- The Intuition Behind the Fisher-Yates Shuffle — this is a simple algorithm to randomize a list of things, but most people are initially puzzled that it is more efficient than a naive shuffling algorithm. This is a nice explanation of the logic behind it.
- Wikipedia and Inherent Open Source Bias — a specific case of what I think of as the Firefly Principle: what happens on the Internet isn’t representative of real life.
- Malaysian Public Sector Open Source Program — the Malaysian government is a heavy and successful user of open source.
- Guardian’s Platform Now Open for Business (GigaOm) — elegant summary breakdown of services from the Guardian: metadata for free, content if you pay, custom APIs and applications if you pay more. I’m interested to see how well this works, given that the newspaper business is struggling to find a business model that values content.
"government" entries
The role of the Internet as a platform for collective action grows
A new Pew survey emphasizes the Internet's importance in civil society.
A new survey released released this week by the Pew Research Center's Internet and Life Project shed new light on the role of the Internet as a platform for collective action. A panel at the State of the Internet Conference discussed the findings, driving home the increasing integration of our online and offline lives.
Gov 2.0 Week in Review: Summer Heatwave
Government apps, more .gov launches, open government, social media, contests and innovation.
What do you get when you combine summer heat with government technology? Like the rest of the Eastern seaboard, Washington has been beset by a heatwave, which means that air conditioners, linen suits and lemonade are very much in vogue. Before you quip "meltdown," check out the new mobile apps from the new USA.gov and the new .gov sites that…
Analysis: Three privacy initiatives from the Office of Management and Budget
The U.S. government has a new take on federated identity, storage and social networks.
The U.S. government took three large steps toward sophisticated privacy and identity policies last week. They involve federated identity, storage of personally identifiable information, and the use of social networks. Andy Oram takes an in-depth look at important parts of the new policies.
OMB updates rules for cookies and privacy on U.S. government websites
U.S. agencies can now use social media platforms and other third-party sites.
"President Obama has made it a touchstone of his administration to open government and make it more transparent than it ever has been before," said Michael Fitzpatrick, Associate Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
Connecting the dots with Intellipedia
U.S. intelligence agencies are using an internal wiki for knowledge sharing.
The United States' sixteen intelligence agencies are using an internal wiki, dubbed "Intellipedia," to share information. We take a look at how Intellipedia is helping these agencies work better.
Four short links: 28 May 2010
Understanding a Shuffle, Bias, Open Source a Success in Malaysia, and Guardian APIs
Craig Newmark on better government through enlightened customer service
The founder of craigslist.org talks about electronic privacy, Facebook, identity and trust online, and how social media can be used in and by government.
Notes from the Politics of Open Source conference
Small conferences are often the best, especially when there’s a high
concentration of really well-educated and personally committed people
sharing a room for two days. That’s what I found at the Politics of Open
Source conference at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on
Friday. Along with celebrity keynoters — Eric Von Hippel and Clay Johnson — the presenters as well as the attendees could boast a lot of real-world experience, a lot of serious academic achievement, and occasionally even a combination of the two.
Gov 2.0 week in review
Open Government, transparency, Earth Day and WhiteHouse.gov 3.0
Taking a page straight from Mark Coddington's excellent week in review at the Nieman Journalism Lab, my inaugural Radar post looks at government 2.0 news from the past week. If you have news and tips about the government 2.0 space, please let me know at alex@oreilly.com or @digiphile on Twitter.
Open government examples from the ONC
The Office of the National Coordinator has implemented a host of initiatives aimed at transparency and involvement
With the sea change caused by the Open Government Directive I know that many federal agencies might be struggling with how to actually implement this new policy. This is a major cultural shift in government and there are always challenges when trying to bring such broad changes to any large organization. Government bureaucracy is certainly no exception. But this last…