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  • TED@State: New Ideas for a Better World

    Posted by Rob Lalka on October 6, 2009 at 9:38 AM EST

    Ed. Note: TED is a small nonprofit devoted to "Ideas Worth Spreading."  It started out in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design.

    So much has happened since I last wrote about how the State Department is opening its doors to the private sector and civil society. Through the Global Partnership Initiative, we have been reevaluating not just the substance of our foreign policy but also how we conduct our foreign policy -- "tilting the balance away from a multi-polar world and toward a multi-partner world," to use Secretary Clinton’s words. 

    To learn more, be sure to check out the blog post that just went up on the State Department’s DipNote Blog. As you will see, we are working hard to implement the Secretary's vision around here.  But I don’t think we would have made so much progress without the sparks that flew during TED@State back in June.
    "Hands down it is the best event that I’ve attended in all of the years that I’ve been at State," one colleague wrote. The folks at BeDo expressed their thanks, saying, "It’s an honor to witness the transformation and experience the partnership embodied by TED@State." But I think the change of thinking TED brought to State was best exemplified in this blog, which said it was like "cats and dogs living together, my friends."  I loved reading that.
    All told, over 800 people attended the first government sponsored TED Talks.  Before the event, the line wrapped all the way up 23rd Street and around the building. Every single seat in Dean Acheson Auditorium was filled and people were sitting in the aisles.  We’ve never seen anything like it. 
    But what’s best about TED@State is that this wasn’t just a one-time event. Our Foreign Service Officers stationed across the globe have been watching the videos on the State Department intranet site and on our closed-circuit TV station.  And with the videos free online at www.ted.com, TED@State has been popping up on laptops and mobile devices all around the world. One of my coworkers even watched Clay Shirky’s talk on an airplane.   TED is the gift that keeps on giving.
    One of the TED folks told us about the amazing story of "The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind," William Kamkwamba, so we introduced him to Ambassador Peter Bodde in Malawi (and evidently they really hit it off). Coming up next week, we are going to get to hear his story firsthand at an event we are co-hosting with Andrew Natsios at Georgetown. I’ve even had conversations around town about spinning off TED@State to other agencies, so who knows what’s next.
    Ben Franklin had his kite.  We had TED@State.  And here are a few of the lightning strikes that we have been thinking about ever since: 
    Clay Shirky: How social media can make history
    NYU’s Clay Shirky kicked off TED@State with a stunning presentation about how cell phones, the internet, and social media tools have empowered everyday citizens.  According to Shirky, consumers of information are becoming producers, generating "the largest increase in expressive capability in human history." 
    "It’s as if when you bought a book they threw in the printing press for free," he explained.  Then, less than two weeks later, Shirky provided insights on the TED Blog as events in Iran unfolded: "Someone tweeted from Tehran today that ‘the American media may not care, but the American people do.’ That's a sea-change." 
    Hans Rosling: Let my dataset change your mindset
    He has swallowed swords, debated with Fidel Castro, identified a disease (and named it konzo), and pointed a finger straight at his State Department audience and asked, "Does your mindset correspond with my data set? If not, one or the other of them needs upgrading."
    You’re just going to have to watch Hans Rosling for yourself (and you only have to catch the first ninety seconds to see him point at the screen with an "old fashioned laser pointer," as he put it: a microphone stand).  You’ll be mesmerized by his moving bubble graphs as he dispels myths about social and economic development with a sportscaster’s flair, and you will probably even find yourself clicking over to www.gapminder.org to play around with the software on your own.
    Stewart Brand: Four environmental 'heresies' 
    Stewart Brand, author of The Whole Earth Catalog (which he first published forty years ago), previewed his new book, The Whole Earth Discipline, which comes out later this month.  With his first book having sold 1.5 million copies, we were all at the edges of our seats to hear what he had to say (and thrilled that we would be the first to get a preview).
    Brand’s talk covered a wide range of topics, from his thoughts on why cities are actually greener than the countryside, to how nuclear power might provide answers to energy concerns, to why genetic engineering could be the key to crop and land management.  You won’t want to miss the astonishing video clip from Bangkok that he shows at around the six-minute mark.
    Jacqueline Novogratz: A third way to think about aid
    Jacqueline Novogratz of the Acumen Fund made the case for impact investing in a masterful way: "So we need both the market, and we need aid.  Patient capital works between and tries to take the best of both … [by investing] in entrepreneurs who know their communities and are building solutions to healthcare, water, housing, alternative energy."  
    Novogratz’s TED Talk has galvanized all kinds of buzz, starting with the roundtable discussion on a potential Global Innovation Fund hosted by Aspen and continuing at SOCAP09 and elsewhere. Then a real game-changer was announced recently when USAID made a funding commitment to develop a set of standards that will rate the social and environmental return on financial investments.  As Ambassador Bagley commented, "These shared metrics are just the start of our efforts to develop impact investing strategies that will ensure sustainable, responsible, and long-term growth." 
    One day soon, if we do this right, investors could have the ability to double-click on their mutual funds and clearly see their social and environmental impacts – the number of well-paying jobs they’ve created in post-conflict areas, the number of daycare centers, hospitals, or schools they have retrofitted with green building technologies, or the number of women who have received microcredit loans to create income-generating opportunities for their families.  Exciting stuff.
    Paul Collier: New rules for rebuilding a broken nation
    People’s eyes widened as Paul Collier rattled off statistics about how forty percent of post-conflict situations reverted back within a decade, accounting for half of civil wars.  To change the paradigm, he argued that we need to think differently about who leads recovery efforts, saying, "On the ground, you should use whatever works: churches, NGOs, local communities.  Whatever works."
    Similar phrases were still fresh in my mind from a few weeks earlier: "We have to find new ways to fill that space that is unfortunately left to create vacuums in too many places around the world," Secretary Clinton stated at the Global Philanthropy Forum in April. "The problems we face today will not be solved by governments alone. It will be in partnerships – partnerships with philanthropy, with global business, partnerships with civil society." 
    Great minds sometimes think alike, even if it is outside of the box.
    And TED@State’s "new ideas for a better world" were just the start, as we found out last week at the Clinton Global Initiative when President Obama issued this challenge: 
    "We stand at a transformational moment in world history when our interconnected world presents us at once with great promise, but also with great peril … And just as no nation can wall itself off from the world, no one nation -- no matter how large, no matter how powerful -- can meet these challenges alone.  Nor can governments alone.  Today's threats demand new partnerships across sectors and across societies -- creative collaborations to achieve what no one can accomplish alone.  In short, we need a new spirit of global partnership.  And that is exactly the spirit that guides this organization; I hope that it is the spirit that guides my administration."
    You can answer the President’s call by submitting your partnership proposals to us online. Together, we can turn your ideas into the partnerships that really will create a better world.
    Rob Lalka is the Partnerships Liaison at the U.S. Department of State

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  • Federal Register 2.0: Opening a Window onto the Inner Workings of Government

    Posted by Ray Mosley on October 5, 2009 at 8:14 AM EST

    Every weekday the National Archives and Records Administration publishes the Federal Register, a detailed description of the Executive branch’s doings, including 150 daily policy decisions of President and Federal agencies, such as proposed and enacted changes to federal regulations. Most Americans don’t look for it on their doorsteps in the morning, and you don’t see a lot of people perusing it on their daily commutes, but the Federal Register is nothing less than the "newspaper of our democracy," providing the most comprehensive overview (80,000 pages a year!) of how federal agencies are dealing with issues ranging from clean air and water to highway safety to science policy.

    When it was created 73 years ago, the Register was a tremendous advance in making government more open and accountable to the American people. But this "newspaper" is heavy reading. The text is dense and detailed and organized chronologically in a Department-by-Department and Agency-by-Agency format, making it more accessible in practice to avid government-watchers and experienced interest groups than the general public.

    That’s why we're pleased to announce that as of today the National Archives and Records Administration and the U.S. Government Printing Office will publish the Federal Register in "XML." XML is a simple and flexible, machine-readable form of text that is easy to manipulate with software. By putting the Federal Register in XML, the federal government is for the first time allowing individuals to take control over how they want to read the Federal Register.

    With an XML edition, independent organizations can reorganize the Register’s contents in ways that are more meaningful to you and address your personal interests; track issues that are likely to affect your community or your profession; and even engage in real-time public discussions about its contents with others across the country and around the world.

    For example, Princeton's Center for Information Technology is today set to launch Fedthread.org, which allows users to annotate the Federal Register and comment in its margins. Another organization, Public.Resource.org, has created a software application that makes it simpler to search the Federal Register. And GovPulse makes it possible to visualize the Federal Register by topic or by location so the reader can see how particular government actions affect different local communities.

    In these new formats, more people can read about what their government is doing and, even more significantly, can participate and get involved. We anticipate that, with this rich storehouse of government information now freely available in a 21st Century electronic format, we'll proliferate new software tools that greatly enhance the Federal Register’s readability and relevance. As United States Public Printer Bob Tapella has said: "By updating the Federal Register for the 21st century we are providing the American people the tools to access the documents of our democracy."

    You can find the Federal Register in XML each day at www.gpo.gov or on data.gov. We encourage enterprising readers to take advantage of this new format and turn their creativity to the task of making the Register even more readable, accessible, and user-friendly. We'll be looking for the best ideas to incorporate in how we publish this newspaper of our democracy.

    UPDATE: To comment on this post, visit the OSTP blog.

    Ray Mosley is the Director of the Federal Register at the National Archives and Records Administration

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  • "CPSC 2.0"

    Posted by Ed Kang on September 24, 2009 at 4:00 PM EST

    This week, the nation's safety agency, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, launched a comprehensive social networking initiative that will make life-saving information more accessible to millions of consumers. Moms, dads, grandparents and others can find the latest safety information on CPSC's blog "OnSafety", which has articles, videos, podcasts and other information that can keep kids and families safe from a variety of product-related hazards. The site features a "Recall Search" tool that provides the latest updates on recalls and other news. CPSC has also launched its official presence on YouTube, FlickR and Twitter, with more social networking sites to come in the near future.
    CPSC's social media launch coincides with their Furniture and TV Tip-over Education Campaign. For young children, the home is a playground, and while many parents childproof to ensure that their home is the safest place, some may not be aware that TVs, furniture and appliances are hidden hazards lurking in every room. By educating parents on the dangers of unstable furniture by utilizing dramatic video, blogging and podcasting, CPSC hopes to raise the awareness of tip-over dangers in the home.
    Future content will address other safety issues in and around the home in engaging, consumer-friendly ways. The Administration and CPSC urge all consumers to use this vital information in their homes, and to share it with friends, family, schools, daycare centers, and others. We encourage everyone to subscribe to CPSC's channel on Youtube, to stream pictures on Flickr, and receive tweets on Twitter – it's the information you need to save the life of a loved one.
    Ed Kang is New Media Project Lead at the Consumer Product Safety Commission
     

  • Lobbyists on Agency Boards and Commissions

    Posted by Norm Eisen on September 23, 2009 at 1:33 PM EST

    We wanted to take this opportunity to announce the next step in the President’s efforts to reduce the influence of special interests in Washington. The White House has informed executive agencies and departments that it is our aspiration that federally-registered lobbyists not be appointed to agency advisory boards and commissions. These appointees to boards and commissions, which are made by agencies and not the President, advise the federal government on a variety of policy areas. Keeping these advisory boards free of individuals who currently are registered federal lobbyists represents a dramatic change in the way business is done in Washington.
    As has been reported, the President has made a commitment to close the revolving door that has in the past allowed lobbyists and others to move to and from full-time federal government service. In furtherance of this commitment, the President issued Executive Order 13490, which bars anyone appointed by the President who has been a federally-registered lobbyist within the past two years from working on particular matters or in the specific areas in which they lobbied or from serving in agencies they had lobbied. The aspiration we are announcing today builds on this commitment. While the letter of the President’s Executive Order on Ethics does not apply to federally-registered lobbyists appointed by agency or department heads, the spirit does and we have conveyed that to the agencies who are responsible for these appointments.
    We recognize that there are many registered lobbyists who currently serve on these committees as a result of a prior appointment. When these appointments expire, it is our hope that agencies not reappoint anyone who is currently registered as a federal lobbyist at the time of their potential reappointment.
    The President recognizes that some lobbyists advocate for public interest goals shared by this Administration. Nevertheless, the President made a commitment to the American people to reduce the influence of lobbyists in Washington out of a belief that lobbyists have too often in the past achieved disproportionate impact on government decision makers at the expense of broader voices from the public at large. If we are going to change the way business is done in Washington, we need to make sure we are not simply continuing the practices of the past.
    As the Administration strives to make these changes, we will monitor the process and make adjustments as necessary to ensure that we are fulfilling the President’s commitment while satisfying all interested parties that their voices will be appropriately heard in the process.
    Norm Eisen is special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform
     

  • US Department of Education Launches "I Am What I Learn" Student Video Contest

    Posted by Liz Utrup on September 21, 2009 at 4:20 PM EST

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    Today, Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan issued a video announcement encouraging students to respond to the President's call to take responsibility for their education. Students aged 13 or older are invited to create videos up to 2 minutes long, describing the role education will play in achieving their dreams, and the goals they will set for themselves to get there. The top three videos will each win a $1,000 prize, issued by the US Department of Education.  Students can submit videos until November 2. There are no style restrictions - so be creative!
    • The contest rules are as follows:
    • Video must be 2 minutes or less in length
    • Each video must be submitted by an active student, age 13 and older
    • Contestants chosen as finalists will be contacted through their YouTube account and must respond within 7 business days to confirm eligibility
    • Students under the age of 18 must submit a parental consent form
    • The Department of Education's website (www.ED.gov/IAmWhatILearn) must be featured in the video
    • The video must be unique in content
    • The video must convey the importance of education as well as the student’s individual academic goals
    Learn more at Ed.gov/IAmWhatILearn
    Liz Utrup is Special Assistant for Communications at the Department of Education

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  • A Presidential Challenge to the Employees of the VA

    Posted by Aneesh Chopra and Peter Levin on September 21, 2009 at 1:25 PM EST

    Today, the President released a groundbreaking strategy to spur long-term high-wage job growth, in part, by "laying the groundwork and ground rules to best tap our innovative potential. This strategy is rooted in a simple idea, "that if government does its modest part, there is no stopping the most powerful and generative economic force the world has ever known: the American people.
    It is this same belief in the ingenuity of the American people that guides the Administration's efforts to make government more effective, innovative, and open. Thus, on August 17th, the President turned to the front-line workforce to troubleshoot the backlogs and delays that have plagued the Veterans Benefits Administration. In his address to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention, President Obama challenged them to "come up with the best ways of doing business, of harnessing the best information technologies, of cutting red tape, and breaking through the bureaucracy. The President turned to VA employees because he knows they have a unique ability to see what's going wrong - why the backlogs continue to grow, why the delays are so long, why the claims processes can be so confounding – and with their own creativity and commitment would generate a mountain of ideas for improvement.
    Under the leadership of Secretary Eric Shinseki and Under Secretary for Benefits Patrick Dunne, the VA launched the "innovation competition", starting with a web-mediated idea management tool that made it easy, convenient, and electronically safe for VBA employees to submit their original ideas. The platform enables unprecedented levels of collaboration and comment, and even allowed participants to "vote" on the ideas they thought would have the greatest, far-reaching impact. The VA innovation competition will create a new channel for best ideas to rocket right to the attention of the President and Secretary Shinseki, and for the outstanding employee-innovators behind those ideas to get some serious recognition.
    Here in the CTO shop, we have the sneaking suspicion (OK, for some of us, it's more like a life-consuming, obsessive conviction) that smartly-deployed information technologies can transform organizations - improving services, reducing costs, speeding processes, and increasing happiness for clients and employees alike.  In fact, we're going to go out on a limb and predict that information technology will be THE central character in the inevitable academy award winning documentary of the VA innovation competition - you know, the underappreciated underdog that confronts the cynics, dumbfounds the doubters, and becomes, well, a public service hero to our nation’s military heroes.
    In just the first week the site has been accessed 29,000 times, by 7,000 users, with over 3000 ideas. This is an astonishing participation rate.  Together with Chief Performance Officer Zients, Chief Information Officer Kundra, and their respective teams, we’re going to work relentlessly to make this competition a potent engine of employee-driven change.
    Stay tuned. The next step is for the regional office directors to cull through their treasure chest, figure out which jewel they'd like to develop more, and submit it to headquarters. Next, Undersecretary Dunne and his team will pick the fifteen best, and invite them to Washington for an in-person presentation. The winners should be announced in the first couple of weeks of January and we fully expect regional offices to fast-track the low-hanging fruit. But in our book all the folks who took the time to check it out, contribute some ideas, vote on the best ones, and comment on all the rest are already champions.
    The real winners will be our Veterans. That's what it's all about.
    Aneesh Chopra is U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Peter Levin is Chief Technology Officer and Senior Advisor to the Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs

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