Net net: do the developers, other consumers, and yourself a favor and always go out of your way to rate the apps you use. 

Of course... there are those who argue that HOW to rate apps isn't immediately evident in Windows 8 or on Windows Phone. The process can be a bit obscure - but it's important to know (I'll explain below).  Sometimes developers put requests in their apps to help foster ratings submissions... and this is generally a good thing, but I know that some folks find it annoying after a while (but I urge people to be considerate... writing good apps is takes a lot of effort).

To rate a Windows 8 app:

• Start the app in full screen mode
• Swipe in from the right on a touch device (or hover the mouse in the upper right corner if you're using a mouse) to bring up the charms
• Select Settings
• Select Rate and Review
• Enter your rating (and optionally, your review)

To rate a Windows Phone app:

• Go to the app list on the main screen
• Find the app you want to rate
• Tap and hold to bring up the action menu
• Tap "Rate and review"
• Enter your rating (and optionally, your review)

Simple as that - takes only a few seconds and provides valuable feedback to the developer and makes the marketplace more valuable for everyone.  Sure, it's not solving world hunger or anything... but it may just help a developer put food on the table for her/his family... and that's always a good thing.

-Dan

ps.  On Windows 8, if you get an error stating “Sign in with the account you used to install the app” do this:

• Close the app.
• Close the Windows Store app.
• Go to the desktop, get a command prompt and type “wsreset –s”
• The store app will come up.  Close it.
• Run the app you want to rate.  With it running in the foreground, get the settings charm up, tap it, choose “Rate and Review”

pss. While you're at it... feel free to check out the apps I highlighted in my previous post :)

SocialRadar - This is a REALLY REALLY cool app that allows you to get a geographic view of all your connections in social networks. This will be VERY valuable at the upcoming Worldwide Partner Conference (and they have a booth there) – and we worked hard to make sure we had a version ready for the event (it is a DC-based startup and was built by a local development partner, InfernoRed).  Download it here: https://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/socialradar/e025d674-fb4c-40c3-824b-15d73005693f

Speek - Make super simple, free and visual conference calls. Choose an easy-to-remember username for your calls, instead of fumbling for a traditional phone number and PIN.  Download it here: https://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/2dfb5c05-3f65-4c10-8993-9312a7756461

If you're using Windows 8, these are MUST HAVE social networking solutions.  Both are free... go ahead and download and check them out.  If you like them, please let them know by rating the apps - to do so: run the app and then bring up the Win8 charms by swiping in from the right (or hovering your mouse cursor in the upper right), selecting "settings" and then selecting "rate and review."

Note, if you get an error while trying to rate it that states something like "you need to log in under the account that installed the app," do this:
 

1. Close the app.
2. Close the Windows Store app.
3. Go to the desktop, get a command prompt and type “wsreset –s”
4. The store app will come up.  Close it.
5. Run the app and try to rate it again... should work.

To get folks started, I put together a short list of some nice education apps for kids... note, this is a VERY limited list... there are well over 10,000 apps in the Windows 8 Store... I'll keep folks updated on new apps I come across, though.

In the meantime, check out the below apps... and please do the developers a favor and RATE the apps... it helps others find the apps, and gives them credit where it is due (and lets them know what needs to improve).

To rate an app, simply:

1. Run the app
2. On touch devices, swipe from the right to bring up the charms.  On non-touch devices, move the mouse to the upper right corner.
3. Click on the "Settings" charm.
4. Choose "Rate and Review"
5. Pick the number of stars you'd like to give the app... and add a review if you like.
6. Click "Submit"... and you're done!

Below are the apps to check out...  feel free to send me any others you'd like me to highlight!

-Dan

This week we celebrate Computer Science Education Week, and many people will also be participating in Code.org’s “Hour of Code.”  I’ve been an advocate of Computer Science education for years as a Technology Evangelist for Microsoft, as a volunteer in an AP Computer Science class, and as a parent of three children.  Despite all of the awareness and apparent ubiquity of computing nowadays, I still find myself answering the question: What’s the big deal about Computer Science education?  Do we really need it?

 I have some strong feelings about this, obviously, and in the spirit of CSEd Week, I’d like to share them here.

