Personal Democracy Plus Our premium content network. LEARN MORE You are not logged in. LOG IN NOW >

Commenters Chew Over Fed's Mortgage Form Mock-Ups

BY Nancy Scola | Friday, May 20 2011

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is asking citizens and industry to design a new simplified single mortgage disclosure form. Earlier this week, the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau launched an innovative ... Read More

Citizens, Lend CFPB Your Design Chops

BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, May 18 2011

Over at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, that agency-in-the-works headed up by Elizabeth Warren, they're rolling out a especially creative approach to citizen feedback. Over on ConsumerFinance.gov, they're ... Read More

2012, Now with More Serifs

BY Nancy Scola | Thursday, May 12 2011

The Obama campaign's new Gotham font, which has serifs that its 2008 version didn't. In a roundup of their tour of Obama '12's Chicago headquarters, Politico's Ben Smith and Byron Tau bring us back this on the ... Read More

This New House.gov

BY Nancy Scola | Thursday, April 21 2011

The new House.gov, now in a public testing period. The House of Representatives is previewing what its online home will soon look like. Out with the old, in with the new House.gov. After a period of public feedback, the ... Read More

Energy.gov Gets a Facelift for the Short Term

BY Nancy Scola | Monday, January 10 2011

A facelifted Energy.gov, unveiled today. Read More

FCC.gov Wireframes for Your Review

BY Nancy Scola | Thursday, October 28 2010

Read More

Democrats, the Logos

BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, September 15 2010

Read More

The Morale Boost of a Website Reboot

BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, September 8 2010

Last June, Peter Levin was pulled from the private sector into the Department of Veterans Affairs (a.k.a. the VA) to figure out how the agency could harness technology to better serve the country's many veterans. Read More

Dems Splash Their App Around

BY Nancy Scola | Friday, September 3 2010

Read More

SwiftRiver: Keeping Your Head Above Data

BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, September 1 2010

From the folks behind the crowd-sourcing reporting system Ushahidi comes an announcement that a brand-new version of SwiftRiver has launched. SwiftWha? Here's the scoop: Read More

News Briefs

RSS Feed thursday >

Updated Guidelines Encourage Federal Agencies to Publish "License-Free" Data

A group of open government advocates and advocacy organizations have come together to issue updated guidance on how federal agencies can make their documents available in an open and accessible way, seeking to go beyond and clarify open data guidance that the Obama administration had published in May. GO

Can Open Data Improve Primary Education?

According to the UN’s Millenium Development Goals website, primary education enrollment in developing regions reached 90 percent in 2010. And still, 123 million young people around the world lack basic reading and writing skills. Various efforts are underway to improve basic education. What role might open data play?

GO

The App That Builds Trust Into Citizen Media

Don't trust everything you find on the Internet.

GO

wednesday >

In India, Voice Messaging Mobilizes More Effectively Than SMS

In the midst of the terrible drought that struck the Indian state Maharashtra in March 2012, a political scandal broke and revealed a top minister was helping divert water from farmers to power plants. Greenpeace India launched an awareness building campaign on May 22 by unfurling a 250 foot banner that read “Water For Farmers / Not Power Plants” over a dam. Although an online petition garnered support from urbanites, Greenpeace India needed to reach people in rural areas, the ones hurt most by the drought. The Digital Mobilisation Lab at Greenpeace (MobLab) blog took a critical look at what worked and what didn't, and interactive voice response comes out a winner.

GO

New Report Says Canadian Politicians’ "Digital Offices" Need a Makeover

Canada has seen steep drops in political participation of late, as well a general decline in political engagement, according to Samara, a Canadian non-profit dedicated to improving political participation. The organization believes their MPs’ lackluster online presence has something to do with it; they released a report last week, detailing their survey of websites for Canada’s MPs. GO

tuesday >

Tech Journos in Iran Arrested For "Contact With Foreign Media," Among Other Charges

In the past three weeks 24 journalists, bloggers and technologists at online media companies have been arrested by Iran's elite force of revolutionary guards. Yesterday, some of those arrested appeared on state television, handcuffed and with their faces to the wall, obscuring their identity.

GO

For Transparency Advocates, NYPD Crime Map is Just A Starting Point

The NYPD on Sunday released a map showing the locations of major felony incidents such as murders, rape, grand larceny and robbery within the past two years, but transparency advocates say that the new map is just a starting point in the effort to gain more transparency. GO

International Human Rights Day in Vietnam Marked By Launch of Blogger Network

Today a coalition of Vietnamese bloggers launched the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers (NVB), a new advocacy and watchdog group that will hold the Vietnamese government accountable for their United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) obligations and commitments. The launch was set for December 10 to coincide with International Human Rights Day.

GO

monday >

Japanese PM Thinks His People Just Don't Understand The State Secrecy Bill

In spite of objections from human rights activists and members of the media around the world, Japan's upper chamber made the controversial State Secrecy Protection Bill law in a “raucous, late-night session” last Friday, December 6, Reuters reports. The House of Representatives passed the bill on November 26. Under the new law, state employees could be jailed for up to 10 years if they leak secrets, and journalists could be jailed for up to five if they use “grossly inappropriate” tactics to uncover state secrets. The passage of the bill has sparked uncharacteristically large protests in a country where protesters have often been considered a part of the political fringe.

GO

friday >

Twitter Angling For More International Users

Twitter is following Facebook and Google's lead in creating an avenue for feature phone users to access their service, even without an Internet connection. They have partnered with the Singapore-based company U2opia Mobile, Reuters reports.

GO

More