News and Updates

Innovative work, news, and ideas from people and teams in government

Thunderclap Now Available for Government-Wide Adoption

Thunderclap is the latest social media and crowd-sourcing platform available to federal agencies to better engage with the public, with a newly negotiated government-compatible Terms of Service (TOS) agreement. GSA collaborated with Thunderclap to negotiate the amended terms, which brings the total number of tools with federal-compatible agreements to 66.

Aug 05, 2013

The Impact of Culture on Customer Experience

What’s one of the most important factors in delivering a good customer experience? When I first began learning about customer experience, one of the biggest surprises was the importance of culture. Organizational culture can be defined as the values and behavior that contribute to the unique and psychological environment of an organization.It’s based on shared

Aug 01, 2013

Mobile Product Accessibility Testing Resources

Accessibility testing is a subset of usability testing and is the inclusive practice of making websites and mobile applications usable by people of all abilities and disabilities. You do this by testing mobile websites and/or applications on all leading browsers, mobile devices and screen readers. This article was developed as part of the Mobile Application

Jul 31, 2013

API Security

Like website development, API security revolves around three stages—planning the API, testing the API, and monitoring the API after it has launched. The planning stage requires those involved to conceptually map several design decisions and the impact that they will have on security. The second stage applies your agency’s security program to the API release

Jul 29, 2013

Why NCI Moved to a Structured Content Model

Wikipedia says that structured content refers to information that’s been broken down and classified using metadata. It can also refer to information that’s been classified using XML or other standard or proprietary forms of metadata. The National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute (NIH/NCI) move to structured

Jul 25, 2013

Understanding Your Customer

Do you know who your customers are? And what they expect from your organization? One of the most critical components of a successful customer experience program is to understand your customer. The first step is knowing who your customers are. Are they veterans, students, senior citizens or other federal workers? In some cases your customers

Jul 25, 2013

MobileMarketingWatch recently published an article on how the SMS marketing world is changing. Due to its popularity, SMS has evolved into one of the most effective mobile marketing strategies. Improves Relevance for All: Marketers tailor campaigns to a variety of interests in order

Jul 23, 2013

Moderating a Government Blog

Guest post by Curtis Robert Burns, better known as Blogger Bob, at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). As a blogger for TSA I believe moderating blog comments always comes down to an understanding of your employer’s mission, audience, and your

Jul 22, 2013

DATA.Gov: The Next Step is Yours

Americans are rocking open data! From getting people to the emergency room faster with iTriage to helping them navigate road and rail after a disaster, people are innovating, building businesses, and creating safer communities. As developers get more sophisticated and businesses get better analytics, Data.gov needs to change to support them in new ways and

Jul 19, 2013

How to Create a Customer Experience Index

In my last post I talked about how we’re kicking off our Customer Experience program in the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies (OCSIT) at GSA. There are many paths to creating a customer experience program, from starting with cultural issues like employee

Jul 18, 2013

Digital Metrics for Federal Agencies

Digital metrics are critical for measuring, analyzing, and reporting on the effectiveness of your Web, mobile, social media, and other digital channels. Every agency should have a metrics strategy to measure performance, customer satisfaction, and engagement, and use the data to make continuous improvements to serve its customers. Part 1: Common Metrics: Guidance, Best Practices, and

Jul 15, 2013

Kicking Off Our Customer Experience Program

The vision for my office, the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies (OCSIT) at GSA, is simple: Deliver a world-class experience to the public when accessing government information and services – anytime, anywhere – through the delivery channel they choose. We create and leverage products, services and

Jul 10, 2013

ComScore recently released key trends in the United States’ smartphone industry for three months (February-May) with Apple ranked as the top smartphone manufacturer and Android as the top smartphone platform. During the three months, 141 million people owned smartphones. Top Smartphone Original Equipment Manufacturers

Jul 09, 2013