First, there is the very practical national issue with the shortage of Americans with sufficient technical computing skills to fill the available jobs: 

• 120K technical computing jobs produced annually,but we graduate only 40K BS degrees in computer science disciplines ⁽¹⁾ (i.e.,80K new jobs go unfilled each year)

• Unemployment for computer related occupations is lower than 4% ⁽²⁾
• Two of top-paying majors for 2013 were Computer Engineering ($70K) and CS ($64K) ⁽³⁾

So if there is so much need and opportunity, why is there such a short supply of qualified talent?  A very large reason is the fact that we have not been helping students understand the opportunity, and we have not been teaching them about Computer Science. The statistics posted on https://code.org/stats are dumbfounding - here’s are some significant items ⁽⁴⁾:

• Fewer than 10% of U.S. High Schools offer computer programming classes
• In 36 of 50 states, computer science doesn’t even count towards high school graduation math or science requirements
• Only 8% of AP Computer Science enrollees are Hispanic or African American
• Only 12% of computer science degrees are awarded to women

The lack of qualified graduates to full available technical jobs is only part of the problem, the other part is the impact on economic growth - as businesses, from startups to the largest enterprises, have work that continues to go undone.  Economic growth depends on qualified, productive talent, and we have limited our growth with a lack of supply.

Despite the above challenges and statistics, it's important to note that the goal of Computer Science education is not to have everyone be a Computer Scientist or software engineer, just as the goal of teaching math isn't to have everyone become a mathematician.  The reason we need to teach Computer Science is simple and broad: because it helps students learn everything else.

Computer Science has some very unique characteristics that make it very valuable for schools, educators, and the overall learning process:

• It challenges students in a way that is fun and interesting – Computer Science can be taught using many compelling tools, using the same themes, characters, games, and devices that students already associate with enjoyment.  
• It is approachable at all grade levels – there are tools and curriculum that can be used to start Computer Science education even at very early ages.  Merely putting a tablet device in the hands of a toddler and seeing how quickly they adapt is shocking to many adults – we need to take advantage of that aptitude and curiosity.
• Students identify with devices and software (especially games) – for many students in the U.S., software and devices are already a significant portion of their lives.  They are immersed in it, and will be able to see the applicability of their learning (vs. asking “when will I ever use this in real life?”).  The real-world connection will encourage their interest and motivation.
• It teaches fundamental 21^st-century skills – some believe that Computer Science is just about learning a programming language, but the REAL learning is in creativity, collaboration, logic, critical thinking, and problem solving.  These skills will benefit students in any future education or career path.
• It can encompass and complement core curriculum subjects (especially Math) –Computer Science can actually be a very effective medium for teaching other topics.  Math is the obvious one, where even simple games can require some numerical functions.  Need to teach students about acceleration and gravity?  Have them build a small app that calculates velocity of falling objects from various heights (Physics +Math + Computer Science).
• It is cross disciplinary – teaching Computer Science often involves challenging the students to build programs (apps/games)… which can involve much more than programming.  Good apps need quality writers, artists, musicians, and project management – so the learning process can be very inclusive (and strongly fosters collaboration).
• It is equalizing across income levels and demographics – yes, you will likely need access to computers to teach Computer Science, but availability in schools grows every day, computers can be shared, and devices continue to get less expensive.  Once that initial hurdle is overcome, however, the opportunity is nearly limitless (and won’t likely incur future costs). From that one computer, students will be able to consume and build as much knowledge as their hearts desire. They’ll be able to walk through the simplest workshops or build a solution that can change the world – all with the same device (which isn’t necessarily true with other science disciplines that require increasingly expensive materials and equipment as students advance).  Age, race, gender, lifestyle, income level, and other demographic differentiators don’t matter – learning and building is open equally to all.  Computer Science can be the ticket for student success in resource-constrained schools (it’s unfortunate that it can be viewed as an optional burden at this time), and create opportunity in communities where it previously did not exist.

One of the strongest reasons I advocate for Computer Science is the immediate sense of accomplishment that students realize when they succeed.  They’ve overcome a challenge and receive instant acknowledgement and gratification – it’s the same reason many students (and adults) addictively play games. 

This gratification drives them to repeat and advance their challenge – and in the case of Computer Science – they are actively advancing their learning (whether they realize it or not). The fact that they can accomplish so much with simple thought and effort is incredibly empowering to students, and the confidence and satisfaction they realize will have a positive influence their view of learning and school, overall.

