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Transforming Government since 2001

US: Vereinigte Staaten / United Staates

  • USA: Washington librarians visit Tacoma to discuss grants for high-speed broadband service

    More than 60 library directors from around Washington will be among those congregating in Tacoma Dec. 13-14 for an event to discuss how to make most effective use of high-speed broadband connections that are being made available through $183 million in grants that will benefit libraries, as well as schools, health clinics, community colleges and various government and non-profit buildings across the state, especially in rural areas.

    The two-day event, dubbed "Broadband in Washington Libraries," is being hosted by the Washington State Library and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It will be held at Hotel Murano, 1320 Broadway Plaza, in Tacoma.

  • USA: Washington state launches health records banking pilot projects

    The Washington State Health Care Authority is spending $1.7 million to finance health record banking pilot projects in three communities.

    Two of the health care providers involved in the project have teamed up with Microsoft HealthVault, and the other is partnered with Google Health.

    Although e-health records are in use in all three communities, many patients have little access to those records and must aggregate their own records if they receive care from more than one or two providers. “It is difficult for patients or medical personnel to easily see the entirety of a patient’s medical information; clearly this is needed to provide the best care,” the health care authority’s administrator, Steve Hill, said in a statement.

  • USA: Washington State Might Combine Agencies, Back-Office Work

    Budget deficits have forced Washington state to become the latest government to rethink its organizational structure and services.

    Facing a $4.6 billion budget deficit, Gov. Chris Gregoire announced jointly with the Transforming Washington’s Budget committee on Tuesday, Dec. 14, a proposal that would consolidate the state’s 21 agencies into nine, at a projected $30 million savings and a reduction of at least 125 jobs.

    The plan would bring changes to the Department of Information Services, the state’s technology agency. Part of the department would be recombined into the newly formed Department of Enterprise Services. According to the governor’s office, this new department would perform back-office functions like printing and financials that today are performed in each agency. The Department of Information Services would continue to oversee the state’s “computing services, telecommunications, and network administration and security services.”

  • USA: Washington, D.C.: Cell Phone Pictures May be the Next Medical Diagnostic Tool

    Study Looking at Impact of Cell Phone Pictures on Diagnosis of Wounds

    Dr. Neal Sikka, an emergency room physician at George Washington University Medical Center, recalls an eye-opening incident that happened while he was away at a medical conference.

    "My son fell and scraped his knee. My wife called, and I told her to take a picture and send it to me. She took a picture with her cell phone," said Sikka. "I looked at it, and told her how to clean it and take care of it."

  • USA: Washington, D.C.: Physicians use photos from patients' cellphones to deliver 'mobile health'

    The night before his fourth birthday, Rohan Giare of Rockville rolled off his bed and gashed the bridge of his nose. Rohan's dad, not knowing whether he should focus on getting the bleeding to stop or go immediately to the emergency room, snapped pictures of the cut with his BlackBerry and sent them to his doctor friend, Neal Sikka.

    "I just gave [Sikka] a ring," Vishal Giare said, "and got initial input on how serious it might be."

    Sikka, an emergency physician at George Washington University (GWU), looked at the photos and recommended a trip to the hospital.

  • USA: Washington: Cell-phone doctoring

    Smart-phone systems help inner-city patients, doctors maintain the right course of care

    What if my blood sugar's too high today? Is it time for my blood-pressure pill? Researchers are trying to harness the power of cell phones to help fight chronic diseases with nagging text messages or more-customized two-way interactions.

    "I call it medical minutes," said Dr. Richard Katz of George Washington University Hospital in the nation's capital.

    He's testing whether inner-city diabetics, an especially difficult-to-treat population, might better control their blood sugar - thus saving Medicaid money - by tracking their disease using Internet-ready cell phones, which are provided with reduced monthly rates as long as the patients regularly comply.

  • USA: Washington: Seattle Announces Open Data Web Site

    Following the open data trend popularized by San Francisco, New York City, the District of Columbia and other local governments, Seattle recently announced the deployment of Data.Seattle.gov, a Web site offering city data sets to citizen programmers who want to build citizen-facing applications. The data sets include information on crime statistics, alternative schools, public toilets, public art and numerous other metrics on Seattle life.

  • USA: Washington: Seattle Exploring Point-of-View Cameras for Cops

    The Seattle City Council is considering a pilot that would test first-person cameras mounted directly on police officers.

    A City Council subcommittee met last week to discuss the idea, which was initiated by Council member Bruce Harrell. The City Council asked the city's Department of Information Technology to further study the body-mounted cameras.

    If Seattle moves forward with the project, it would become one of the first municipalities in the nation to adopt such technology. One example is the San Jose (Calif.) Police Department, which began a small pilot of head-mounted cameras last year. The participating police officers were required to switch the cameras on when they're on duty in the field.

  • USA: Washington: Six Area Counties Praised for E-Government Programs

    National Survey Hails Online Services

    Six Washington area jurisdictions made it onto a list of "top digital" counties, according to a nationwide study.

