She's been uncharacteristically quiet since her confirmation as Secretary of State, but the Obama Administration's other rock star seems poised to change all that with her first big overseas trip to Asia - with the help of a Twitter-fueled blog audience that has increased three-fold since Barack Obama's inauguration. And while she inherits massive foreign policy challenges from her predecessor, Hillary Clinton also inherits a new media team at State that's at least a year into remaking America's digital image on the web.

Started under former Secretary Rice - and emphatically seamless, professional and non-partisan in its transition to Secretary Clinton - the expansion of State's online operation seems primed for President Obama's primary international goal: rebuilding the U.S. brand overseas.

This week's Government Computer News features an update on Intellipedia, the Intelligence Community's internal version of Wikipedia. While the project is going well, IC social software advocate Chris Rasmussen says that cultural barriers are keeping the project from crossing the chasm.

Today, we found out that Vivek Kundra, a proven government IT innovator, would be in charge of the technology that runs the federal government.

It's hard for most people to realize why such a job is so important: The title "Chief Information Officer" sounds just as bureaucratic as Assistant Deputy Liaison to So-and-So, and if you've never worked on a federal computer network, you won't understand the full extent to which better systems would make for better government. I've written before about how far behind some agencies are, but yesterday morning, I found an example that will hopefully make things clear:

co-written and data assembled by David James

This weekend’s Government 2.0 Camp is further proof that something very exciting is happening around the concepts of open, participatory, self, government. The Camp, the inaugural event of the Government 2.0 Club, is one of a series of mostly volunteer-led events tackling the meaning and implementation of the next generation of democracy and government.

Approximately 500 people interested in Government 2.0 assembled. It was a diverse group, including government employees, entrepreneurs, government contractors, and interested citizens. Through discussions, panels, and lots of hallway conversations, the participants came together to figure out what Government 2.0 means, where it is going, and how it applies to their work.

According to legend, a man disguised as a pizza delivery boy used to shuttle secret communiques between the CIA's and NSA's respective headquarters, about 25 miles apart. This was before the two agencies' networks were linked in 1994, allowing them to switch to email. It's the archetypal example of how a simple technology can improve government, helping it work faster while saving money.

Twenty-five years later, Muncie, Indiana has done the equivalent. The Muncie fire department currently delivers messages to the chief's office via fire truck. About 20 times a day. The city estimates that each trip somehow costs $1500. Whether an accurate estimate or not, it is silly to use your firefighters as mail carriers. The fire department has discovered scanners, which will soon replace the fire trucks. Which is good, because the trucks are needed for other things.

Every two years, EU Ministers gather to agree on a Ministerial Declaration on e-government (http://www.scribd.com/doc/16546743/Ministerial-Declaration-180907), which is the main European strategic document.

In the framework of the European Open Declaration on Public Services 2.0, several proposals are being posted on http://mixedink.com/Eups20/Manifesto
In this post, cross-posted from http://eups20.wordpress.com, I illustrate a specific challenge to the deployment of public services 2.0: the need for digital and media literacy.

My version of the declaration (author “osimod”, title “second version”) has a specific priority on skills and education, which is missing in others. In my opinion, public services 2.0 can happen only with educated citizens and civil servants. Why?

You could be excused for being a bit exasperated by all the Gov2.0 news from the last few months. Those behind it deserve credit for generating so much attention for a topic as wonkish as government IT. But, phew: it's been overwhelming. Gartner's Andrea DiMaio explains:

Barcamps and govcamps are now happening around the world, from Canada to the US, from Germany to the North East of Italy to the UK. More and more governments state that opening government data is their priority, from the U.S: to the UK, from Australia to Belgium. Application contests (or mashup or idea contests) to engage citizen developers in creating new and valuable applications that leverage government data pop up from Belfast to Washington, from London to Brussels, from New York to the Flanders.

So far this year, at least seven new conferences have sprouted up to promote government technology, and that's just in the U.S.:

From the not-so-glamorous corner of government comes a positive sign that it is getting smarter about technology. The VA has launched an innovation competition for its employees, letting them submit ideas for improving the department's work. According to the press release, "The platform enables unprecedented levels of collaboration and comment, and even allowed participants to "vote" on the ideas they thought would have the greatest, far-reaching impact. The VA innovation competition will create a new channel for best ideas to rocket right to the attention of the President and Secretary Shinseki."

Wow!

Dialing 311 has changed the way citizens around the U.S. and Canada interact with their local governments by making it easy to call in with questions or complaints.

These days, city and county officials are upping the ante by making it possible for residents not just to send queries down the line, but to see what their fellow residents are reporting too.

The result? Community mobilization, faster resolution of problems, and even the occasional good Samaritan solution.

Join the PdF Network on Thursday, April 1 as Ben Berkowitz, Founder/CEO, SeeClickFix shows us how technology is "peeling back the layers of bureaucracy," one pothole at a time.

Thursday, April 1st at the PdF Network
Your Town, Online: The Future of Internet Community Reporting
1-2 p.m. Eastern

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