/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/authors/tammi-marcoullier/ Recent content on Digital.gov Hugo en-us /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/23/competitions-launch-start-ups-and-engage-entrepreneurs/ Thu, 23 Apr 2015 11:30:50 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/04/23/competitions-launch-start-ups-and-engage-entrepreneurs/ When people hear about challenge competitions, they most often ask about the results. What worked and why did it work? Two great examples are featured on the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy site, which include the “needle in the haystack” solvers for a space mass competition and eleven /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/20/usgs-where-citizen-science-is-for-the-birds/ Tue, 20 Jan 2015 12:10:26 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/20/usgs-where-citizen-science-is-for-the-birds/ “I tell the interns: In this lab, we’re all about failure. If you’re not failing, you’re not really doing anything.” –Sam Droege, USGS biologist, in Audubon magazine The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is actively working with citizen scientists to discover, collect, and organize a variety of scientific data that is /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/08/crowdsourcing-month-an-overview/ Mon, 08 Dec 2014 12:01:38 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/08/crowdsourcing-month-an-overview/ This month we’ll be highlighting articles about crowdsourcing. These are the programs that use a variety of online mechanisms to get ideas, services, solutions, and products by asking a large, diverse crowd to contribute their expertise, talents, and skills. Among the mechanisms are hackathons, data jams, code-a-thons, prize competitions, workplace surveys, open ideation, micro-tasks or /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/10/27/results-report-robots-created-for-competitions-to-help-ebola-response/ Mon, 27 Oct 2014 10:50:18 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/10/27/results-report-robots-created-for-competitions-to-help-ebola-response/ Challenge competitions were recently highlighted as two potential solutions to help with the Ebola crisis responses. The first is a grand challenge launched Oct. 17, 2014, by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID): Ebola: A Grand Challenge for Development. The goal: To help health care workers on the front lines provide better care and stop /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/10/02/introducing-the-new-challenge-gov/ Thu, 02 Oct 2014 14:23:53 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/10/02/introducing-the-new-challenge-gov/ Challenge.gov now hosts the full federal-wide listing of crowdsourcing competitions and has a back-end platform for agencies to create and manage their competitions. The site is managed and produced within GSA’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technology (OCSIT) group. The main feature is a complete /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/09/22/usgs-picture-puzzle-do-you-see-changes-to-the-coast/ Mon, 22 Sep 2014 10:00:21 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/09/22/usgs-picture-puzzle-do-you-see-changes-to-the-coast/ If you are a coastal resident, go to the beach, or are interested in digital volunteering, you can be a tremendous help in identifying and classifying changes that storms make to our coast after severe storms. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has launched iCoast, a Web application where you can view aerial photographs and help classify /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/09/15/helpful-hints-writing-rfps-so-real-businesses-can-respond/ Mon, 15 Sep 2014 10:00:25 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/09/15/helpful-hints-writing-rfps-so-real-businesses-can-respond/ If you have a hand in contracts for crowdsourcing initiatives and challenge and prize competitions, here are some helpful hints for you. We’ve gathered this list from the expert businesses that provide competition services. Haven’t heard about that? See GSA Schedule 541-4G. Background: Over the last two years, competition providers and consultants have become more /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/09/11/cheaters-thieves-saboteurs-other-nefarious-competitors/ Thu, 11 Sep 2014 12:00:59 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/09/11/cheaters-thieves-saboteurs-other-nefarious-competitors/ Challenge and prize competitions are competitive and not always squeaky clean. There are a few things we’ve noticed and noted in our experience over the last four years with challenge competitions run by federal agencies and studying others in the private sector. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/08/29/ftc-awards-five-winners-from-defcon22-robocall-honeypot-challenge/ Fri, 29 Aug 2014 11:00:26 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/08/29/ftc-awards-five-winners-from-defcon22-robocall-honeypot-challenge/ The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had such great success with their first robocall challenge competition that the agency decided to take a different angle this year—targeting the skilled hackers at DEF CON 22, the annual defense conference in Las Vegas in early August. Five winners earned cash prizes and bragging rights for their creative technical /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/26/deloitte-analysis-craft-of-incentive-prize-design/ Thu, 26 Jun 2014 13:00:03 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/06/26/deloitte-analysis-craft-of-incentive-prize-design/ Federal challenge and prize competitions are in the news again. Our colleagues across government participated in research that resulted in a new report released June 19 from Deloitte University Press, The Craft of Prize Design: Lessons from the public sector. In the last five years, incentive prizes have transformed from an exotic open innovation tool to /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/30/this-weekend-event-list-for-civic-hacking/ Fri, 30 May 2014 02:33:31 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/30/this-weekend-event-list-for-civic-hacking/ Our fabulous colleague Jeanne Holm is ready for the #hackforchange events this weekend and summarized some tips, notes and links to resources on Data.gov. Great things will happen this weekend! Remember, if