Top 5 Gov Tech Blogs

GWW Opinion

February 27, 2018

Modernization

As a companion to our list of Top 5 Gov Tech News Sources, we’ve compiled a top 5 list of the best gov tech blogs. We categorize these as blogs rather than news outlets because the articles focus on issues that are directly or indirectly pertinent to the organizations that produce them. The following blogs keep up-to-date on topics involving online government services, and more.

1) GovLoop

URL: govloop.com/category/tech/
Founded: 2008
Location: Washington, DC

GovLoop’s mission is to act “as the knowledge network for government.” A go-to online resource for a community of more than 250,000 government leaders, it covers topics from human resources issues to technology advice. As well as blog articles, resources include research guides, online trainings, and forums. GovLoop also partners with technology and media partners to promote successful innovation in the public sector.

Highlights:

Resources section with white papers such as How Government Can Thrive in a Digital Economy
Academy section with courses including The Roadmap to IT Modernization

2) NASCIO

URL: community.nascio.org/browse/blogs/recentblogs
Founded: 1969
Location: Lexington, Kentucky

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) strives to “foster government excellence through quality business practices, information management, and technology policy.” Its focus is helping government to better serve the public through technology policy and business innovation.

As a nonprofit, its members include state CIOs and information technology executives and managers. The Corporate Leadership Council is open to private-sector firms who are non-partisan and promote open standards and best practices to support state CIOs in their work as technology innovators.

Highlights:

3) Code for America

URL: medium.com/code-for-america
Founded: 2009
Location: San Francisco, CA

Code for America’s goal is to provide “government services that are simple, effective, and easy to use for everyone.” They work with government agencies to develop the technologies needed to solve community problems. Described in the media as the Peace Corps of government technology, the non profit organization can be enlisted by agencies to implement open-source apps and training to help citizens access online services.

Highlights:

Design Should be a Public Good
Process vs. Product: Civic innovation beyond open data and civic apps

4) DigitalGov

URL: digitalgov.gov
Founded: 2010
Location: Washington, DC

With a mission “to transform how government learns, builds, delivers, and measures digital services in the 21st century,” DigitalGov provides tools and policy guidance to help government deliver accessible digital services.

Working under the Office of Products and Programs in the Technology Transformation Service of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), its writers, technologists, and designers all work in government and aim to share best practices with other agencies around the country. DigitalGov offers a wealth of information about accessibility and plain language for coding and design from the U.S. Web Design Standards team.

Highlights:

5) 18F

URL: 18f.gsa.gov/blog/
Founded: 2014
Location: Washington, DC

18F (short for their address at 1800 F Street) is also part of the GSA. Its purpose is to “collaborate with other agencies to fix technical problems, build products, and improve how government serves the public through technology.” Under Technology Transformation Services (TTS), 18F works within the Federal Acquisition Service to partner with agencies to deliver digital solutions.

The team of about 200 designers, software engineers, strategists, and product managers are all federal employees. However, they don’t receive appropriated funds from Congress so charge partner agencies for their work through Intra-Governmental Payment and Collection.

Highlights: