Rock Creek Roundup (June 17 Edition)

Posted by: Meagen Ryan, Director of Strategy Jun 17, 2011 0 Comments

The Defense Information Systems Agency joins the social media world, the State Department’s mobile app helps travelers abroad, a wiki tracks government social media, MeriTalk offers $50,000 for an IT government solution, the White House knows how to use social media, and the Army turns to gaming for solider training, all in this week’s version of the Rock Creek Roundup!

—On Tuesday, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) launched a Facebook page and Twitter feed as a place to connect with the public. Through the social media platforms, DISA hopes for visitors to connect and share with the agency, start and participate in discussions, and obtain timely and updated information and feedback. The Facebook and Twitter pages will allow visitors to connect not only with DISA, but also industry partners, customers, and the DISA community. After only a few days of going live, the Facebook page already has close to 2,000 likes, and the Twitter page has more than 320 followers. With the shift towards open government, agencies are looking to interact more with citizens through multiple platforms, and DISA is no longer an exception.

—How do you find the closest U.S. embassy in a foreign country? Well, now all you need is an iPhone and the State Department’s Smart Traveler app. Released Tuesday, the mobile application offers travel alerts, maps, embassy locations, and other useful information for those traveling abroad. With recent political unrest and natural disasters, the State Department created the app so Americans could find out about what’s going on easily and quickly. This move reflects the government’s desire to simultaneously make information more accessible while consolidating the surplus of government websites as a way to increase efficiency and improve user experience.

—Want to know who in government is using social media? The new Government and Social Media Wiki helps officials, their staff, the media, and the public track who in government uses various forms of social media. Creator Josh Shpayher founded the site to track the flood of federal, state, and local governments, campaigns, and agencies using social media to communicate with the public. With eyes on every platform, GovSM helps to aggregate the masses of information posted daily. Taking a multi-platform approach themselves, GovSM manages its own Twitter feed, blog, Facebook page, and LinkedIn profile to regularly provide followers with updated information and constant access to government social media updates.

—What would you do for $50,000? If you’re a techie, you might have the chance to find out for real! MeriTalk is offering $50,000 to the best idea on how to use technology to improve government operations. With categories ranging from citizen engagement to defense, citizen and non-citizens alike are invited to participate in the contest. Each submission must answer three questions: “How innovative is it? How much money would it save? And, how executable is it?” Submitting ideas is the easy part with the option to tweet it to @meritalk or fill in a submission form. With the deadline set for August 1, put your thinking caps on and get ready to innovate!

—With transparency in mind, the Obama Administration has utilized social media to connect and interact with the American people and the global online community. Recently, the White House shared the results of their series of nonscientific surveys across Facebook and Twitter. Surveys showed over half of the respondents across both platforms are over the age of 35. Impressively, 93% reported they read White House tweets at least once a week, and 78% said they’ve shared a Facebook post at least once. With more than 1 million Facebook likes and more than 2.2 million followers on Twitter, the White House shows it’s using the platforms to the fullest and embracing the utility and possibilities.

—Saving lives, saving money. The Army is developing a new virtual computer game for soldier training to better prepare those going into combat and to decrease existing training costs. By creating a virtual environment that will simulate real situations, soldiers will be better prepared for the real thing they may find themselves in during engagements. With the new gaming system, the Army will lower costs by reducing the need to maintain pricey physical instruction facilities. While the technology won’t be cheap at $57 million, it’s a part of a broader effort across the branches of the armed forces to provide soldiers with more real-world situations they may encounter in the field.

Meagen Ryan

Director of Strategy

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