The mission of Code.org is admirable, and I believe it is about time that everyone fully embraced the value and opportunity provided in Computer Science education.  I strongly encourage everyone to participate in the Hour of Code this week (it’s very easy to do – you don’t need an organized program at your school… just go to https://learn.code.org/ and start plugging away.  I also encourage everyone to get involved in their local schools and communities to help advocate the value of Computer Science education at all levels.

Dan Kasun
Sr. Director, U.S. Public Sector Developer & Plaform Evangelism
Microsoft

Sources:

1. Graduation numbers from IPEDS 2010 Computer
   Science Degrees. Forecast job openings based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistcs
   forecast of 1.22 million for 2010 -2020.
2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Labor Force
   Statistics from the Current Population Survey. Available at https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpseea30.htm
3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/09/20/the-college-degrees-with-the-highest-starting-salaries/
4. https://code.org/stats

I had the opportunity to support one of the local Loudoun County High Schools this year by volunteering to assist in AP Computer Science as part of the TEALS program (www.tealsk12.org).  TEALS provides volunteers who can teach an entire computer science class for schools that do not have access to trained educators, and also provides teacher assistants (TAs) for schools that already have teachers, but would like additional support in their programs.  Loudoun already had teachers, so I volunteered as a TA (which was fortunate, as my schedule wouldn’t have supported the responsibility of the full class).

As a TA, my role was to participate in the 90 minute class a few times a week (block scheduling puts the class at alternating schedules of two or three days per week).  The classes are purposely scheduled in the first block so I could be done in the morning without much impact on my work day (and those who know me realize that my “work day” is the other 22.5 hours).  There were weeks where I could participate in each class, and then there were stretches where work conflicts prevented me from being there at all.  Some days I arrived early to meet with students to help with projects, and some days I had to leave early for work commitments – the schedule was more flexible than I had expected, and that helped me manage the time.  Overall, on average I estimate that I was able to be there once or twice a week through the whole year (note: there was another TA supporting the class, and that helped with coverage).

My initial expectation was that I would spend most of my time supporting the teacher, Doug Poland (from here on: Doug) with curriculum delivery, and that I’d pepper in some industry anecdotes and enrichment on the side.  After a few days I realized that Doug had the curriculum well in hand – he was awesome with the students and really knew how to deliver the class content at the right pace for the class.  In addition, the students were hesitant to approach me on the classroom content, so opportunities to help weren’t as common as I’d expected.  So, for the first few weeks, I did my best to provide real-world context for the topics we discussed, and I also did some fun demonstrations of new technology and programming tools.  As I developed a rapport with the students they began to ask more questions and I got more involved in helping them with classroom and extracurricular projects.  Overall, much of my engagement with students was driven by project work that wasn’t necessarily part of the curriculum – which I believe is a result of having a highly competent teacher for the classwork that provided me the bandwidth to provide additional enrichment and experience that went beyond the classroom topics.

The end result was very positive: the AP Computer Science test scores for the class was significantly above the national average, and they had more than double the number of students with a 4 or 5 score on the test than last year.  Of course, we may have had the benefit of an unusually talented set of students (and they were, in my opinion), but I also believe that the combination of strong curriculum coverage with additional enrichment and industry experiences played a nice role in the success.  Nice enough to warrant further pursuit, at least.

It was a fantastic experience, I learned and grew a great deal through the year, and I think (hope) that I had a positive impact on the students, as well.  As we start preparing for the next school year, I’d like to share my motivations and learnings with the goal of motivating more industry professionals to get involved in some way.

Why I did it

My role at Microsoft deals with working with companies who build solutions for Education, and I also have responsibility for inspiring students to pursue STEM and Computer Science disciplines.  I’ve worked with the Education industry for some time and I have several educators in my family, but I felt that if I really wanted to understand the environment, I had to immerse myself in it.  That meant getting into the classroom and working directly with the students and teachers.

The larger motivation, however, was personal.  I have a deep passion for the advancement of technology, and I see, first hand, the challenges that many companies face with the dearth of good technical talent.  I believe that innovation and entrepreneurship are the keys to unlocking our national economic potential, and that innovation is fed by education.  Without a large, diverse pool of technically educated citizens, economic growth will continue to languish.  I see the amazing opportunities (jobs and entrepreneurship) that are available to Computer Science graduates, and I’m frustrated that more students are not pursuing this path.

So I decided to pitch in and try to help make a change, and the best place to start for something like this is close to home.  Fortunately, the TEALS program and the Loudoun County Public School administration provided the structure to allow me to do so.

