Government Technology is Governing's sister e.Republic publication, offering in-depth coverage of IT case studies, emerging technologies and the implications of digital technology on the policies and management of public sector organizations.
Twitter’s newly announced polling feature looks like a lot of fun for its throngs of avid users, but could it also bring value to savvy organizations looking for instant feedback from the public?
The signing of a new privacy bill was celebrated by privacy advocates and major technology companies alike.
City officials are taking a new, less subjective look at their roads and how to fund them with a capital acceleration plan and a laser-equipped van geared toward removing guess work and saving money.
As the number of companies testing self-driving cars on public roads rises, nonprofit Consumer Watchdog says the public should have more information about the crashes those vehicles are getting into.
Several businesses and public entities have banded together to share camera feeds and sensor data in an effort to identify security threats early.
Thousands of black plastic “shade balls” offer an elegant solution to water loss and environmental threats.
The Obama administration's digital divide crusade is expanding through a program called ConnectHome and is expected to initially reach more than 275,000 households through increased broadband access, technical training and digital devices.
The Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission has signed a deal to digitize and automate the license renewal process state wide.
In this year's survey, the Center for Digital Government recognizes 54 counties as adaptive IT leaders, collaborators and arbiters of the public trust.
Users can see the latest criminal and emergency activity on a map as it is filtered through the Oakland Police Department’s 911-dispatch system.
Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Chicago are among a host of places attempting to process data within the same framework as water or any other natural resource — and it seems to be working.
AB 1356 authorizes law enforcement to use a new device to check drivers for use of pot, cocaine and other drugs.
A measure shutters two key renewable energy programs in Texas, which could stir up the regulatory environment in the state.
Legislation is on the table that would expand use of programs that incentivize customers to use less power during high demand times.
The Bay Area city will light-up SL Wi-Fiber in a four-block radius that encompasses the core of its downtown area this summer.
Automatic vehicle location and passenger counting systems create data that can fine-tune the running of a transit system.
The information is out there somewhere. Now, can governments find and use it?
The state would become one of just a handful to issue "enhanced driver's licenses" to cross borders.
Yelp and Socrata have partnered to make the results of restaurant inspections public.
Health IT firms are urging Congress and federal agencies to clarify and simplify several aspects of regulation, and to more frequently update their guidance.
CityCamp will bring together citizens, hackers and officials from four cities to discuss ways civic tech partnerships can address community challenges.
Many best practices are commonly overlooked in the development of government social media policies.
Here's what technology experts are saying - along with my naughty and nice labels.
New York City and Asheville, N.C., have both adopted private clouds to provide disaster recovery services, with promising results.
The Iowa Department of Transportation expects to have a working prototype within six months.
Veniam, a new civic tech startup in Mountain View, Calif., aims to supply cities with affordable and infrastructure-friendly hot spots using public transit.
Maggie Miller, former CIO of the Girl Scouts of the USA, will make New York state her eighth CIO position.
Hawaii learned a few lessons from its efforts to "gamify" government. Government work is serious business – but maybe it doesn't have to be a no-fun, no-thrill zone for consumers.
This city and others are using the Internet of Things and sensor data to more efficiently plow the roads during winter storms.
Climate change seems nearly impossible to solve. But simplifying the bureaucratic process for solar permitting is something that local and state governments can start doing today.
OpenGov Foundation gets $750,000 to pioneer open lawmaking tools to citizens.
Last week, service was disrupted for 18 voting information websites serving citizens around the nation this midterm election. But the nation may have bigger problems when it comes to voting technology.
Back in the spring of 2014, speculation was already growing about the significant impact that technology and cybersecurity might have on the 2014 midterm elections.
A federally run nutrition program for women, infants and children is complex and difficult to use. But now there's an app to fix all that.
A host of private-sector companies are offering unlimited vacation time to employees, but public-sector CIOs aren't sure the practice is feasible for technologists in government.
A new report highlights opportunities to try to improve water management in drought-stricken Western states.
New Fraud-Detection-as-a-Service continues to “learn” over time, uncovering emerging fraud methods.
