Weekly Round-up: January 24, 2014

Gadi Ben-Yehuda

Let it snow!

• NOAA tweeted a satellite image of the snow that blanketed the Northeast, and FedScoop gathered some tweets from DC-area as it weathered the weather.
• A blizzard of data: Joel Gurin, formerly of the FCC, has released his book, Open Data Now.  School for Startups has a short interview with Gurin, and a video of a panel he was on that discussed the topic.
• A snow job? Princeton University scientists released a study in which they "use[d] epidemiological models to explain user adoption and abandonment of [social networks], where adoption is analogous to infection and abandonment is analogous to recovery. " Their finding? "“Facebook,” . . . is just beginning to show the onset of an abandonment phase. Extrapolating the best fit model into the future predicts a rapid decline in Facebook activity in the next few years."  Facebook's data scientists shot back: "[Using their models demonstrates that] Princeton will have only half its current enrollment by 2018, and by 2021 it will have no students at all, agreeing with the previous graph of scholarly scholarliness. Based on our robust scientific analysis, future generations will only be able to imagine this now-rubble institution that once walked this earth."  Which would lead one to re-read the dueling articles "Why you should never trust a data scientist" and "Why you should never trust a data visualisation"

Dan Chenok

• Challenge.Gov wins Innovations in Government Award, winning in a field of 600 entrants and the first Federal recipient in a decade: 
• More evidence of how open data fuels economic benefit:  Warren Buffet is among those cited by the White House as an open gov user.
• Social media apps on the rise in agencies

John Kamensky

• Federal FY 2015 budget due March 4. Sean Reilly, Federal Times, reports that the President's FY 2015 budget proposal will be released on March 4th, a month later than originally anticipated.
• Making Citizen Participation Legal.  Mark Funkhouser writes in Governing magazine about a recent study entitled Making Public Participation Legal, by Matt Leighninger.  Funkhouser highlights how outdated laws and overly formal procedures designed in the 20^th century to support citizen participation in government are now actually found to discourage it.  Leighninger offers solutions, especially at the local level, that “legalize” the active use of social media and other methods of 21^st century engagement.
• Procurement Priorities, per Dan Gordon.  The administrator of federal procurement policy has resigned and the position, which oversees more than $500 billion in procurement, is now vacant.  A former administrator, Dan Gordon, offers his insights on where he thinks the next administrator should focus, in this audio clip from Federal News Radio.
• DOT Senior Executives Get a 360.  Senior executives at the Department of Transportation are being assessed using a 360 degree review by their employees, peers, and bosses.  The Department is placing a high priority on executives who have the rights skills to lead, and who take a department-wide view of issues.  In an interview with Jason Miller, Federal News Radio, the agency's chief learning officer and chief of diversity, Brian Crew, “said this may mean getting current senior executives out of their positions and moved back to operational roles, where they were happier and more successful.”
• Army to Consolidate Training.  In another cost-saving move, Amber Corrin, Federal Computer Week, reports that: “The Army is planning to collapse at least three virtual programs into a single environment that encompasses integrated, across-the-board training.”  This will reduce duplication and save money.  

The Business of Government Radio Show: Dr. Andrea Strimling Yodsampa

The Business of Government Hour features a conversation about management with a government executive who is changing the way government.

What are the challenges to interagency coordination? How can federal agencies enhance interagency coordination? What lessons can be learned from interagency coordination in Afghanistan? Join host Michael Keegan as he explores these questions and more with Andrea Strimling Yodsampa, author of the IBM Center report, Coordinating for Results: Lessons from a Case Study of Interagency Coordination in Afghanistan.

Broadcast Schedule: The show airs Monday at 11 a.m., and Wednesday at noon, on Federal News Radio 1500AM WFED

If you can't wait, though, you can listen to (or download) this week's program and all our previous interviews at businessofgovernment.org and by searching our audio archives.