What I learned

My first observations and realizations were about the students.  It was a big class (35 students) with very diverse skill sets.  Some students were fairly new to programming, while a few others were very advanced.  AP Computer Science is an elective class, so they were all very sharp and motivated, which made things a bit easier on me, I’m sure.  Girls were a small minority (~15%) – which is an ongoing problem that we need to address. 

The first surprise was seeing how collaborative the students were.  I mentioned above that they were hesitant to ask me for help, which is understandable as I was the stranger in their classroom.  If there was a problem, they would flock together and try to figure things out – only approaching the teacher (Doug) as a last resort (and approaching me as a final Hail Mary).  The more advanced students were more than happy to help the others, and there was a lot of respect in the room.  There’s the perception that Computer Science is a heads-down, lonely discipline – but this couldn’t be further from the truth.  Computer Science is about problem solving through logic and collaboration, and Doug fostered that very well in his class.  We need to make sure that others see this, as well.

The interesting thing about that collaboration: most computer labs that I’ve seen aren’t really set up well for team interaction.  The labs typically are classrooms that have been retrofitted to contain as many computers as possible, without much shared space or room for collaborative work.  In addition, most of the technology is fairly dated (which I understand due to budgets), and the display screens were fairly small.  This might be fine for teenage eyes that can nearly see down to the molecular level… but for aging folks like me, viewing their code was a real problem… and I can imagine it must also be difficult for teammates who aren’t sitting right in front of the screen.  Net net: it would be a good idea to rethink labs and build out an environment that better support collaboration.  I saw a great example of this done well at Chesapeake High School outside of Baltimore with their Virtual Learning Environment.

The next surprise for me was how open the students were to new technology.  We adults, especially those of us in the tech industry, typically develop strong opinions and viewpoints about technology and resist any influence or change once our perspectives are set.   Not so with students… they are sponges for information.  They’ll absorb and learn anything and everything… they are limited or influenced by biases or previous experience.  Is it cool?  Is it interesting?  Is it new?  They’ll take it on… and that was very refreshing and made it fun.  I just hope that maturity and experience doesn’t drill that passion out of them too quickly.

That said, at the beginning of the year I asked the class “how many of you are considering a degree in science or technology?”  Less than half the class raised their hands.  That jolted me a bit… here we have a set of really smart students who actively elected to take a challenging technology course, who arguably would be the most suitable for science and engineering disciplines – but less than half were considering it.  Unfortunately, I forgot to ask the same question at the end of the year… so I don’t know if any intent changed.  I do know that several of the students were going on to some great CS programs at very good universities – which makes me optimistic.

An obvious observation was that the teacher really does make a difference – but I developed a deeper understanding of why that’s so.  AP Computer Science can be a fairly dry topic… so it’s critical to find ways to connect with the students and make it compelling.  The course curriculum is meant to take the full year – so staying on pace and having good lesson plans is critical.  On top of that, the ability to quickly assess a student’s understanding and then keep track of that among the dozens and dozens of individuals is extremely challenging… teachers have developed expertise in this that is very unique.  Just like a great mechanic can often tell how an engine is running just by listening to it, great teachers have a “sixth sense” in assessing the students and the class.  A great educator combines all of these things: strong understanding of the curriculum, process and structure to keep the class on track, the innate ability to assess performance, the capability to personalize instruction for each student, and the ability to excite and inspire students – regardless of the subject.  Again, I was fortunate that Doug had all of these qualities (most CS teachers I know do, actually).

With all that, however, there was very little bandwidth to do much else in the class.  My early expectation was to really dig in on some extracurricular enrichment programs, but I came to realize that the students (and the teachers) are already really, really busy.  It’s not easy to carve 20-30 minutes off the schedule without significantly impacting something else.  So we had to figure out ways to provide that enrichment without being disruptive, and we did so by shortening any in-class diversions, holding some class trips, delivering some programs during breaks (such as a Student Startup Camp over Easter), and then trying to squeeze some things in after the AP tests were complete.  It wasn’t easy, though… and took a lot of personal time from the students, teachers, and other volunteers.

The out-of-class experiences were like steroids to the students’ motivation, though.  Those extra doses of the “real world” went a long way to helping the students connect their class work to tangible outcomes.  We had tremendous support from the community in delivering these events, including from organizations such as the Center for Innovative Technology, AOL, and the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce (not to mention the organizations that were already involved in TEALS: Microsoft, Telos, JASON Project). 

