January 20, 2024

Selected links to items focusing on government operations posted on the Internet during the week ending January 19, 2024

20 Questions Essential to Better Serve Students  Measure how students are progressing from early education through career—and using the answers to guide action. View Questions

 

3 Habits for Continued Career Growth in the Age of AI  An innovation mindset and openness to trying new things are key as state and local gov tech professionals look to continue growing their careers amid ever-advancing technologies. READ MORE

 

A Policy Primer for the 2024 Legislative Session In a discussion about the near future, the writers and editors at Governing walk through the legislative issues to keep an eye on this year. Technology, budget and transportation top the list. READ MORE

 

A Third of Parents Still Concerned About Pandemic Learning Loss A report found that one-third of parents are concerned about the COVID-19 shutdown’s long-term impact on their child’s education, both academically and socially. READ MORE

 

Adapting Procurement Strategies for Modern Government

 

Are Tech Layoffs Also Affecting People in Sacramento? 

 

Biased AI’s Challenges for Government Leaders  Artificial intelligence platforms have flaws with serious class, gender and race implications. Public officials need to pay more attention to those biases and do what they can to prevent harm. READ MORE

 

Boost Email Security with AI

 

Can Chatbots Transform the Unemployment Claim Experience? A glimpse into the future of claims handling as Wisconsin works to apply generative AI to a UI chatbot to provide customers with a more responsive experience. Meanwhile, Nevada plans to use a chatbot to help understand equity challenges and increase application accuracy. READ MORE

 

Cross-Agency Planning Key to Cybersecurity in San Francisco CISO Michael Makstman explains what it takes to secure San Francisco, how the city is approaching generative AI and the importance of sharing information in the Coalition of City CISOs. READ MORE

 

Dallas Cyber Attack More Extensive Than First Thought Hackers who targeted the city of Dallas had access to the addresses, Social Security numbers and other personal information of nearly 300 more people than what had been previously disclosed to the public, officials now say. READ MORE

 

Disaster Zone Podcast: Regulating Artificial Intelligence Regulation is needed for the AI industry. READ MORE

 

How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Gymnastics Judging Proponents believe that artificial intelligence can eliminate biases in gymnastics judging, making the sport both more fair and more transparent for viewers and for the gymnasts themselves. READ MORE

 

How to Process Government Documents Smarter and Faster Discovering, organizing, and managing information across various documents is pivotal to state and local government work. To enhance efficiency and accuracy, agencies should consider the benefits of intelligent document processing (IDP). DOWNLOAD PDF

 

Illinois CISO Departs for New Job in the Private Sector NASCIO award winner Adam Ford has started a position in cloud security months after being recognized for his accomplishments in cybersecurity in Illinois. He worked for the state for more than two decades. READ MORE

 

IMF: Artificial Intelligence Could Impact 40 Percent of Jobs The world is at an AI crossroads that could either greatly benefit humankind or deepen inequality, depending on how we use it, the International Monetary Fund said in an analysis released Sunday. READ MORE

 

Inside Massachusetts' Proposed State IT Funding Plan The bill as currently written would maintain funding for tech modernization and single sign-on projects while also putting aside money for potential AI work in the future. READ MORE

 

Many States Have Data Privacy Laws. Where Is the Federal Law?

 

Marketplace: Gov Tech Firms Bring Expertise to Public Agencies The companies serving the gov tech market offer tools tailored for the public sector's unique needs. From justice and public safety to health and human services, these are some of the areas seeing major growth. READ MORE

 

Maryland Focuses on Modernization, Accessibility and Cyber CIO Katie Savage explains how the state is taking a more holistic, collaborative approach to updating legacy systems, maturing its cyber team and establishing user-friendly design processes. READ MORE

 

Meta’s Online Teen Safety Solution Draws Criticisms

 

New York Prepares Another Push to Promote Housing READ MORE

 

Nonprofit Aims to Help Govt Consider Risks of Generative AI CivAI is creating a toolkit that will help state and local government leaders address the risks as they start using the rapidly evolving technology for more use cases. READ MORE

 

NYC Transit Tech Lab Opens New Round of Challenge Applications Curb management is one of the latest areas the New York City Transit Tech Lab wants to explore as it opens its new call for applications to enter the lab’s sixth challenge event urging early growth stage companies to apply. READ MORE

 

Pennsylvania Detectives May Join Cyber Fraud Task Force North Huntingdon is expected to consider an agreement with the Secret Service that would allow its detectives to join the federal agency's cyber fraud task force and be trained to fight financially motivated cyber crime. READ MORE

 

Phishing, Disinformation Top 2024 Election Security Concerns A new study finds those areas are high on the list of election-related cybersecurity concerns, but public awareness campaigns, training for staff, tabletop exercises and free security tools can all help. READ MORE

 

Police Tech Firm Wrap Is Betting Big on Non-Lethal Weapons The gov tech firm has announced its highest sales ever for its BolaWrap product. It’s part of a larger trend among agencies and their tech providers to respond to changing police practices and citizen expectations. READ MORE

 

Protect Critical Infrastructure with Asset Management

 

Public Pensions Should Invest More in Talent. Here’s Where to Start. To compete for winning investment performance in capital markets, the plans need to build stronger internal bench depth. Compensation is part of the picture, but they also need to beef up their training camps. READ MORE

 

Schenectady, N.Y., Releases Tax Bills After Tech Snafu

 

Special: Securing America's Digital Infrastructure A round up industry best practices on topics such as security, threats, and privacy. See how companies are helping state and local agencies tackle and prepare for all things cybersecurity. NEWS, CONVERSATIONS AND RESOURCES

 

The Hidden Downsides of City-County Mergers Merging cities with their suburbs is sometimes seen as inspired urbanism. But it doesn’t always benefit everyone.  READ MORE