Gov. Jerry Brown has signed Senate Bill 1211, which requires the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to develop a timeline for a statewide next-generation 911 emergency communications system.
The shortage of cybersecurity experts is well documented. So what are agencies doing to fill the gap?
A new computer simulation foreshadows a future where 90 percent of vehicle traffic is eliminated.
The 2014 Deloitte-NASCIO Cybersecurity study shows with words in pictures what many state chief information security officers already know -- the landscape is fraught with evolving challenges.
As analytical tools have become more sophisticated and data sets much larger, the ability to forecast crime has grown more nuanced.
Issues over insurance, enforcement and taxation spur supervisors to revise short-term rental legislation proposed.
Controversy over ride-sharing companies continues as Uber allows drivers in San Francisco, Boston and Charlotte to use their own smartphones instead of company-provided devices.
The 2014 Digital States Survey grades states on how well they use technology to serve their citizens.
A measure that regulates law enforcement use of drones was passed by California lawmakers and now awaits the decision of Gov. Jerry Brown.
The organization's mission is to move civic hacking's focus toward building solutions and providing ongoing support so those solutions -- primarily in disaster response and recovery -- can succeed in the public sector.
Inspired by recent events in Ferguson, Mo., a family of teens releases an app to try to keep police accountable.
Minnesota's IT renovation saved the state $27.4 million.
At the city's conclusion of the city inaugural entrepreneur-in-residence program, departments and startups showed fresh pilot programs, prototypes and fully developed products.
In a response to a Los Angeles RFI for citywide broadband, Dutch start up Angie Communications said it would also build and operate a nationwide 4G network and a Wi-Fi network that reaches 90 percent of the population. But some are skeptical of the ambitious plan.
Wilson, N.C., and Chattanooga, Tenn., want the FCC to axe restrictions on expanding municipal broadband networks.
The city's Sustainable Systems Framework -- a collaboration with the University of Chicago -- will help officials gather feedback and make forecasts for urban development programs and construction.
Structural monitoring using highly accurate sensing devices can enable objective, precise and timely performance data on the condition of our nation's bridges.
Currently Pennsylvania is the only state that doesn't permit local enforcement officers to use radar guns -- but the Legislature is considering proposals that could change that.
New York Public Library President Tony Marx said the project is a way to “leak” the Internet in a meaningful and pervasive way.
Governments could improve by pushing more information to constituents, entering into strategic partnerships with industry more easily and cooperating more broadly for the betterment of society, to name a few things.
Officials in the Long Island town will restrict what information employees and vendors can release without official consent.
A report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation has ranked states based on economic and technological trends.
Which places have chief data officers? Ranks of government CDOs grow as agencies implement analytics.
San Francisco becomes the first U.S. city to offer encrypted Wi-Fi.
An upgrade to 100 gigabits will benefit state agencies and schools and is supposed to act as a catalyst for economic growth and development.
Four high-school students split a $3,000 prize for their app that allows homeless shelters to report what they need so restaurants and volunteer groups can donate the appropriate items.
Eight Governors Sign and agreement that could boost deployment of charging stations and other EV infrastructure.
The Golden State may restrict state cooperation with federal agencies seeking data on Californians without a valid warrant.
As governments learn to do new things with their data, new solutions to old problems are found -- and the public wonders if having a Big Brother might not be entirely a bad thing.
State agencies, local governments and the companies that provide services to Florida are waiting to see what will emerge from new legislation that aims to create an agency to replace the defunct Agency for Enterprise Information Technology.
As the City of Angels prepares to lose 60 percent of its IT staff within the next five years, management looks for new ways to fill the gap.
The term “driver’s license” is only useful if people are thinking of it as an optional authentication tool, not as a permit to do something.
In response to the Cover Oregon health exchange fiasco, the Beaver State has placed tighter restrictions on outsourcing IT projects. The effort could signal the start of a national trend.
Police departments recover all sorts of stolen goods. Increasingly, officials use image hosting services to get the property back to its owners instead of just auctioning it off.
The White House is leading efforts for a new authentication system that would have users prove their identity with a single ID across the Web. And states are starting to pilot the system.
