Nerd-in-Chief: How Obama is Making The Government Geeky

The federal government under President Obama is getting decidedly geeky and techie. The government has adopted a number of Web-based technologies as well as a more modern approach to tech in general:

• it has launched Data.gov as a one-stop shop for all federal data;
• testing authentication using OpenID that could allow greater interactivity for individuals on government sites;
• created a Web portal to be used by federal agencies when buying (or renting) applications; and
• created a Web site that allows citizens to see how tax dollars are spent.

That’s not an exclusive list by any means, but it gives you an idea of the kinds of initiatives undertaken by the Obama-led Feds in an effort to provide the governed with greater transparency into the actions of its elected leaders (and unelected bureaucrats).

Maybe more important than any of those single items is the fact that Obama has created the positions of chief technology officer and chief information officer so that the government begin to achieve the kind of efficiency and transparency characteristic of leading private sector companies.

As the Washington Post’s Philip Rucker noted:

Since entering office, Obama and his advisers have tried to use technology to help streamline bureaucracy and make government programs more consumer-friendly.

The administration is even encouraging the use of so-called cloud computing, which is less expensive to administer than software run in-house, and is often more efficient because the applications can be accessed from any computer.

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