Chris Kelley: Gov't IT

Courts IT project 'shocking waste of money'

Thu, 30 Jan 2003 09:57:33 GMT

Case management project in the UK. Verdicy: Late, over-budget, only one-bidder, bad project management...

Open Spectrum FAQ

Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:57:53 GMT

There seems to be no technical reason for the strict regulation of radio spectrum that we currently have. This idea dovetails quite nicely with the StupidNet idea.

Open Source software in Libraries

Fri, 10 Jan 2003 08:11:33 GMT

The Nelsonville, Ohio, Public Library gives us a nice list of success stories using the Koha Project for library automation (catalogue and more).

Municipal websites should offer an RSS feed for employment opportunities

Wed, 08 Jan 2003 21:31:33 GMT

I've been thinking about features a dynamic city website should have, and ran across Jobs as RSS. There is no reason why city/municipal websites can't offer an RSS feed for employment opportunities.

How do we make Linux ready for the desktop?

Tue, 07 Jan 2003 16:28:58 GMT

Read articles such as Linux isn't ready for the desktop yet and seriously consider their suggestions! Perhaps there is a bit too much choice in distro's at the moment - in RedHat 8, you can work in either Gnome or KDE. Hmmmm - which one should I choose? (Gnome is their default environment, and looks really slick. KDE, especially Konquerer, the KDE file browser, seems to be a bit more robust, IMHO.) It is very annoying that XMMS does not play MP3's by default. Trying to play video's is quite a task or trial and error. And Mozilla Mail does not have a spell checker! (But it is very easy to install...) I believe that Linux on the Desktop works. It just needs to be properly implemented. Decide what applications your workgroup needs (word processing? e-mail? presentations? drawing?) and test it out on a workstation before implementing it for everyone else. Have clear goals as to what staff really need to be doing on their pc's during their 8-9 hours in the office. The fact that Linux does not handle *all* types of mpeg video may not be such a big deal. I've been using Red Hat 8 for a couple of months now, but perhaps I should re-visit my perennial favorite, Mandrake. a nice, short review of Mandrake 9.

Issues relating to Linux deployments

Fri, 27 Dec 2002 09:42:05 GMT

While reading the slashdot discussion for Govt move on to let in Linux, I came across a link to the problems faced by the Mexican government's Linux experiment. One of the deal-stoppers for them was limited device support, especially for WinModems, which are mostly dependent on Windows drivers. Device support for Linux is much much better now in 2002 (soon to be 2003) than in 1998, when this Mexican project was started. I think this project was possibly hamstrung (crippled) by the fact that the PC's were not purchased for this Linux deployment - the PC's could have been spec'd easily to conform to Linux device driver availability. Lack of Linux-trained techs was also a big problem.

Open Source in Africa: Mozilla and KOffice Available in Regional Languages

Wed, 18 Dec 2002 16:06:58 GMT

Mozilla in Xhosa, Zulu, Venda, Northern Sotho, Siswati and Tswana; KOffice in Xhosa, Zulu and Venda, partly thanks to the Shuttleworth Foundation.

Wireless in Africa

Tue, 17 Dec 2002 08:25:47 GMT

Perhaps stratospheric balloons could be used in Africa to filll the gaps in fibre coverage?

African tech firm sheds senior staff

Wed, 27 Nov 2002 18:07:54 GMT

Interesting to see what countries in Africa they cover - check out their website. African tech firm sheds senior staff. African Lakes Corporation, which runs internet services across Africa, is trying to move into profit by slimming its executive roster. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]

Hospital Brought Down by Networking Glitch

Wed, 27 Nov 2002 17:14:18 GMT

Fascinating discussion on Slashdot about this network failure at a Boston hospital. Lessons learned: When I think about building redundant systems, I usually don't plan to build a redundant *network*. Something new to consider.

Industry Briefs: Tux Fights Bux for the Soul of India

Thu, 21 Nov 2002 14:37:22 GMT

An interesting comparison between India's growing interest in Linux and Microsoft's growing evangelism in India.

Back from Bamako: Thoughts about NEPAD

Tue, 12 Nov 2002 09:38:13 GMT

The small conference in Bamako was very stimulating, and I am still trying to wrap my head around how we can use IT to fascilitate the growth of the African judiciaries as well as make communications between African governments easier. Since I live in Bulgaia, I have a keen interest in the development of the EU. I wonder if an EU-style union - with guarantees for citizens rights and economic and monetary union will someday take place in Africa? The African Union's NEPAD program seems to be heading in this direction with its peer review mechanism and focus on sustainable development. Would it be possible for the AU to leapfrog the EU and use some truly modern methods of conducting their affairs to avoid building a very large and possibly unweildy governing apparatus?

