read more]

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We now live in a different world. Close to 100% of Australians use the internet for an average of over 48 hours per month online. The overwhelming majority of Australians use broadband (96%) and it is their most popular way of engaging with governments. There is an opportunity for Australia to follow the bold leadership of other nations to mandate a more powerful and central role for the Government CIO than was previously the case.[read more]

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Following a recent announcement from New York City, that it was working to expand its broadband infrastructure – Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has announced a similar initiative for Chicago. The Mayor wants Chicago to be the top city for high-speed broadband access in America.[read more]

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I'm stunned that a newspaper ownership would make such a move. Even more so that editors and journalists would support it. We should all be disappointed when the fourth estate is unable to recognize it is dis-empowering those who are most marginalized.[read more]

Legal experts seem to agree that this issue boils down to whether the Facebook page is truly a public forum.[read more]

Photo by Enuwy via Flickr

With all the good advice out there about dealing with negative comments you'd think managing negativity would be no big deal. (Um...that would be "no.")[read more]

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The high-profile cases of regional soccer celebrities rising up to lead social change movements in the Arab Spring have thrust to the fore the importance of a highly-regarded sport in a highly contentious region.[read more]

Photo by Elvert Barnes via Flickr

The other day somebody asked me if I would rather get the fish filet sandwich at Wendy's or McDonald's. Wendy's is objectively better in our experience. I said McDonald's. Because to me McDonald's means being an American, and that means a lot to me. It's happiness, Ronald McDonald. It's rebellion against the strictures of Orthodox...[read more]

There has long been a view in East London that this, the London Olympics 2012, should be about more than just the Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park and a few thousand houses. It has to be about the lasting change for this part of London and a reversal of a century of inequality that has existed between the East and the rest of London.[read more]