Rock Creek Roundup (May 14 Edition)

Posted by: Meagen Ryan, Director of Strategy May 14, 2010 0 Comments

Recovery.gov moves to the cloud, experts offer other agencies advice on elements to consider before becoming cloud-bound, Cammie Croft gives the inside scoop on White House new media challenges and successes and you’re challenged to define Gov. 2.0 in 140 characters or less, all in this week’s version of the Rock Creek Roundup.

—Recovery.gov is now in the cloud…the Amazon EC2 cloud. According to Federal CIO Vivek Kundra, the move to Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud service is the first of its kind for a government agency. The move, prompted by anticipated cost savings of more than $750,000 over the next two years, is expected to allow recovery board members and and staffers the ability to focus more closely on larger issues, like fighting abuse, fraud, and waste. “This frees us to focus on mission-critical tasks instead of purchasing, configuring, and maintaining redundant infrastructure,” Kundra said.

—As Recovery.gov takes the cloud computing plunge, other federal agencies are still dipping their toes in the water. Unfortunately, misconceptions about what cloud computing is and isn’t are hampering some agency’s exploration of cloud computing options. According to cloud computing experts speaking at this week’s Government Technology Conference West, there are a variety of elements that agencies should consider prior to investing in cloud-based technology. Among their suggestions are to determine where data will be stored and ensure that it meets your agency’s privacy requirements, and to understand how a vendor will help their agency enter and exit the cloud. It’s worth taking a look at the rest of their suggestions if your agency is currently (or will be in the near future) considering cloud computing options.

—There’s a good chance you’ve heard of Cammie Croft—the director of new media at the Department of Energy previously served as deputy director of new media at the White House. Recently, O’Reilly Radar’s Alex Howard sat down with Ms. Croft to talk about the challenges she and her team faced when relaunching the White House site, adding social media functionality to the site—including meeting federal archiving requirements—and the impact that the Obama campaign had on the administration’s push into social media. If you only have an extra ten minutes today, this is the post you’ll want to read. It’s a veritable case study in how to implement new media and social media initiatives and work through the challenges facing you along the way.

—Quick: give us your best definition of exactly what Government 2.0 is. Too easy? Now define it in 140 characters or fewer. Federal Computer World recently announced a contest to define just what Gov 2.0 is, and in true Gov 2.0 style, is requiring responses to be no longer than a tweet. Submit your entry at the website or tweet it using hashtag #fcw20. Winners will be announced June 14.

Meagen Ryan

Director of Strategy

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