    Counties were credited for using technology in innovative ways to improve service to residents, according to the survey, conducted recently by the Center for Digital Government and the National Association of Counties.

  • USA: Washingtons Funknetze stehen weit offen

    Große Pläne zu "Cyber-Security" belasten in den USA die Unternehmen. Dabei kümmert sich Washington offenbar selbst nicht: Wer will, kann sich auf eine Parkbank vors weiße Haus setzen und in die Regierungscomputer einloggen.

    Ein Hacker auf einer Parkbank könnte sich in dutzende Netzwerke der US-Regierung einloggen, berichtet ein Washington-Korrespondent des australischen Infodienstes AustralianIT. Der Journalist bezieht sich dabei auf einen neuen Report, den er in die Finger bekam. Dem Papier zufolge arbeitet die Regierung auf Basis alter lückenhafter Sicherheitsstandards.

  • USA: Washtenaw County Introduces Online Job Applications

    Applying for a job in Washtenaw County, Michigan, just got easier. eWashtenaw (www.eWashtenaw.org), the County's official eGovernment portal, has launched an integrated human resources application system that allows job seekers to apply for positions with the click of a mouse.

  • USA: We Need a National Infrastructure Initiative

    The United States, developer of the Internet, inventor of the first PC, the silicon wafer, the pen-based computer etc, is now 12th in the world in using broadband communication, according to the latest report out of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a government think tank in Paris to which almost all developing countries belong.

  • USA: Weak coordination hampers efforts on medical databases

    Efforts by the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments to create a medical database that works across their jurisdictions have been hampered by weak interagency coordination and the lack of a broad vision for the health network, an expert said Wednesday

  • USA: Web Chat Helps Virginia Reduce Phone Calls About Tax Questions

    The Virginia Department of Taxation recently slashed Web-related calls from citizens by 70 percent, thanks to an online chat device with an instant messenger function that costs roughly $1,000, according to Sharon Kitchens, assistant tax commissioner for the state's Office of Technology.

    Kitchens presented the cost-effective solution Thursday, March 18, on the Modernizing Critical Systems panel at the Managing Technology conference, a government IT event. The agency deployed the chat device in July 2009 as a pilot experiment in response to a tax amnesty program it would announce in late 2009. A tax amnesty program waives all fees and interest for citizens with unpaid back taxes if they come forward voluntarily. Naturally the department expected the program to set off a dramatic spike in phone inquiries.

  • USA: Web content: Get organized

    The hard work required by draft content management policies could pay off

    Organizing Web content to better serve citizens may be an arduous task for some agency officials as they tackle content organization and management responsibilities, but it's something they must do, experts say.

  • USA: Web Experts: Obama's Vision for E-government Will Take Work

    U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has used Web tools to solicit donations and hear from his supporters during his campaign, but it's still unclear how many of those methods will translate into electronic government, a group of e-campaign and open-government experts said.

    In addition to a robust online fundraising effort, the Obama campaign used blogs to communicate with potential votersand solicit their comments, posted hundreds of videos on YouTube, and sent thousands of e-mail and text messages to supporters. And many of those efforts continue, with Obama still posting videos and using his Change.gov site to organize meetings of supporters this weekend, noted Sam Graham-Felsen, a member of the Web site team for the Obama campaign.

  • USA: Web filing available for gas importers

    Energy Department officials expect a new online application system to improve the authorization process for natural gas imports and exports.

    The e-Filing system, an e-government initiative under the President's Management Agenda, allows importers and exporters to request federal authorization online. Previously, filing was only available through standard mail or by fax.

  • USA: Web Poll Topic: E-Government Study

    Utah and Maine are the best states for e-government in the United States, according to the sixth annual e-government analysis conducted by researchers at Brown University. The White House and the Department of the State are the most highly rated federal sites.

    Darrell M. West, director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University, and a team of researchers examined 1,620 state and federal sites. The researchers analyzed 1,559 state sites (or an average of 31 sites per state) plus 48 federal government legislative and executive sites, and 13 federal court sites. Research was completed during June and July, 2005. Previous e-government studies were released in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004.

  • USA: Web satisfaction scores rising

    Citizens are increasingly willing to recommend e-government and more likely to return to government Web sites than they were last year, according to new survey results released today.

    Each of the 53 federal sites represented in the American Customer Satisfaction Index E-Government Report showed growth in these customer loyalty factors

  • USA: Web Search Is the New King of Government Portals

    When governments began launching their own websites in the '90s, the results left much to be desired, to say the least. The portals were painfully difficult to navigate and had multiple tabs that were too busy -- seemingly created with government users in mind rather than the general public. To everyday citizens, these websites paled in comparison to the private sector's efforts, which were constantly evolving to better suit their needs.

    Some argue that's still the case and will forever be, despite vast improvements over the years. Naysayers aside, a recent surveypoints out online features -- searching and social media -- are now top public priorities when it comes to navigating a government's Web page. And with every redesign, there is an opportunity to better meet those needs and engage the public.

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