Clearing the Cache: Army Strong
BY Nancy Scola | Thursday, June 25 2009
- The new media team behind USA.gov and GobiernoUSA.gov have pulled together a Flickr group of official government photo feeds that do offer an intriguing peek into the panoply of things that government folk have their fingers in at any one time. The photo above is from a U.S. Army "Friendship Week" celebration of the good relations between American soldiers and KATUSA, or Korean Augmentees to the U.S. Army, or Korean citizens who do their mandatory military service under the auspices of the U.S. military. I don't know about you, but I've learned something here today. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Hwang Joon-hyun)
- Relatedly, USA.gov is running a Flickr contest for folks to share their July 4th photos, much like what the White House recently did with Title IX shots. Recommended subjects: "[B]ackyard BBQs, fireworks displays, baseball games, picnics, parades -- whatever it is you do to celebrate Independence Day."
- Speaking of the White House, they're keeping up their experiments in interactivity with a Van Jones live chat, archived here (They're using a Mac! They're using a Mac!), and a web video on the powerful punch packed by weatherization and more on the green front. Music to the White House's ears: Facebook comments like "never felt more connected to our govt" and "When is the next event[?]"
- Also, the White House gets a SlideShare account.
- Microsoft Researchies put together a draft on "understanding retweeting on Twitter," with looks at deletion, completion, ego tweeting, and more.
- After Senate rounds, some say some are not all that impressed with a Democratic nominee to the FCC.
- Could open government lead to inadvertently exposed data? Security vendors say "sure, maybe." After all, things do happen. (Thanks Shaun Dakin)
- The New York Times Kate Phillips has a thoughtful look at the Pitney question flap: "[H]e was cherry-picked, with a call-upon hours and hours beforehand, and handed a status that no one among the so-called elite of the press corps receives on any given day."
- But Jay Rosen sees the very idea that some sort of press protocol would influence presidential behavior to be evidence of a "failed state."