Change we can believe in

Mike Bradshaw, Director of Google Federal, testified on to the benefits of cloud computing at a recent House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on federal IT.

According to Google, the primary benefits of cloud computing for government can be summed up as:

• Improving Security - Under legacy computing models, data is stored on local computers – this is the equivalent of keeping cash under your mattress. Storing data securely in the cloud is like keeping cash in a bank.
• Saving Money - Research has  found that government agencies that switched to some form of cloud computing saw up to 50 percent savings. To put that in context, the federal government is currently spending $76 billion per year on IT, with $20 billion of that devoted to hardware, software and file servers.
• Improving efficiency and collaboration - Federal employees can collaborate more easily and effectively because information and applications run in a shared, secure space online, making it easy for people to work together on documents. Millions of individuals, businesses, and governments are already enjoying these benefits.

Bradshaw outlined how many departments are already involved in cloud computing pilots and initiatives, and outlined how these could result in greater innovation and cost savings:

Though the federal government is adopting at a slower rate compared to industry, we are beginning to see government cloud initiatives and pilot programs. The public sector is already adopting cloud at all levels of government to better serve citizens, reduce costs, lower energy consumption and make more effective use of taxpayer dollars overall. Federal entities currently using the cloud include the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Department of the Interior, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Social Security Administration, the Security and Exchange Commission, and the General Services Administration.

Simply put, cloud computing is already here and being used every day by individuals, business, and government. But we believe that the federal government could move more quickly, and by doing so it could reap benefits similar to those enjoyed by the private sector. The opportunity to switch to the cloud means that the approximately $80 billion per year market for federal government IT will see more innovation and competition – along with cost and energy savings, which are critical in today’s environment.

See full details of his testimony below:

Testimony Bradshaw

For more on cloud computing in government, check GovFresh's Top 7 'Minds in the Cloud' videos.

(Via Google Public Policy Blog)

Early last month, Google brought together experts, advocates and bloggers for a thoughtful - and timely - discussion of democracy online.

The panelists discussed how new technology is being used by opponents of repressive regimes and how this freedom of expression has the potential to bring about great democratic changes. Others, however, outlined a less optimistic future, noting that governments are manipulating Internet activists and that the activity amounts to little more than taking offline techniques and moving them online.

The debate sought to answer the questions:

• Is the Internet stoking democratic change or is its impact hyped?
• Are repressive regimes conditioning people not to expect free expression on the Internet?
• Is online organizing little more than a game of Whac-a-Mole with one form of repression being replaced by another?
• What are the implications for political organizing of the recent discovery that the email accounts of dozens of Chinese human rights advocates appear to have been hacked?

Moderator: Pablo Chavez, Managing Policy Counsel

Panelists: Larry Diamond, Professor & Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University Daniel Calingaert, Deputy Director of Programs, Freedom House Omid Memarian, Iranian Dissident Blogger

For more on the debate check out Google's Public Policy blog.

Google has finally whittled down the more than 150,000 ideas submitted as part of its Project 10^100 to 16 themes that will compete for $10 million in funding.

Project 10¹⁰⁰ is a call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible. Over 150,000 ideas have already been submitted and anyone can now vote for the finalists at http://www.project10tothe100.com. 16 themes have been identified to categorise the ideas:

1. Promote health monitoring and data analysis
2. Enhance science and engineering education
3. Create real-world issue reporting system
4. Create genocide monitoring and alert system
5. Help social entrepreneurs drive change
6. Make government more transparent
7. Provide quality education to African students
8. Create real-time natural crisis tracking system
9. Work toward socially conscious tax policies
10. Build better banking tools for everyone
11. Collect and organize the world's urban data
12. Encourage positive media depictions of engineers and scientists
13. Build real-time, user-reported news service
14. Drive innovation in public transport
15. Make educational content available online for free
16. Create more efficient landmine removal programs

These themes will compete for $10 million in funding. Voting ends on October 8 so head over to the site and vote for your favourite theme.

Me, I voted to Make government more transparent.