Towards the end of the year, the biggest request that heard from the students: how can they get jobs and internships?  Some of them managed to snag some nice opportunities with local companies, but there was no systematic way to make that happen.  There is definitely a need to provide more structure around this to help connect these students to opportunities.  The kids are smart enough and skilled enough to provide real value to an employer – we just need to help connect the dots (and that’s my mission for the next year).

Where to go from here

This first year with TEALS was most certainly the “learning year.”  I can recall commenting with Doug that “we’d figure it out as we go along” late last summer… and we did.  Now that we have that experience under our belts, I have better perspective over what’s possible, what my role can be, and what will be effective.  The time commitment proved to be manageable, and should be even more so in the future.  So I’m definitely in for another year, at least.

Some of the areas that I’d like to focus through the year:

• Evangelize the need for better labs and hardware: students get excited by new, diverse, whiz-bang things – labs should have more interesting technology than their own backpacks… and we need to have environments that are more suitable to “real” computer science work (collaborative, team-based, shared screens, etc).  I’d like to find ways to help make that happen.
• Find ways to celebrate the teachers and offer opportunities for more professional development: part of the TEALS mission is to create a self-sustaining culture that really enables Computer Science teachers, and after what I saw last year with all of the Loudoun CS teachers, I’m convinced that we need to do more to recognize and empower them.  They are the stewards of the future innovators… every ounce of support we give them will come back as pound of opportunity.
• Create more programs for out of class experiences: Those who play sports get to exercise their skills in games, and they have a vision for a potential future in college and professional sports (because they see the games every day).  Computer science class is like practice and skills development… but if you don’t ever get to use those skills in a “real game” and if you don’t ever get to see what real “professionals” do, it’s difficult to maintain passion.  We need competitions, startup weekends, code camps, awards, visits to universities, visits to tech companies and incubators, and more… and I’ll be pursuing that.
• Develop internship and job programs for students while in school and during summer: with all of the great universities and tech companies in this area, putting together a structured program for high school technology internship should be a no brainer.  I know we can get this done.
• Get more people involved: this is the key…the ability to have an impact scales directly with the number of people who are involved in the program.  Every individual brings something new and different to the program and to the students… and the more we reach, the greater the benefits for everyone.

I’ll end on that last note, since this write up has already gone about three pages more than I originally intended.  I know that MANY people are very interested in helping with TEALS, and there are a variety of opportunities to do so. 

For those who even just might be interested, we have overview sessions scheduled tomorrow at the GWU campus and Ashburn at 8:30am, and then another at 11am at the Microsoft Office in Reston. 

GWU details: https://www.facebook.com/events/507239536015870/?ref=2

Microsoft Reston details: https://www.facebook.com/events/220091784808964/?ref=2

Feel free to contact me directly if you are interested, or if you’d just like to find out more about the program.

I had the good fortune on Friday to kick off the TEALS Computer Science Field Trip at AOL’s Northern Virginia campus, which hosted 200 students from seven local high schools.  It was a great day, led by remarks from James LaPlaine, AOL’s VP of Technology Operations (and me).  The event consisted of several sessions where industry experts shared their experiences and expertise on computer science and technology. Following these sessions, students participated in an opportunity fair that helped them to see the real world application of computer science and what opportunities exist.  I really enjoyed it – and the feedback from the students was very good, as well.

The trip was coordinated under the Technology Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS) program, which is part of Microsoft's YouthSpark initiative.  In a nutshell, TEALs is a program that places volunteer technology professionals in schools with two goals: help teach computer science, and to inspire the students to pursue science and technology education (and ultimately, careers).  The volunteers work with teachers to assist with curriculum and lesson delivery, and they also provide outside perspective based on their industry experience.

TEALS started near Redmond, Washington (Microsoft's corporate HQ) in 2009 at one school, reaching a total of 12 students.  This year, there are TEALS programs running in 7 states covering 35 schools, reaching over 1500 students.  We've been running pilots here in Northern Virginia and DC at six schools (DC includes Marshall Charter School, Friendship Charter School, and Virginia includes Wakefield High School, Broad Run High School, Stone Bridge High School, and Park View High School).

