Even though Kundra admits that this will be a gradual process, he appears confident that the plan will increase government efficiency and allow the government to “buy smarter” during these difficult economic times. The reduced prices and energy efficiency that this website offers, affords the federal government the same benefits of technological advances that private citizens enjoy daily.

The unveiling was attended by the executives of companies offering these cloud computing services, including: Google, Microsoft, Adobe Systems, Facebook, and Vimeo. All of the executives showed great excitement at the prospect of gaining the U.S. government as customer.

This development is consistent with the Obama administration’s dedication to updating the government’s technology systems, which in turn should greatly reduce the enormous budget of federal I.T. (which has been estimated to be $75 billion).

To learn about Cloud Computing and what it means, click here.

These statements coincide with the rising number of employers who examine an applicant’s Facebook page before making a hiring decision. In the future, this number can be guaranteed to exponentially increase and result in lost employment opportunities and terminations as a result of offensive or distasteful content on one’s social networking page.

Since the beginning of his presidential campaign, President Obama has managed to use technology successfully, especially social media sites, by connect to young adults in a way that no other candidate has. Ever since his victory, President Obama continues to make technology a top priority, using it to increase government transparency, and most recently to reach out to the public in a more immediate and personal way. Two main examples of President Obama’s Administration making effective use of the power of the internet, include the launch of the website “Reality Check” and the CDC’s use of social media sites.

In an effort to stem the rising tide of myths surrounding health care reform, President Obama’s administration decided to combat the negative backlash electronically, by launching a website entitled Reality Check. The site immediately reached out to over 300,000+ Facebook friends and 900,000+ followers on Twitter and has continued to increase its audience exponentially ever since. The Los Angeles Times has reported that the social networking site Digg voted the page to its homepage, which has the potential of exposing to it to millions of viewers. Digg.com is a popular site that allows people to share stories/links and offers people the opportunity to vote and comment on the submissions.

The second instance involves using social media sites as a way to relay information about the H1N1 Virus (commonly known as “Swine Flu”) to the public, especially young adults who are the most prone to the illness. The director of the CDC’s e-health marketing division, Janice Nall, explained that information posted on sites other than the CDC’s official website received greater publicity, resulting in reaching a larger audience. For example, an informative video posted on YouTube about the flu was viewed by nearly 2 million people, while the same video on the CDC’s official website was only viewed by 100,000 people. iHealthBeat offered a partial list of the specific strategies used by the CDC to educate the public on H1N1, including: targeting independent bloggers, sending email alerts to those on government mailing lists, disseminating embedded graphic buttons (connected to the CDC’s website)  that people can post on their SNS, sending text message alerts, and maintaining a constant stream of informative tweets on Twitter. There have even been rumors that in the future the CDC will attempt to discover ways to use virtual games/worlds to reach an even younger more vulnerable audience.

This past Tuesday (June 30), U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra formally launched the new U.S. Federal IT Dashboard at the Personal Democracy Forum 2009 in New York City. This greatly anticipated website provides citizens with greater transparency involving government spending, something that many Americans have been asking for in recent years. This increased ability for public scrutiny will likely result in greater accountability and responsibility when it comes to the spending of the country’s $40 billion budget for federal technology projects. This enormous budget has helped secure the federal government as the largest single buyer or technology in the world. The website tracks all federal technology projects, offering a detailed descriptions of each, up-to-date evaluation reports and contact information for each project’s manager.

At the unveiling Kundra exuded enormous confidence and excitement about the project, explaining “[N]ow, for the first time, the entire country can look at how we’re spending money and give us feedback. We’re going to tap into some of the best ideas and the best thinking.”

Kundra and his team even took the project a step further when they utilized the popular online video site YouTube to further advertise the dashboard, tapping into the site’s millions of viewers. This short video includes an introduction to the dashboard, an explanation of its goals, and a basic explanation how it should be used. Clearly, this website and its accompanying video are a good model that others in the IT sector should emulate. The increased transparency and approachability of these projects is sure to result in positive feedback; with proper execution, the generated response could bring substantial financial profits to private IT.

The site is sure to be a success and has led many to speculate that similar dashboards for education and/or military spending may be launched in the near future.

John Horrigan (author of the report) comments: “[W]e found that broadband is now in the ‘must keep’ category for Americans, even when economic times are tough,” affirming that Americans are both psychologically and economically committed to their broadband. During these tough economic times, 22% of those surveyed cutback/cancelled their cell phone plans and 22% cutback/cancelled their cable TV service over the last 12 months; while only 9% did the same for their internet service. While it may seem counterintuitive as broadband becomes a larger part of peoples’ daily lives, its monthly cost is rising. The national monthly average for broadband is currently $39, an increase from last year’s average of $34.50.

Yet, according to figures released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and published by BusinessWeek, “the US ranks 15^th among the developed countries in broadband deployments per 100 people.” How is this possible? Scott Wallsten (VP at Tech Policy Institute in Washington) shares some insight, claiming that these figures are flawed because of the way they are calculated.  Per capita analysis, in this case, fails to consider various household sizes, which gives countries with smaller families (as in Northern Europe) a distinct advantage.

As rioters continue to protest the recent election in Iran, the Iranian government’s internet blockade has becoming increasingly stringent, threatening to rival that of China’s. Currently, CNET.com reports that Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, the BBC, and YouTube websites have been blocked, controversial keywords are prohibited, and numerous blogs have been restricted. As Iranians searched for ways to coordinate actions amongst themselves and communicate with the outside world, they found an answer in an unlikely place, the popular but unassuming social networking site, Twitter. The New York Times along with others have openly announced that some of the best commentary on the ongoing events has been received through Twitter messages.

