The FCC is beginning an overhaul of the way it interacts with citizens, including a complete and comprehensive redesign of FCC.gov and its online systems. The reform initiatives at the FCC expand well beyond the website redesign. The focused attention of these reform efforts will be citizen interaction and participation, usability, accessibility, and transparency across the agency.

To help jump start innovation and reform, Chairman Julius Genachowski appointed a team of senior leadership within the agency dedicated to identifying the most needed and important areas of reform at the FCC, ranging from systems and data to rules and processes.

Hey, it's only my own little challenge page, but I'm trying in particular to help out a low-income school in South Caroline, and a coupla others.

So far, this specific effort has reached over 1300 students.

Please check out my DonorsChoose.org Challenge page, and consider giving a few bucks. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

Hey, more real stuff regarding government basics, like fixing potholes and improving public transportation.

The deal is that you report a problem with your phone, maybe snapping a photo, and get it fixed.

Check out Cities embrace mobile apps, 'Gov 2.0' on CNN:

A host of larger U.S. cities from San Francisco to New York quietly have been releasing treasure troves of public data to Web and mobile application developers.

That may sound dull. But tech geeks transform banal local government spreadsheets about train schedules, complaint systems, potholes, street lamp repairs and city garbage into useful applications for mobile phones and the Web.

The aim is to let citizens report problems to their governments more easily and accurately; and to put public information, which otherwise may be buried in file cabinets and Excel files, at the fingertips of taxpayers.

By some accounts, the trend is turning the government-voter relationship on its head and could usher in a new era of grassroots democracy.

Looks like the state employees and Governor Perdue of Georgia have made a big difference in customer service. This story isn't getting out, and it should, it's really impressive. I'll try to tell their story.

Several years ago, like in many companies, they found that many employees were cynical, beat down by the system and didn't seem to care (because no one cared about their opinion or what they were doing). I hear now that Georgia state employees are very engaged, and PROUD of what they're accomplishing.

What they've learned and accomplished are a really big deal, so here's what's worked for them, and might work for any large organization, from their perspective:

- one VISION & and a BOLD GOAL: all agencies have committed to providing the Best service of any state. We're all aligned around three strategies which are understood by all employees:

- speeding up service delivery (without spending money) - simplifying access to employees and programs (professional management of call centers - and soon, web sites) and - creating a culture where employees are consistently: Helpful, Courteous, Accessible, Responsive and Knowledgeable - we call this being Faster.Friendlier.Easier. It starts with all employees being on the same page.

- we do not find fault or look to place blame. We're merely focused on driving improvements. This is very important to creating an atmosphere of TRUST and Team work.

- we measure and "keep score" reporting on where we stand. This is done in two areas: customer service satisfaction and employee job satisfaction. We have strong improvements (statistically valid) in both areas.

- we guide and partner with 165 change agents in our 70 executive branch agencies: 50 customer service (CS) champions, 32 call center manager and people responsible for process improvement (RPI) and folks who's job is to implement our customer service training program. This is a very powerful "grass roots" network that's Accountable for results.

- we speed up processes using the principles of Lean Management with Rapid Process Improvements (RPI). This mirrors the way Toyota runs their business. Our office does not "fix" agency problems. We train agency employees to do this themselves. We require that their solutions do not cost money. The results, some of which I've attached have been dramatic. We're asking our own employees (not consultants) what's broken. Manangement sets down any ground rules and then supports employees making Immediate changes (not waiting for some "review process"). Employees know what needs to be done. Historically, their opinion was never solicited or if asked, not acted on. Therefore, many government employees have "given up" trying to go the extra mile, since no one (in management) cared. This culture results in, what I call, a "risk averse" workforce ..... innovation is not appreciated and sometimes punished.

If you want to hear more, contact Joe Doyle, jdoyle@ocs.ga.gov

waiting to hear from ustream.tv

HEY, please check out this new try http://www.livestream.com/craignewmark

From the Washington Post: Aughts were a lost decade for U.S. economy, workers

The bottom line: every other recent decade, Americans got more jobs and income.

Last decade, we lost.

What happened?

It only runs periodically. Now and then, you'll see me risking my life refilling the feeders.

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Vivek's getting a lot done for the country that the press doesn't really cover.

He's laying the groundwork for a government that actually listens to people, and can provide much better customer service.

Check out Chief Of The Year: Vivek Kundra:

With such a long, unfinished to-do list, you might say that we're premature in naming Kundra InformationWeek's Chief of the Year. But that's where we landed, and here's why: The federal CIO, now nine months into the job, has demonstrated a compelling vision for overhauling the government's lumbering IT operations (with 71,000 federal IT workers and more than 10,000 IT systems), and his progress is so far impressive.

Hey, the folks in Washington and beyond, have gotten serious about both serving the public better and saving money while doing do.

Previously, I'd noted Nancy Fichtner's SAVE award in Innovation and real support for wounded troops.

Now, she gets to document her experience herself:

My invitation to the White House became the adventure of my life.  I felt like a character out of the Mrs. Pollifax books.

With DC airports shutting down and December 21st being declared a snow day for Federal employees we had our challenges, but everyone pulled together and come Monday morning my children and I had an opportunity to meet President Obama and Secretary Shinseki.

This trip was a Christmas present beyond all.  I still think it was a lot for a little idea, but it really will save a lot of money and I am so glad to be a part of it.  I can’t wait to see my idea come full circle.  Thank you to all the people that made this experience a reality for me and my family. Lasting memory:  Kasey Ann is still talking about his handshake.