CAT | Technology
In his latest such conversation, President Obama joined Congressional leaders and middle school children to congratulate astronauts aboard the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle Endeavour during a call from the Roosevelt Room of the White House:
I just wanted to let you guys know how proud we are of all of you at what you guys have been accomplishing. I've had a chance to take a look at what Tranquility Module is doing. Everybody here back home is excited about this bay on the world that you guys are opening up, and Stephen Colbert at least is excited about his treadmill.
And so we just wanted to let you know that the amazing work that's being done on the International Space Station not only by our American astronauts but also our colleagues from Japan and Russia is just a testimony to the human ingenuity; a testimony to extraordinary skill and courage that you guys bring to bear; and is also a testimony to why continued space exploration is so important, and is part of the reason why my commitment to NASA is unwavering.
President Barack Obama, along with Congressional leaders and middle school children, congratulate astronauts aboard the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle Endeavour during a call from the Roosevelt Room of the White House.
Incidentally, there aren't many better agencies on the internet than NASA -- check out their new release of photos from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer for example, and get a daily dose of the best of outer space by following them on Twitter.
UPDATE: Check out our "Educate to Innovate" initiative page to learn more about the program that brought these middle schoolers to the White House.
Countless entrepreneurs have taught us that the key to success is to execute quickly, seek feedback from the market, and iterate. We have taken this lesson to heart and think it especially apt in our work to increase transparency, participation, and collaboration in government. Therefore it is with great pleasure that – after just 60 days - U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra and I unveil what we call Version 1.0 of the Open Government Dashboard and look forward to building it together with all of you. By way of this blog post, we hope to tell you a little bit about what we’ve done so far and what to expect in the weeks ahead.
Version 1.0 of the Dashboard focuses on agency execution of the deliverables explicitly identified in the Open Government Directive. It makes it easy for the American people to visually track progress on the deadlines to date. The Dashboard also links to each agency's Open Government Webpage, where the public can find more details on the steps taken to implement the Directive. Just look for the words "Evaluating our Progress."
The next big step will be to evaluate the agencies' Open Government Plans, due April 7th. Whereas the indicators have been largely binary thus far (e.g. Do you have an Open Government Webpage?), the Plans present a special opportunity for the Dashboard to evolve over time and empower the public while spurring a race to the top amongst agencies. We share your feedback that the agency plans are the most consequential deliverable required by the Directive, as they promise to hardwire greater transparency, participation, and collaboration into the culture of every agency. As such, the Open Government Working Group is preparing a set of "stretch criteria" to help evaluate the plans and celebrate those agencies that exceed the minimal requirements of the Directive to reflect the President's vision of openness and accountability as articulated in the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government. We are eager to seek your input in this process, so keep an eye out for opportunities to weigh in over the next two weeks.
After agencies have successfully delivered on the demanding deadlines set out for the first 120 days, Version 2.0 of the Dashboard can deploy a more holistic set of metrics, informed by agency Plans. Identifying the right set of metrics will help steer agencies toward high-impact efforts in the years to come. Some of you have already shared your thoughts with us and we look forward to hearing from may more of you in the coming months.
Thank you for helping us make this a success.
Aneesh Chopra is U.S. Chief Technology Officer
While most of Washington spent the weekend digging out of the snow, federal agencies were taking the next steps in making their work more transparent for the American people. Since early December, agencies have worked to create their own webpages to serve as the gateway for each agency’s implementation of the Open Government Directive. These pages all went live this weekend, complete with the latest news and updates, downloadable information unique to that agency, and information about how each agency is moving to implement the President’s call for a more transparent, participatory, and collaborative government.
Importantly, each of these sites will be the focal point for the agency's open government plans that, after public feedback and suggestion, will make our work across the Administration more accessible to the American people. That's why each Open Government Webpage incorporates a mechanism to seek your ideas and insights. Most agencies are leveraging a new, no-cost public engagement app from the General Services Administration that allows them to pay less attention to designing tools and more attention to running, moderating, and analyzing public input. It will help to make the agency open government pages more effective at turning public suggestions into government actions.