you hear about great uses of government data, let /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/20/introductory-call-for-the-disaster-apps-challenge/ Tue, 20 May 2014 10:00:08 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/20/introductory-call-for-the-disaster-apps-challenge/ The National Defense University (NDU) is hosting a conference call Friday, May 23, to spread the word about the Disaster Apps Challenge Competition, which opened yesterday. This call is open to the public, specifically the people who are interested /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/19/sign-up-for-digitalgov-citizen-services-summit-friday-may-30/ Mon, 19 May 2014 03:03:16 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/19/sign-up-for-digitalgov-citizen-services-summit-friday-may-30/ We won’t build the government of the 21st century by drawing within the lines. We don’t have to tell you the hard work of building a digital government doesn’t exist in a vacuum or a bubble. Show us social media without mobile, Web without data and user experience without APIs. You can’t? That’s right—in reality, /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/15/the-federal-list-of-hackforchange-projects/ Thu, 15 May 2014 12:28:30 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/15/the-federal-list-of-hackforchange-projects/ You should be on this list—the current federal government participants in the National Day of Civic Hacking. There are 15 agencies participating in the event, primarily in and around the Washington, D.C., area. This is a fantastic compilation of what agencies are doing, but it is not enough. We need more widespread participation across the country. If /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/07/new-white-house-report-prize-competition-use-increased-85-in-2013/ Wed, 07 May 2014 13:30:07 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/07/new-white-house-report-prize-competition-use-increased-85-in-2013/ We are thrilled to share an update from our competition colleagues at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The third annual comprehensive report detailing the use of prizes and /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/02/five-ways-to-hack-government-data-and-you-wont-believe-what-happens/ Fri, 02 May 2014 10:00:00 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/05/02/five-ways-to-hack-government-data-and-you-wont-believe-what-happens/ The National Day of Civic Hacking is actually a weekend. An awe-inspiring two days of collaborative work where coders, designers, writers, innovative thinkers, /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/18/defining-ideation-in-challenge-competitions/ Fri, 18 Apr 2014 10:00:29 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/04/18/defining-ideation-in-challenge-competitions/ There is some confusion about how “ideation” fits into challenge and prize competitions. Often, we hear from agencies that they would like to ask the public for ideas, to survey them on a specific question, or to request proposals in response to a /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/26/double-digit-crowdsourcing-competitions-launch-in-february/ Wed, 26 Feb 2014 13:25:05 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/02/26/double-digit-crowdsourcing-competitions-launch-in-february/ This is a phenomenal month for federal challenge and prize competitions with 12 new programs launched in February. The challenge.gov platform usually averages four to six new challenges a month, so we’re excited to see the year start off with a big push to engage citizens in creative /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/10/highlights-from-2013-tcopen-coding-competition/ Fri, 10 Jan 2014 04:02:18 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/01/10/highlights-from-2013-tcopen-coding-competition/ Our team and a few other agencies had the chance to attend the 2013 TopCoder Open this year and meet the best of the best developers, coders, designers, data scientists, and innovative thinkers in crowdsourcing. This /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/12/20/results-posted-2012-challenge-report/ Fri, 20 Dec 2013 10:06:20 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/12/20/results-posted-2012-challenge-report/ This week the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released its second comprehensive report detailing the use of federal challenge and prize competitions. Read it and you’ll find details about the fiscal benefits of more than 300 competitions implemented by 45 agencies. As the report /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/11/26/challenge-gov-named-as-top-5-finalist-harvard-innovation-award/ Tue, 26 Nov 2013 09:34:23 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/11/26/challenge-gov-named-as-top-5-finalist-harvard-innovation-award/ Thanks to the tremendous work of challenge managers across federal government and the support of the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, the Challenge.gov program at GSA has been named one of the top 5 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/10/25/thousands-of-calls-blocked-thanks-to-contest-winner/ Fri, 25 Oct 2013 09:45:09 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/10/25/thousands-of-calls-blocked-thanks-to-contest-winner/ Technology to block robocalls is a huge win for consumers and for challenge competitions this year. The FTC awarded a prize to Aaron Foss, creator of Nomorobo, in April. The technology went to market September 30, and the tool has already blocked more /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/05/02/internet-time-travel/ Thu, 02 May 2013 13:40:29 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/05/02/internet-time-travel/ The first public page on the world wide web went live twenty years ago on April 30, 1993. Take a look because this is the page that explains all things www at the time. /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/05/01/harvards-top-25-innovations-in-government/ Wed, 01 May 2013 14:22:08 -0400 /preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/05/01/harvards-top-25-innovations-in-government/ Nine federal programs made the list! Harvard’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation announced the Top 25 Innovations in Government May 1. A winner and four finalists will be revealed this fall. The Washington Post described how Harvard’s review