Friday, February 10, 2012

Agencies Still Struggling To Innovate

June 29, 2009

The longstanding belief that the U.S. government cannot fail continues to propagate a low tolerance of risk among agency Web managers despite the Obama administration's ambitious high-tech agenda, the team leader for a unit of USA.gov that provides online training and tools told a crowd at the Personal Democracy Forum's annual conference Monday. "We're told don't screw up because it will get on front page of Washington Post. That underlies everything you do," Sheila Campbell said. That culture of hesitancy paired with a personnel system that lets poorly performing employees stay in jobs without adequate tech training for many years, is impeding innovation, she added.

At the same time, watchdog groups that criticize the U.S. government for being slow to improve its Web presence need to realize that federal Web managers are drowning in data. Campbell acknowledged that no one truly knows how many government Web sites actually exist but said a good estimate is around 24,000 -- and some have more than one million pages apiece. Adding to the complexity is the fact that outdated content on those pages is not taken down in a timely fashion and laws like the Paperwork Reduction Act have not kept pace with the Internet era. Campbell said a variety efforts are underway to overhaul aging rules and recruit innovative people. President Obama has led by example, hiring Aneesh Chopra, Vivek Kundra, Beth Noveck and others.

Join the Discussion

The National Journal Group has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate.

Comments powered by Disqus

 

Archives

Monthly Archives

Categories

Recent Posts

Recent Comments


Contributors

Juliana Gruenwald

Tech Writer

E-Mail: jgruenwald@nationaljournal.com.


Juliana Gruenwald has been covering tech and telecom issues for more than a decade for National Journal, Interactive Week, BNA and Congressional Quarterly. This is her second stint with National Journal. She was recruited by NJ in 1998 to help launch its first tech policy publication, Technology Daily. She left in 2000 to cover international tech and telecom issues for Ziff Davis Media's Interactive Week magazine. She started her career at United Press International as the wire service's first Helen Thomas Intern. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota. A Minneapolis native, she misses the lakes but not the cold.


Josh Smith

Tech Reporter

E-Mail: joshsmith@nationaljournal.com.


Josh Smith covers technology policy as a staff reporter for National Journal. He previously interned at National Journal Daily, a Senate press office, and the Deseret News in Salt Lake City where he covered the state legislature, courts, and crime. In 2009 he graduated with honors from Southern Utah University after managing an award-winning student newspaper as editor-in-chief. Josh has received state, regional and national awards for his political and policy reporting, including first place in CapitolBeat’s 2009 Best of Statehouse Reporting college competition. A native of drop-dead-gorgeous Utah, Josh lives in Virginia with his wife, Amber.