Rock Creek Roundup (May 20 Edition)

Posted by: Meagen Ryan, Director of Strategy May 20, 2011 0 Comments

The Centers for Disease Control help citizens prep for a zombie apocalypse, the Federal Communications Commission wants to help small businesses fight cyber crime, NASA launches its final space mission and a social media campaign, the General Services Administration’s associate administrator speaks about data organization and open government, and New York City works to become the nation’s premier digital city, all in this week’s version of the Rock Creek Roundup.

—Want to know how to best prepare for a hurricane, earthquake, or even a horde of flesh-eating zombies? Thanks to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), you’ll now be ready for just about anything. Earlier this week, the CDC decided to spice up its yearly disaster preparedness recommendations with a humorous yet informative blog post outlining how citizens could best prepare for a zombie apocalypse—or any other natural disaster. The post received an unprecedented 30,000 hits by Tuesday, briefly crashing servers. Just goes to show you how a little sense of humor can help the government make its point—without the zombie connection, it’s hard to imagine as many people reading the blog and familiarizing themselves with disaster preparedness techniques.

—Speaking of attacks, in the past year, 74% of small and medium businesses reported being affected by an online attack. With stats like that, it’s no wonder that earlier this week, the FCC announced the launch of a new website intended to help small businesses protect themselves against cyber attacks. The site will include links to resources, presentations, and tips that will better prepare and educate small businesses. The FCC partnered with the Small Business Administration and the consulting group SCORE to launch the website in conjunction with Small Business Week.

—The same day NASA launched its final space shuttle Endeavour mission, it also launched a new social media initiative, The NASA Universe. Through SlideShare, NASA developed a channel to give audiences greater access to information about its missions and work all in one place. The NASA Universe includes videos of launches, interviews with crew, NASA documents, and timelines of launches. Currently, NASA manages more than 100 Twitter feeds and multiple accounts on various social media platforms, making it one of the most active government agencies on the web.

—With the recent shift toward greater transparency, a more open government, and citizen engagement, the greatest challenge is organizing the data in an exciting and useful way. Last week, the General Services Administration’s associate administrator Dave McClure spoke at FedScoop’s Citizen Engagement and Open Government Summit on transforming the large amount of government data into a usable tool. McClure noted that users want accessibility, interactivity, efficiency, and simplicity, and it’s the government’s job to deliver.

—In an effort to become the premier digital hub, New York City is partnering with Facebook, Twitter, and other social media companies to better serve and keep up with its tech-savvy residents and visitors. Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced plans Monday to improve the city’s use of digital media and NYC.gov over the next three months. Plans include a custom-designed Facebook page, Twitter’s “Fast Follow” text service, check-ins on FourSquare, and blogging on Tumblr. The city is already well-connected in a social media sense; check out a list of New York’s social media handles.

Meagen Ryan

Director of Strategy

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