Policy

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A new study issued "report cards" to states that take a comprehensive look at state laws designed to give consumers basic information about the average or expected prices of common health care services and gives only 14 states a “C” or better.[read more]

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Maryland State Senator Catherine E. Pugh has introduced four bills in this legislative session, and Governor Martin O’Malley has announced a package of initiatives designed to further Maryland’s leadership as a hub for cybersecurity jobs.[read more]

The latest broadband performance index of all 50 states released by TechNet shows that all states are moving forward on increasing broadband access. However, like with other national initiatives, some states are moving a little faster than others. Overachievers: California, Delaware and Indiana.[read more]

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Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) has passed a bill through the Senate that would allow the state to get on the shared services bandwagon or face the loss of state aid. New Jersey has been working for the last year to move its many small municipalities on to a shared services model in an effort to control costs, but some cities and townships have been reluctant to move to the model. Now, state officials want to add some teeth to the plan.[read more]

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The federal government is increasingly facing challenges of greater complexity that demand faster action than the current institutional structures can respond to effectively. Presented here are three sets of interrelated solutions termed “Anticipatory Governance.” Anticipatory Governance can be defined as: “a ‘system of systems’ comprising a disciplined foresight-policy linkage; networked management and budgeting to mission; and feedback systems to monitor and adjust.”[read more]

Over the next few days I am in Singapore at Liquid Learning's Future Citizen Engagement for Government Forum Asia conference. I'll be liveblogging the presentations today and may liveblog parts of tomorrow, when I am chairing, speaking and on a panel. Liveblog: Future Citizen Engagement for Government Forum AsiaeGov AUCraig...[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]

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I worked on the outreach for the project, which is critical when you consider the potential threat a terrorist can do with hidden WMD in a small boat, where they might leave the U.S., pick up a weapon, then try to come back in "under the radar."[read more]

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The thing is, if you never tell people how long they are going to have to wait - expect them to get unhappy. More importantly, if, while their waiting, other contributors come and make negative comments about their contributions, don't be surprised if they get even more unhappy and become less and less inclined to submit patches (or brownies, or whatever makes your community go round).[read more]

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

As diplomats begin to engage more and more with local populations, they face the difficult task of figuring out the terrain and making sure they use it to improve the image of the U.S. Otherwise, direct engagement with international audiences via Twitter and similar services can set American diplomats up for disaster.[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]

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Don’t make new things sound new, acknowledge when others have made a good point. Incorporate feedback. And here's the rest.[read more]

Image: 'paranoia' by katiew

Sometimes the best thing you can share is real life advice you've given someone. What follows is an email [almost verbatim] I sent to someone who asked me about the blurring line between professional and personal lives online (emphasis added): My first impression is that this [person] is doing something awesome [online]; and that I wish...[read more]