Rock Creek Roundup (June 10 Edition)

Posted by: Meagen Ryan, Director of Strategy Jun 10, 2011 0 Comments

Turco gives her two cents on teleworking, Facebook teams up with disaster relief experts, the U.N. declares Internet access a human right, agencies embrace new mobile technologies, and social media again becomes a big player in presidential elections, all in this week’s version of the Rock Creek Roundup.

—While “working from home” may bring to mind images of bathrobes, slippers, and laundry, the reality is that when managed correctly, working from home simply gives people an option to do serious work in a more convenient location. According to the General Service Administration’s Kathleen Turco, the real challenge in teleworking is to manage employees through clear duties and measures of performance, and to create explicit expectations. Turco is a proponent of the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010 and believes that the initiative will reduce overhead and labor costs while providing citizens with better service.

—Facebook opened its doors to head up a disaster relief and emergency response meeting earlier this week. Among those at the meeting were members of FEMA, the Red Cross, and a number of nonprofits who want to be able to quickly and effectively provide disaster related info via Facebook. Currently, Facebook manages a page called Global Disaster Relief which has about 540,000 members—more than the attending organizations’ pages combined. The five-hour meeting marked the first effort by Facebook to work with disaster-related organizations and gave the social media giant the opportunity to educate and answer questions.

—Freedom, security, and equality are basic human rights. But what about access to the Internet? Last Friday, the United Nations declared that the Internet is an important tool that enables a number of human rights, promotes the progress of society, and, therefore, should be maintained. While the Internet itself is not human right, access is. What this means for international law is unclear, but the declaration in and of itself is a surprising but important acknowledgment of the global importance of the Internet.

—Just as in the business world, Apple has gained legions of fans in the federal sphere. In fact, some agencies are using Apple’s mobile products as a way to expand employees’ mobile options, making the workplace more appealing and possibly retaining talent. While a number of agencies are running pilot programs with iPads, iPhones, and Android-based devices, experts are still concerned with security issues surrounding the new technologies and keeping information and employees safe—but federal employees are enjoying the options!

—Similar to the last presidential election, social media is gearing up to be a big player in 2012. For example, presidential hopeful Mitt Romney used his personal Twitter account to tweet about the day (after having previously tweeted his intention to run), checked in via Foursquare, uploaded videos of the event to YouTube, and created an event on Livestream. Utilizing multiple social media platforms is becoming more common in the political arena with politicians using personal pages to express their opinions and post news. As more citizens are using social media and engaging with politicians online, the platforms will become a place of intrigue and hot debate during the upcoming elections.

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Meagen Ryan

Director of Strategy

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