Fri, 01 Nov 2002 09:52:48 GMT

The Register: Simputer Linux Handheld for Developing World Finds Builder. "India-based PicoPeta Simputer Private Ltd has struck a manufacturing deal for its Simputer mass market computing device, and expects to have the 1,000 first batch to come off the production line next month..."... [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]

Look at the bottom line

Fri, 01 Nov 2002 08:37:56 GMT

This morning's Register article, fortified by Slashdot - Namibia Says "No Thanks" To Microsoft Donation With Strings. The Register posted an update about Namibia's SchoolNet, Microsoft "donations", and what looks like Namibia final decision. Apparently, MS's "donated" ... [Slashdot] - reminds me of the Bulgarian gov't deal with Microsoft:

Microsoft Bulgaria will provide about $1 million to build a national network for the training of 30,000 civil servants in computer skills, managing director Teodor Milev told journalists on Tuesday.

On May 17, State Administration Minister Dimitar Kalchev and the director of Microsoft Bulgaria signed an agreement by which the state administration would receive 30,000 packages of MS Windows XP and MS Office XP software in Bulgarian. The cost of the programme products is $13,650,000 or $455 per package. According to the agreement, Microsoft Bulgaria will cover the training costs.

The Bulgarian government is getting the software for half-price - very nice - but still, there goes $13.6 million dollars out of their economy. And I imagine that the 30,000 seats needed is grossly over-estimated. Many governments in Europe are looking towards Linux - why did Bulgaria, with many good programmers - buck the trend?

Open IT - Govt to rewrite source code in Linux

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 09:49:39 GMT

My colleague Gordon e-mailed me this post, which is from the IndiaTimes. the title of the article is misleading - it's really about the Indian goverment's interest in promoting the use of Linux.

"The Department of Information Technology has already devised a strategy to introduce Linux and open source software as a de-facto standard in academic institutions, especially in engineering colleges through course work that encourages use of such systems."

During my last trip to Belgaum (central India), I visited the local tech college and checked out a nice Linux-based computer lab that used inexpensive black boxes that gave the user GUI sessions that were hosted on a Linux server. The campus had a t-1 connection to the internet.

€250,000 European Commission Linux migration study

Thu, 31 Oct 2002 09:38:24 GMT

In this report on the EC Linux migration study from the Register, "Countries represented included: Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Spain and a representative from the European Commission." Why are they looking at Linux? "Microsoft's recently introduced licensing changes have added weight to this concern but Bleasdale said an even bigger issue was the rate of change that Microsoft is imposing on customers, and many are struggling to deal with it." - Brussels to spend €250k on Linux migration study. Major architectural rethink [The Register]

The accountability matrix

Tue, 29 Oct 2002 17:05:48 GMT

I'm interested in reading the book pointed to in Jon Udells' blog entry. Fighting corruption - and discrimination - by keeping everything open. Transparency. Tools are evolving - like Radio Userland - that make it easier to enforce and observe this kind of openness. A good thing, IMHO.

Secure Linux desktop begins shipping to UK police force

Mon, 21 Oct 2002 09:45:46 GMT

Nice cost savings on this project - "The user-facing part of the system consists of an ultra low cost machine being supplied by the Telford office of Taiwanese company GCI, price £299, including a smart card reader." They are using OpenOffice for desktop applications and VNC for access to legacy Windows applications.

Easy Access to Public Records Online Raises Privacy Questions

Thu, 17 Oct 2002 08:15:32 GMT

This article, which I found on MacInsider, inspired me to create a new blog category called Gov't I.T. to place items that relate to the difficulties governments face when placing information online. This article reminds me of some of the issues we faces when I was webmaster for the City of Austin, Texas. I think governments need to be really careful what information gets out in the public, especially personal ID's such as Social Security numbers. If I were the webmaster of the Hamilton County court's Web site, I'd feel pretty bad if someone used my website to steal someone's identity and to open up seven credit cards and rack up $11,000 debt. Something to follow: "This month, a coalition that includes the National Center for State Courts in Williamsburg, Va., is to recommend guidelines for states drafting online policies."