A bill by California Assemblyman Ian Calderon would create an entrepreneur-in-residence program within the governor’s office of Business and Economic Development.
Bills have popped up in 5 state legislative sessions that would both restrict and expand certain aspects of broadband connectivity and infrastructure.
Officials put building permits and inspection process online using a civic cloud platform and innovative apps.
Some government officials are finding Twitter a fast, cheap and easy method of advertising new job openings in their agencies.
Experts worry that a recent California appeals court ruling about the state’s Public Records Act could stunt the open government movement across the U.S.
The Economic Development Corp. is working its way through more than 150 applications, giving out fiber connections on a first come, first serve basis.
Indiana's new Management and Performance Hub will automate agencies' key performance indicators to try to improve outcomes on individual targets, such as infant mortality.
One Washington, D.C., neighborhood learned that launching a free public Wi-Fi network was not as easy as initially anticipated.
The city has published on online scorecard to promote better transparency.
At least the small city claims it does -- and local officials did it themselves.
In previous SmartCities Challenges, the company has helped Syracuse, N.Y., create a land bank that enabled it to reclaim and revitalize vacant properties, and helped Providence, R.I., simplify the process of permit and construction plan applications.
More than 30 cities have been scored on their open data efforts, and more will be reviewed and added in the coming months.
Officials in Maryland and Pennsylvania are looking to technology to reduce contraband in prisons and keep inmates from illegally receiving unemployment checks.
The National Governors Association announced three states that will participate in a program to improve data sharing to reduce recidivism and help prisoners successfully re-enter society.
California experiments with crowdsourced legislation.
Self-driving cars sound like fantasy to many, but regulators in the state are laying the groundwork for the technology to hit the roads next year.
A professor and former police officer and others have created an app that alerts cops when they're too tired to continue working safely.
The National Guard has a critical role to play in coordinating cyber-resources across federal, state and local governments.
Obama introduces a $302 billion transportation Infrastructure Investment and outlined how the White House plans to fill the gap in the Highway Trust.
The wireless industry is bristling over the Commission’s proposed rulemaking on wireless 911 location results.
As the company rolls out Google Fiber, it looks to 34 more communities as the next potential candidates.
Use the interactive map to see how each governor focused on technology in his 2014 State of the State address.
Stuck between promises to the public and aging equipment, Riverside, Calif., must determine the best course of action for its free, citywide Wi-Fi network.
A new bill would require South Carolina school districts to provide an anonymous online form to report instances of bullying.
Assessing dirt roads and roadside features on foot could, in coming years, become a thing of the past.
Obama's annual speech focused mostly on job growth and made and made only brief mentions of technology.
Gov. Scott Walker expected to sign bill that would prevent Wisconsin employers from asking for the log-in information and passwords for a prospective employee’s social media accounts.
The international Intelligent Community of the Year competition showcases communities that use information technology to build prosperity, solve social problems and enrich local culture.
Government and technology news you should know.
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The list of Chief Innovation Officers in public agencies is growing, as evidenced by appointments at the state and local levels -- Maryland, Massachusetts, San Francisco and Philadelphia, to name a few.
Using an existing reporting tool, states are moving vets off Medicaid rolls by connecting them to better federal benefits they may not have known about.
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee announced on a partnership with Yelp, a popular restaurant review website, to link the city's restaurant health score data and to standardize health score data nationwide.
The widely used, visually-oriented platform is helping social media-savvy law enforcement agencies drive up arrest rates.
This program is part of the FCC’s Next Generation 911 services, which attempts to upgrade the rules and regulations of the landline era to the current mobile and IP world.
Federally-run health insurance exchanges as well as some some state-run exchanges will be paid for using insurance premium surcharges, not separate taxes.
Pennsylvania is the only state currently meeting or exceeding all federal guidelines for securing child support payments.
The American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council made recommendations that could help not only the federal government but state and local governments, too.
A program in Washington state uses data sharing to help veterans access proper benefits, and saves millions in state Medicaid funding.
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Being a victim, the study found, can be avoided by not being an easy target, as most data breaches of public sector information were found to be opportunistic, not calculated attacks.