Here at the White House, we're keeping tabs on the agencies’ efforts. A dashboard – launched this weekend – tracks agency progress toward the goals of the Open Government Directive. This dashboard will continue to evolve with your feedback.
Since day one, the President has committed his Administration to break down long-standing barriers between the people and their government. The steps that the agencies are taking are designed to change the culture of government from a closed, opaque structure to one that is more accessible and accountable to citizens.
Check out the agency sites and see their work for yourself.
Dan Pfeiffer is White House Communications Director
While most of Washington spent the weekend digging out of the snow, federal agencies were taking the next steps in making their work more transparent for the American people. Since early December, agencies have worked to create their own webpages to serve as the gateway for each agency’s implementation of the Open Government Directive. These pages all went live this weekend, complete with the latest news and updates, downloadable information unique to that agency, and information about how each agency is moving to implement the President’s call for a more transparent, participatory, and collaborative government.
Importantly, each of these sites will be the focal point for the agency's open government plans that, after public feedback and suggestion, will make our work across the Administration more accessible to the American people. That's why each Open Government Webpage incorporates a mechanism to seek your ideas and insights. Most agencies are leveraging a new, no-cost public engagement app from the General Services Administration that allows them to pay less attention to designing tools and more attention to running, moderating, and analyzing public input. It will help to make the agency open government pages more effective at turning public suggestions into government actions.
Here at the White House, we're keeping tabs on the agencies’ efforts. A dashboard – launched this weekend – tracks agency progress toward the goals of the Open Government Directive. This dashboard will continue to evolve with your feedback.
Since day one, the President has committed his Administration to break down long-standing barriers between the people and their government. The steps that the agencies are taking are designed to change the culture of government from a closed, opaque structure to one that is more accessible and accountable to citizens.
Check out the agency sites and see their work for yourself.
Dan Pfeiffer is White House Communications Director
In accordance with the Open Government Directive, two working groups have been established to help develop specific actions to implement the principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration set forth in the President’s Memorandum of January 21, 2009.
First, Federal Agencies have designated a high-level senior official to be accountable for the quality of Federal spending information. In an ongoing commitment to transparency, participation, and collaboration, these senior leaders will work together to ensure that Federal spending information meets adequate controls to ensure quality data is are available to the public. The senior leaders will also participate in the agency’s Senior Management Council.
Second, the White House created a Working Group on January 6 to focus on transparency, accountability, participation, and collaboration within the Federal Government. With senior-level representation from program and management offices throughout the Government, this group will serve several critical functions. These functions include (1) the development and sharing of best practices and innovative ideas to promote transparency, encourage participation, and foster collaboration and (2) coordinating efforts to implement existing mandates for Federal spending transparency.
With representation from across government, the work of these two groups will support Federal Agencies as they encourage transparency, cultivate public participation, and create opportunity for innovative collaborations.
Vivek Kundra is Chief Information Officer
Aneesh Chopra is Chief Technology Officer
[Update: Chat will begin at 1:00PM EST]
If you were here at WhiteHouse.gov last week you may well have seen the President's event answering questions submitted through YouTube by citizens across the country. If you missed it, you can still watch the video of course.
But if you were one of the 64,969 people who cast 772,384 votes on 14,459 questions, and didn't get your favorite question asked, all is not lost. We pledged from the beginning that we would make an effort to answer some more of the questions after the President's interview, and we'll be following through tomorrow in a chat where we'll take another round of questions submitted last week, along with some live questions in a chat run by YouTube.
The chat will be at 12:45 EST with some of our key policy folks from the Domestic Policy Council, the National Economic Council, and the National Security Council. Join the chat at YouTube.com/citizentube or through facebook.
Cross-posted from the OSTP blog.