How are Iranians bypassing the country’s virtual lock-down to access Twitter? Many configure their web browsers to contact a proxy, which is a server that can reroute a connection through another country in an attempt to bypass government filters. The people of Tehran are receiving an outpour of support and assistance from people around the world, many of whom are sympathetic strangers who wish to support the protesters.

In fact, more than 750 users (at any given moment) are being aided by Austin Heap, an information technology consultant in San Francisco. When asked why he was offering his services as a proxy, he responded “the marriage of civil disobedience with the social networking savvy is the death of despotism in these places.  If you combine these two, you have a very potent force.”  Mr. Heap posted simple directions on his blog on how to setup proxies last Sunday, and within twenty-four hours he discovered that over a thousand people from around the world had set up proxies of their own, based on his instructions.

Recently, e-Lessons Learned (eLL) was fortunate enough to exchange correspondence with an embedded contact in Tehran who had been using Twitter to offer eyewitness reports on the volatile situation.  Yet, within a few hours of our access to his Twitter account, all of his posts since June 10 (two days prior to the election) were removed with no warning and the account was deleted. However, eLL managed to recover these two posted tweets.

RT Besiji loosening on Tehran Uni, students- leave now, use east routes. #iranelection

about 23 hours ago from web

RT: Thousands of people peacefully protesting. Let’s hope it stays peaceful. #iranelection #gr88 about 24 hours ago from web

Since then, we received word that our contact travelled to Beirut for safety concerns and plans on remaining there until the situation stabilizes. We will be sure to post any further updates from our contact.

Why was our contact’s account (along with many others) closed? The answer: A surprisingly swift response by the Iranian government to crack down on proxies in an effort to make it increasingly difficult for people like Mr. Heap to offer assistance. ComputerWorld reports that initially, those offering proxies posted them publicly, which made them easy to find by protestors, the Iranian government, and spammers alike. Now, those offering proxies have made them password-protected, which grants the creator control over who can access the proxies. However, there are reports that the Iranian government has begun to use Twitter to spread false information and track down those who have been communicating anti-government posts. For these and other reasons many Iranians have either voluntarily or involuntarily shut-down their Twitter accounts.

Be sure to check back for updates on this developing story.

By now, you’re probably familiar with the post-election chaos taking place in Iran.

What you may not know is that Twitter, a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read each others’ updates, is being used in a revolutionary new way (pun intended).

Since the controversial election, the Iranian government has suppressed foreign journalism and mass-media outlets from covering the protests and other events related to the election backlash.  The people of Iran, and primarily the supporters of Hossein Moussavi, would not be silenced, and have been persistent in alerting the world of the events that are unfolding.  That’s where Twitter comes into play.

Iranians have found ways to access the popular social site through proxies and other network loopholes, enabling them to keep friends, families and the rest of the globe in-the-know when traditional media was stymied.  Using their cell phones, Iranians are able to ‘tweet the deets’ in real-time, live from protests and other noteworthy events.

The amount of information being transmitted via “Tweet” even prompted State Department Official Jared Cohen to pen Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey a request to move the site’s scheduled maintenance down-time to a later date in order to facilitate communication in Iran.

The United States is careful not to let this request appear to be meddling in Iranian affairs.  ”Information should be used as a way to promote freedom of expression,” said P.J. Crowley, the assistant secretary of state for public affairs.  “This is completely consistent with our national policy.”

As of Saturday April 18, 2009 President Obama officially appointed Aneesh Chopra as his Chief Technology Officer, the Wall Street Journal reports. The President reported this news via radio and discussed some of the tasks Chopra would face including government efficiency, job creation, and healthcare. Obama also nominated Jeffrey Zients for Chief Performance Officer and Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget; Zients awaits confirmation.

Chopra and Zeints will work in close connection to Vivek Kundra, who was named Chief Information Officer just a short time ago. Information Week quoted Obama when he spoke of the work relationship that these three will have. “Aneesh and Jeffrey will work closely with our chief information officer, Vivek Kundra, who is responsible for setting technology policy across the government and using technology to improve security, ensure transparency, and lower costs,” Obama said.

Chopra appointment was well received by executives and bloggers alike. People believe that Chopra’s dedication and expertise concerning technology will put the U.S. in a positive direction.

Check back with eWhite House Watch for the latest updates about the President’s technology policies.

President Obama must consider many factors as he tries to turn the United States economy around, and this focus necessarily includes his commitment to technology. Obama vows to continue spending stimulus money to boost our economy, some of which will be spent in the IT field. Recently, InformationWeek reported that IT professionals finally feel as if the President understands the importance of technology. With billions already being spent in the IT field, Obama vows to spend more on “health care, education, broadband, [and] mobility.”

Obama is also spending billions of dollars to provide schools with better technology. The money from the stimulus plan is intended to help keep schools up-to-date in the ever changing technology field. Obama expects that teachers, administrators, and students alike would benefit by providing them with the latest of what technology has to offer.

According to The Washington Times, Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, is back on duty. Kundra was placed on a leave of absence from his position following a scandal that involved people he was connected to. The FBI is still conducting a formal investigation of his affiliates. The White House ensured the public that Kundra is not a target of the investigation and allowed him back to work.

Although the situation concerning Kundra has been cleared up, at least for now, it still shed negative publicity towards the Obama Administration. We have seen some of Obama’s candidates for top positions have to withdrawal for various scandals and illegal activities. Obama has referred to the withdrawals of his choices as “embarrassing” for him, as well as, his administration.

Looks like this situation turned out in his favor seeing as Kundra is still on the job. Check back with us to see what will happen next!