I’m particularly close to TEALS, as I’m one of the volunteers in the program (I helped out in the AP Computer Science class at Stone Bridge).  The reason I volunteered is simple: I work with many technology companies in my role at Microsoft, and I see, first hand, the challenges that the tech industry has in finding and hiring qualified, talented employees.  There simply aren’t enough candidates to meet the needs of the industry – and causes immense friction for economic growth, from the largest company to startups just looking to get off the ground.  I see this problem as clear as day – and I want to do something about it.

Here’s the odd thing: Computer Science and Computer Engineer graduates consistently top the lists in job placement and starting salaries.  Many notable startup stories are rooted in technology, it’s rare to find anyone who doesn’t know the names Gates, Jobs, Brin, and Zuckerberg (and recently, David Karp).  In addition, students today are completely immersed in technology – computers, mobile devices, perpetual internet access.  Technology is as natural to most students as eating and breathing.  Despite this, the number of students pursuing degrees in computer science (or similar) is still extremely small compared to other disciplines, and falls far short of industry needs. 

At current rates, it is projected that there will be approximately 1M unfilled jobs requiring computer technology skills by 2018.  Another stunning fact: In 2012, only about 24,000 students in the United States out of some 14 million took the Computer Science Advanced Placement test. This number represents only 0.69 percent of all AP tests taken that year (and the percentage of girls who take the test is mind-bogglingly small).  With so much demand and so much opportunity, one would think that students would be stampeding into Computer Science.  Why aren’t they?

In my opinion, one of the key factors is that we (adults, industry leaders, society as a whole) are not doing a good enough job fostering students’ passion for technology.  We’ve been content to let them be technology consumers, and haven’t instilled the desire to be technology creators.  The world needs creators.

On top of that, there has always been a stigma that CS is “only for boys” and that it can be difficult and boring… this perception lingers and grows as long as we fail to address and try to change it by exposing students to the amazing things that they can do with technology.  This realization is strikingly clear when you look at the lack of diversity in computer science classes where females typically represent a very small minority, and ethnic minorities, especially African American and Hispanic students, who represent an even smaller sliver. 

Unfortunately, many schools have tremendous challenges that have prevented them from making computer science a higher priority, so teachers don’t get the opportunity to lead the students down this road.  Without strong mandates from the States for computer science achievement, schools often are unable to invest in computer science teachers and resources.  Thus, opportunities for students to pursue CS are uncommon, and the demand to hire and train CS teachers is stunted.

TEALS addresses part of this problem by enabling industry professionals to help schools and teachers educate students on computer science, and to inspire the students to pursue technology in their future.  With that help, more schools and teachers will be able to reach a greater number of students, and more students will enroll in technology disciplines in college, which will lead to more qualified graduates for the industry.  It’s a nice, virtuous cycle where everybody wins.

I’m especially passionate about the potential in this geography (Northern VA, DC, and MD), as we have the perfect storm of very strong schools, amazing teachers, very smart students, and a huge presence of technology companies of all sizes.  In addition, several of the best universities in the country are sitting right in our communities, and we have the visibility and access to leaders and policymakers via our nation’s capital, conveniently and uniquely located directly in our back yard. 

All of the ingredients for national technology and economic leadership are here – but it all starts with our students (which means our schools).  I believe that enabling them to become leaders in computer science and technology will provide benefits for a generation, locally and nationally.   We need to capitalize on this opportunity not only for the sake of the students, but for the benefit of the entire regional economy.  Everyone has a stake in this future: local businesses, investors, policymakers, teachers, parents, students, you name it… so we’re all responsible for investing in this success (time, money, support, etc.)

Programs like TEALS, and events like Friday’s field trip, are great examples of what individuals and businesses can do – and I’m proud and honored to be a part of them.  There is much more to be done, and we’re always looking for new ideas and more support.  If you’re interested, feel free to send me a message (below), and you can find out more on the TEALS web site: https://tealsk12.org/.

logo-loudoun.jpg

Back in April it was announced that the FY2011 budget reduced the Obama Administration’s Electronic Government Fund from $35 million to only $8 million, including cuts to landmark transparency initiatives like the Federal IT Dashboard and USASpending.gov. Yesterday we received additional details on how specific programs would be impacted, as WFED reported that the Office of Management and Budget will terminate both FedSpace and the Citizen Services Dashboard initiatives. Data.gov will survive, but will also be impacted, even as the site recently celebrated its second birthday with a big announcement about its move to the cloud.