Yesterday the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture hosted a workshop to gather insight from leading experts in the fields of gaming and technology to inform the development of a nutrition game-design challenge. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services is preparing to launch the Innovations for Healthy Kids Challenge, a call to American entrepreneurs, software developers, and students to use a recently released USDA nutrition data set to create innovative, fun, and engaging web-based learning applications that motivate kids, especially “tweens” (aged 9-12) and their parents, to eat more healthfully and be more physically active.
Thirty-one experts joined the meeting—some via teleconference—to offer their knowledge and experience related to game design, entertainment technology, social media, and skill contests, in reaction to a previously circulated concept paper outlining key components of the contest.
Our intention here is to invite you to join this discussion. Here are some of the major design-related themes, that emerged from the Workshop, around which we’d like to get input from you:
Goal: We discussed the potential for games – powered by nutrition data – to change behavior in our target segment (“tweens” between the ages of 9-12 and their parents). Design questions focused on whether the contest should result in a finished, high-impact game or one that continually evolves over time (“gaming as a service”). How would you recommend we address this question in the design of our contest? Incentives: We discussed government limitations on the size of the prize ($3,000 – a purse we’ve awarded in public service announcement contests as well). Design questions focused on the degree to which other stakeholders might supplement the prize with privately raised funds; develop new markets for educational games, including schools, parents, and after-school programs; and recognize finalists at the White House or other venues. What incentives would you recommend we deploy to maximize high quality participation? Final Product: We acknowledged a spectrum of potential final products– including “back of the envelope” ideas, game story boards, working prototypes, and market-ready “final” products. In addition, we discussed the possibility of multiple phases to capture the breadth and quality of potential submissions (perhaps an early round seeking top ideas/story boards to be developed into games in round two). How should we design the competition in a manner that inspires and empowers both professionals willing to volunteer hours to the competition and students willing to build a game that doubles as a semester class assignment? How do we address the myriad game product categories – from casual games to fully developed titles? Your Commitment: A great deal of the conversation focused on how individuals might complement the official competition with commitments they could offer from their respective positions – whether it would be incorporating nutrition data in already-developed games, faculty assigning class time towards building nutrition games, or organizations spreading the word about the contest. How might you be willing to help? Please post any commitments your firm, foundation, school or other organization might be willing to offer as we build a national movement to address childhood obesity.Thank you in advance for your ideas on these important questions.
Aneesh Chopra is Chief Technology Officer of the United States
The best ideas are those that make you say “I can’t believe we don’t already have this.”
Today, I am happy to report a historic collaboration between industry, the health community and government to bring you something you can’t believe we don’t already have: a free (yes, free) mobile health service for pregnant women and new mothers giving them useful tips timed to their pregnancy or age of baby.
The service is called text4baby, and it is an educational program of the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition.
As a parent of two young children, I can tell you that my family would have signed up for text4baby in a instant. My wife and I wanted to learn as much as possible about pregnancy and the first year of our baby’s life. I’m thrilled that this service provides a convenient way for moms all over the country to learn this information. This is particularly important for moms who may not already have access to health information or care.
Here’s how it works: women who sign up for the service by texting BABY to 511411 (or BEBE for Spanish) receive three free SMS text messages each week timed to their due date or baby’s date of birth. Text4baby messages also connect women to local clinics and support services for prenatal and infant care.
