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Watson, the computer that has recently been competing on Jeopardy, could eventually hold a position in Government. Technology like the such that is used in Watson could eventually help government municipalities with garnering and analyzing data and information and regurgitating back to people who need it. For instance, a person looking to gain a building license could tell the computer what it is planning on building, and instead of having to sift through possibly thousands of pages of information, the computer could simply return a checklist to the person.

This site shows government technology solutions for local and state governments. I was particularly drawn in by the article of about Watson, the Jeopardy game show computer contestant, and how this type of technology could be beneficial to government programs.

Government CIOs say that the iPad is making them more productive and efficient, and also has potential to change how technology is delivered to government employees and the citizens they serve. date e-published:  Nov. 16, 2010

This article is on how the public should be able to see government meetings and have access to government records. Technology is helping this happen.

"How American-Made Tech Helped Middle Eastern Governments Censor the Internet" A new Harvard University study details how American and Canadian companies provided Internet filtering and monitoring software to the Iranian government, Mubarak's Egypt and other repressive states. It's still going on.

The head of California's state office of technology sees social media as a "force multiplier" and is aggressively expanding the state's mobile presence this year, aiming to double the number of mobile apps offered in 2011. Adrian Farley, the acting director and chief technology officer of OTech, told OhMyGov.com in an exclusive interview that the state of California, one of the earliest adopters of social media in government, had been very fortunate in experiencing almost no cultural pushback in attempts to integrate social media into official public communications. 

This article covers a major issue in net neutrality, an argument that will ultimately come down to the courts deciding whether the government can legitimately intervene in private business. The appeal from Verizon that challenges the recent adoption of net neutrality by the FCC was certainly expected. Either private businesses will win their appeal for less government regulation or our government will really begin to regulate service providers.

This article discusses the changes the government will be making this year in order to stick with budget plans put in place. It also discusses the barriers of government technologies as well as what needs to be done to create more efficient and effective government technologies.

Technology news outside the U.S.

Key security issues still need to be addressed as IT is integrated into the nation's electricity infrastructure, according to a recent report released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). date: article e-published on January 17, 2011 by the News Staff of Government Technology.

Although this article is a a couple years old I think it raises many good points in regards to the public sectors use of technology compared to that in the Business world. I think the author was correct in his assumptions that inefficiencies in the technology are in large part due to the lack of competition in the government. Perhaps, if the government were to do like the article suggests, and base their e-government procedures off of a business model than things may run a bit more easily.

After seeing the tragedy that has hit Japan, I found this story to be useful as a great example of how tech can really affect people's lives. Google has provided a system where you can search the name of a person in Japan and find out about their status in the country after the earthquake. This tool is so important for government to use during a national disaster because it allows families, no matter where they are across the globe, to better find out what has happened to their loved ones after such a tragedy. Governments or non profits such as the American Red Cross can use this technology in all types of different relief effort circumstances when a number of people somewhere in the world have been the victim of such a disaster.

Intelligent Decisions Inc. is a great technology company that helps out the government.

In an attempt to improve health care and reduce long-term expenses, the U.S. government is in the process of digitalizing patient medical records. There are arguments on both sides of the aisle with obviously complications for smaller physician practices. Even though this new system is working for the Mayo Clinic and other large health organizations, I'm skeptical that smaller non-profits will have the resources and correct strategies to make this transition with limited help from the government.

Although this article talks about business and government, it nonetheless provides very useful information in regards to the use of technology in the government. If the public information that is being taken by the government and seemingly used very little can prove to have benefits to society when used in an efficient and accessible way. These benefits can affect an individual, a business, or a non-profit in numerous ways.

Highly recommended article. The CITIZEN SUPERHEROES slideshow is hilarious. Basically, this article explains how technology makes government less bureacratic.

President Barack Obama, the CEOs of Dell Inc. and IBM Corp came up with an agenda for the federal government that will end up saving one trillion dollars by 2020. Some of the ways they could save billions of dollars are by reducing energy use, consolidate IT infrastructure, streamline government supply chains, and by monetizing government assets. The administration is going to work on coporate tax structure and free trade. Obama said he will support this as long as the deficit is neutral.

Great article on government IT and some of it's misconceptions.

"Chinese Hackers Bring Down Change.org in Response to Ai Weiwei Campaign. Chinese government-sponsored hackers took down Change.org with a DDoS campaign after the site registered over 100,000 signatories on a petition in favor of the imprisoned Chinese artist. Ai Weiwei had been known for his role in the construction of the Beijing Olympic stadium and as China's leading digital activist and a pioneer in the use of blogging and Twitter in China."