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Thom Guertin will launch the Office of Digital Excellence and work with CIO John Landers to increase the number of services available to citizens online.
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The National Association of State Chief Information Officers launched a new website to promote collaboration across jurisdictions and agencies within state and local government.
The new organization will help state leaders create policy to protect infrastructure such as data and communication systems, financial records, banking systems, water systems, electrical grids and energy companies.
Two New Jersey state senators sponsored a bill that could generate income for the state, but a few problems have caused the bill to be put on hold.
Governing: State and local government news and analysis
Cities may lose access to their Facebook pages if they don't make it clear that it's an official government page.
Experts discuss the viability of telehealth in light of a growing shortage of primary care physicians and increased demand for medical care.
Economic development corporations weigh in on New York City’s plans to outsource management of its costliest technology projects.
The state’s new residency check system may be an answer to other states thinking about the same verification issues.
With passage of new public safety broadband legislation earlier this year, the federal government is trying put the brakes on these projects to ensure they fit in with the emerging national network – and in some cases that’s spurring frustration.
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First place winners are the state of Alabama, Orange County, Fla., and Louisville, Ky.
Harris County, Texas, rolls out the first pieces of what could become a nationwide broadband wireless network for public safety.
Oracle survey finds that states are moving away from manual reporting processes.
A few hundred residents have already used the system to register to vote.
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Energy producers and experts discuss geothermal and other renewable power sources at the National Geothermal Summit in Sacramento, Calif.
The software is New York City’s attempt to build a truly one-stop shop for crime and counterterrorism data that’s accessible in real time.
New report shows how all 50 states fare in technology preparedness if electronic voting machines malfunction on Election Day — a factor that could impact voting results in swing states.
Pilot projects are being planned to test technical standards that would allow vehicles to immediately “tell” 911 call centers when there is a crash.
The IT department of Bryan, Texas, has volunteered its time and expertise to help better prepare a local child abduction response team for action.
The Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program is a Web-based database that allows agencies to ensure that only those entitled to benefits receive them.
Arizona is updating its stalking laws to include modern technologies like email and text messaging.
Noted by Pew Charitable Trust researchers as having the most expensive per-call cost among cities that it recently analyzed -- $7.78 per call -- Detroit ceased operations at its 311 Call Center.
Health-care executives and public officials say complexity and uncertainty reign as states continue to build online insurance marketplaces.
Video footage will be sent to the American Civil Liberties Union and stored on a secure server.
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Transparency portal features contracts, expenditures and other key financial data.
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Legislation is under consideration that will address details of the California Technology Agency’s move into a new Government Operations Agency . State CIO to maintain direct reporting to governor on IT.
Pilot programs in Indiana and Ohio will measure the effects of expanding access to prescription drug monitoring.
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What people are saying about the new public-private partnership aiming to develop new applications for ultra-fast networks.
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Northrop Grumman and the University of Maryland will partner to teach students about the ever-changing and evolving aspects of cybersecurity.
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Government transparency organization develops phone service for users to call and get updates about state legislatures with Google Alerts-style features.
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Officials say the state’s massive vehicle title and registration update is finally close to full speed.
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Business pitch contest yields diverse field of entries via popular social media platform.
Missouri data warehouse unites taxpayer data to maximize yields for state coffers.
Budget belt-tightening has put the cost of 311 calls under a microscope. And while few cities would contemplate pulling the plug on these popular systems, many are looking for ways to rein in expenses.
Arkansas’ online procurement system cuts paper usage by 117,000 pages a year, and reduces processing time from three months to less than six weeks.
Text messaging has become the backbone behind a new mobile health program in Clackamas County, Ore.
Next-generation traffic data is providing travelers with detailed real-time roadway conditions, hazard messages and expected travel times.
Solar-powered parking pay stations in the city of Lake Geneva, Wis., let drivers pay for parking by credit card and extend parking time via text message.
Ohio's voter-initiated ban on indoor public smoking, the first enacted in the Midwest and among the strictest in the nation, is constitutional and enforceable, the Ohio Supreme Court unanimously ruled.
Commerce Department issues wish list for board members who will guide a national broadband framework for first responders.