Here are some things I find most exciting about this program and why it shows that the President’s focus on public-private partnerships is already paying off for the American people:
By using text messaging on cell phones, this partnership uses a technology that has already been widely adopted. Research shows that 90 percent of Americans have a mobile phone, and texting is more prevalent among women of childbearing age and minority populations who face higher infant mortality rates. It provides the information moms need to keep themselves and their babies healthy. These are short messages, but incredibly important. The messages focus on topics critical to the health of moms and babies, including immunization, nutrition, seasonal flu, mental health, smoking and alcohol, oral health, and safe sleep. It represents an extraordinary public private partnership – a true “all-hands-on-deck” approach. There are more than 100 entitites participating in this partnership, so I can’t possibly list them all here. Founding partners include the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition, mobile health platform provider Voxiva, the CTIA Wireless Foundation and wireless providers, Grey Health Group, and Johnson & Johnson. This program has now attracted private sector media partners, health care plans, academic evaluators, health professional associations, and government partners at every level – local, state, and national. It’s an incredible partnership. It could help save lives and reduce the number of premature births in America. More than 500,000 babies – 1 in every 8 – are born prematurely each year in the US. Premature babies can face lifelong health and intellectual development problems. The risk of premature birth can be reduced if moms take care of themselves and their babies during pregnancy (e.g. don’t smoke!) and seek prenatal care. Text4Baby can help by giving moms information and connecting them to care. It could save America money on health care costs. This free service could save us money by ensuring moms are connected to health knowledge and services as early as possible. Catching problems early can help avoid expensive and potentially harmful complications at birth and in the first year of life. This helps families as well – the average first year medical costs for premature babies are about 10 times greater than for full-term babies.This is an exciting opportunity for moms and babies, and for our nation. For more information on text4baby, please visit text4baby.org.
Aneesh Chopra is the Federal Chief Technology Officer.
“We need to encourage American innovation. Last year, we made the largest investment in basic research funding in history – an investment that could lead to the world’s cheapest solar cells or treatment that kills cancer cells but leaves healthy ones untouched.”
- President Barack Obama, State of the Union Address, January 27, 2010
Since taking office, the President has taken historic steps to lay the foundation for the innovation economy of the future, including well over $100 billion of support for innovation in the Recovery Act, novel regulatory and executive order initiatives, and a comprehensive Strategy for American Innovation that offers a blueprint for how these investments and policy priorities will foster sustainable growth and help create high-quality jobs.
But we cannot stop there. The FY 2011 budget builds on that strategy. To create the jobs of the future and to ensure that the United States remains the world’s most dynamic economy, we must invest in American innovation by supporting the building blocks of research, development, education, and infrastructure, by promoting competitive markets that spur productive entrepreneurship, and by catalyzing breakthroughs for national priorities.
More details on the innovation components in the budget are available in this Innovation Fact Sheet.
At 5 pm EDT today, four of the architects of innovation within the White House will be discussing the innovation components of the FY 2011 budget in a live chat. Tune in at WhiteHouse.gov/Live or Facebook to watch and participate.
Diana Farrell is Deputy Director for the National Economic Council.
This afternoon the President sat down to answer some of the questions on the minds of Americans across the country. The questions were submitted and voted on in a process open to the public, conducted through YouTube. It's no surprise that the questions didn't match up up perfectly with what the White House hears from the beltway press and pundits every day, after all it was intended as an opportunity for the public to ask precisely those kinds of questions. It made for an interesting interview.
One good example was a question about what's called "net neutrality":
MR. GROVE: Great. Well, let's move back to the questions. And I got to tell you, the number one question that came in, in the jobs and economy category had to do with the Internet. And it came from James Earlywine in Indianapolis. He said: "An open Internet is a powerful engine for economic growth and new jobs. Letting large companies block and fill their online content services would stifle needed growth. What is your commitment to keeping Internet open and neutral in America?"
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I'm a big believer in net neutrality. I campaigned on this. I continue to be a strong supporter of it. My FCC Chairman, Julius Genachowski, has indicated that he shares the view that we've got to keep the Internet open; that we don't want to create a bunch of gateways that prevent somebody who doesn't have a lot of money but has a good idea from being able to start their next YouTube or their next Google on the Internet. So this is something we're committed to.
We're getting pushback, obviously, from some of the bigger carriers who would like to be able to charge more fees and extract more money from wealthier customers. But we think that runs counter to the whole spirit of openness that has made the Internet such a powerful engine for not only economic growth, but also for the generation of ideas and creativity.