These development could have a serious impact on the mission of Gov 2.0 and Open Government – both from a practical standpoint as well as in overall perception. Obviously, building out the infrastructure and processes to support Gov 2.0 and Open Government initiatives takes time, effort, and money – and any reduction in funding will make it more challenging for those tasked with building such systems. Having these programs on the chopping block creates the perception of the lack of realized value and priority with policymakers (and thus, citizens).

In general, these changes are forcing all of us in the government community to take a hard look at what’s working, and what isn’t. These cuts raise an important reminder about Gov 2.0: It’s not enough just to make data available and to open up forums for participation. Agencies must provide sufficient context about what the data means to people and what they can do with it – and also need to provide sufficient incentives for people, especially developers, to motivate them to build systems that provide tangible value and return on investment.

Government agencies at all levels can do the following to help ensure people use data in the right context:

• Provide data in open, easy-to-understand, standardized formats that encourage developers and other people to build apps on them.
• Provide background on how recent and authoritative data is, as well as who owns it and whom it applies to.
• Ensure data privacy and security so people can trust the data’s integrity.
• Offer good tools and user interface technologies that enable developers to present data in clear, compelling and accurate ways.
• Provide easy access to qualified expert guidance, both live and asynchronous like FAQs. This helps answer questions on what legitimate connections people can make with the data and what application capabilities would best benefit the government and public.

Providing incentive and motivation is more challenging:

• Many have already gone the route of contests with some good results. But while that’s a good way to kickstart development, it’s not really a sustainable model, and we have lots of orphaned apps lying around to show for it.
• Agencies could provide ideas for solution scenarios along with matching capabilities between entities that have uses for the data and developers who would be able to deliver solutions…sort of a job-matching/idea catalog to go with each dataset.
• Agencies need to market their successes to help the masses recognize the value that has been achieved (actually, the developers and other organizations would probably be more than happy to highlight the successes themselves – they’ll just need support from the agencies to get visibility).

Finally, agencies will need to optimize their processes and systems for publishing data and driving citizen engagement, and consider new technology and models, such as cloud computing, to make that happen. It is also critical to track consumption and participation on an ongoing basis to help prioritize activity and the limited investment – thus insuring the biggest impact for every dollar.  Everything needs to be in a process of continuous improvement… not a one shot deal.

Gov 2.0 just got lean… it’s now our job to effectively use technology to make it mean.

Oddly enough, this actually makes one of my favorite unique capabilities for Windows Phone even easier – connecting to SharePoint from the Office hub… since the URLs are usually fairly long and cumbersome.

Update was quick (again, needed enough space for a full backup) – no issues at all.  More comments as I test it out more.

-Dan

The update backs up your phone first… so it can take some time, and it requires the equivalent amount of disk space on your PC as you have loaded on your phone (i.e., if you have 10GB stored on your phone, you need to have 10 GB of free disk)

The back up is located at: C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Phone Update  (replace <User> with your account ID).  For those of us who constantly run up against storage limits no matter how much disk space we have, it’s useful to know so we can archive it off our primary devices – especially if you have multiple phones, like me)

So far, no issues… and one thing I have noticed: app loading and local storage operations seem SIGNIFICANTLY faster… makes the whole device seem like it got a huge boost.

I found good information on the update at these links:

https://windowsteamblog.com/windows_phone/b/windowsphone/archive/2011/02/21/our-first-windows-phone-update-and-how-to-get-it.aspx

https://blogs.msexchange.org/walther/2011/02/22/first-windows-phone-7-update-hit-my-device/

If this is any indication of the improvements we’ll get with small updates – I’ll be waiting with bated breath in anticipation.

-Dan

Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/MicrosoftTechStudent?sk=app_188514771167996 

Looking at the projects and teams (several of whom I’ve gotten to meet personally from previous Imagine Cup competitions), I can’t help but be humbled at the quality of the solutions and the *BIG THINKING* that went into their entries.  Seeing this level of innovation coming from students today, once can’t help but be optimistic for the future of our country.

Take a look – and please go ahead and vote for your favorite… you can vote once per day per team, so make sure to come back often. 

Also – please help get the word out – these teams deserve our support – and it will benefit all of us to highlight these students… so much attention and media is given to student athletics – it’s about time we started celebrating academic achievement. 

After all – it’s student innovation and entrepreneurship that’s going to leads us into a better economy and a better future.  This is what really matters most.

Good luck to all of the finalists!

-Dan