Diogo Vasconcelos

Recently, Diogo Vasconcelos...

• created "The source of America's prosperity has never been merely how ably we accumulate wealth, but how well we educate our people": Obama's remarks on education reform about 1 year ago.

  This morning, on his 50th day in office, President Barack Obama delivered an impressive speech on education reform at the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s 19th Annual Legislative Conference. Here is the transcript in full (thanks to my colleague Richard Halkett). Worth reading. PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you. (Applause.) Si se puede.AUDIENCE: Si se puede! Si se puede! Si se puede!PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you. Thank you so much. Please, everybody have a seat. Thank you for the wonderful in...

• created "Placing power in the hands of those who use our public services": UK's new policy embraces open government about 1 year ago.

    The British Prime-Minister will announce today its vision for the future shape of public services. The policy document Working Together - Public Services On Your Side explains "the steps the Government is taking to give people, communities and frontline staff the information and real power they need to personalise public services. Reflecting their local and individual needs will create a richer, fairer and safer society." "We will put people first by placing power in the hands...

• uploaded a PDF file: Social Media Policy examples about 1 year ago.

  A good colection of Social Media Policy examples, assembled by 123SocialMedia Blog Council - Disclosure Policy Greteman Group (Marketing Agency) IBM Social Computing Guidelines CISCO Internet Postings Policy HP Code of Conduct Intel - Social Media Guidelines Opera Employee Blogging Policies Sun Guidelines on Public Disclosure Harvard Law School - Terms & Policy BBC - Editorial Guidelines, personal use of Social Networking US Navy - Web 2.0 - Utilizing New Web Tools CivilServ...

• edited Online tracking of the stimulus plan: an excellent example about 1 year ago.

      President Obama has announced plans to launch Recovery.gov, a website dedicated to keeping track of all the money the government spends in the stimulus. This is a excellent example of open government: a willingness to share, be accountable and (hopefully) get feed back.  Recovery strategies are too serious to fail - otherwise we will be paying the social and economic costs for many years to come. It's our right, as citizens, to be aware of the content and ...

• edited Online tracking of the stimulus plan: an excellent example about 1 year ago.

      President Obama has announced plans to launch Recovery.gov, a website dedicated to keeping track of all the money the government spends in the stimulus. This is a excellent example of open government: a willingness to share, be accountable and (hopefully) get feed back.  Recovery strategies are too serious to fail - otherwise we will be paying the social and economic costs for many years to come. It's our right, as citizens, to be aware of the content and ...

• created The Art of Public Strategy about 1 year ago.

   I strongly recommend The Art of Public Strategy: Mobilizing Power and Knowledge for the Common Good, Geoff Mulgan's latest book. A must read for all those involved in public policy strategy, from political leaders to government consultants, from academics to journalists. It's very well written: concrete, thoughtful and with useful suggestions. The author is a world-class experimented public sector strategist in the UK and in many other countries. Full of interesting examples, the book...

• edited Online tracking of the stimulus plan: an excellent example about 1 year ago.

      President Obama has announced plans to launch Recovery.gov, a website dedicated to keeping track of all the money the government spends in the stimulus. This is a excellent example of open government: a willingness to share, be accountable and (hopefully) get feed back.  Recovery strategies are too serious to fail - otherwise we will be paying the social and economic costs for many years to come. It's our right, as citizens, to be aware of the content and ...

• edited Online tracking of the stimulus plan: an excellent example about 1 year ago.

      President Obama has announced plans to launch Recovery.gov, a website dedicated to keeping track of all the money the government spends in the stimulus. This is a excellent example of open government: a willingness to share, be accountable and (hopefully) get feed back.  Recovery strategies are too serious to fail - otherwise we will be paying the social and economic costs for many years to come. It's our right, as citizens, to be aware of the content and ...

• created Online tracking of the stimulus plan: an excellent example about 1 year ago.

      President Obama has announced plans to launch Recovery.gov, a website dedicated to keeping track of all the money the government spends in the stimulus. This is a excellent example of open government: a willingness to share, be accountable and (hopefully) get feed back.  Recovery strategies are too serious to fail - otherwise we will be paying the social and economic costs for many years to come. It's our right, as citizens, to be aware of the content and ...

• uploaded a PDF file: UK: provision of universal super-fast broadband could directly create 600,000 new ICT jobs, with £18 billion added to GDP about 1 year ago.

  National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), UK's innovation agency, just released a report on the impact of high speed broadband with some interesting fugures and provocative proposals.   Main conclusions:   Decisive action is needed to attack the developing economic recession.While short-term intervention is needed to cope with its immediate impact, government should also use this opportunity to address the fundamental challenges we face in the next ...

• commented on Mass Citizen Input about 1 year ago.

  Here is another interesting example of online accountability: PolitiFact, a project of the St. Petersburg Times (Tampa, Flo). "Every day, reporters and researchers from the Times examine statements by members of Congress, the president, cabinet secretaries, lobbyists, people who testify before Congress and anyone else who speaks up in Washington. We research their statements and then rate the accuracy on our Truth-O-Meter – True, Mostly True, Half True, Barely True and False. The most ...

• edited Recovery through innovation about 1 year ago.

  "The European stimulus plan is about promoting innovation in all sectors", said President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso on the final session of the workshop on Social Innovation I had the opportunity to participate this week in Brussels (official press release here). On the same day, it was announced that President Obama will create an Office of Social Innovation. This ad hoc meeting, very well organized by the Bureau of European Policy Advisors, gathered 40 social innovator...

• edited Recovery through innovation about 1 year ago.

  "The European stimulus plan is about promoting innovation in all sectors", said President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso on the final session of the workshop on Social Innovation I had the opportunity to participate this week in Brussels (official press release here). On the same day, it was announced that President Obama will create an Office of Social Innovation. This ad hoc meeting, very well organized by the Bureau of European Policy Advisors, gathered 40 social innovator...

• edited Recovery through innovation about 1 year ago.

  "The European stimulus plan is about promoting innovation in all sectors", said President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso on the final session of the workshop on Social Innovation I had the opportunity to participate this week in Brussels (official press release here). On the same day, it was announced that President Obama will create an Office of Social Innovation. This ad hoc meeting, very well organized by the Bureau of European Policy Advisors, gathered 40 social innovator...

• edited Recovery through innovation about 1 year ago.

  "The European stimulus plan is about promoting innovation in all sectors", said President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso on the final session of the workshop on Social Innovation I had the opportunity to participate this week in Brussels (official press release here). On the same day, it was announced that President Obama will create an Office of Social Innovation. This ad hoc meeting, very well organized by the Bureau of European Policy Advisors, gathered 40 social innovator...

• edited Recovery through innovation about 1 year ago.

  "The European stimulus plan is about promoting innovation in all sectors", said President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso on the final session of the workshop on Social Innovation I had the opportunity to participate this week in Brussels (official press release here). On the same day, it was announced that President Obama will create an Office of Social Innovation. This ad hoc meeting, very well organized by the Bureau of European Policy Advisors, gathered 40 social innovator...

• edited Recovery through innovation about 1 year ago.

  "The European stimulus plan is about promoting innovation in all sectors", said President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso on the final session of the workshop on Social Innovation I had the opportunity to participate this week in Brussels (official press release here). On the same day, it was announced that President Obama will create an Office of Social Innovation. This ad hoc meeting, very well organized by the Bureau of European Policy Advisors, gathered 40 social innovator...

• edited Recovery through innovation about 1 year ago.

  "The European stimulus plan is about promoting innovation in all sectors", said President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso on the final session of the workshop on Social Innovation I had the opportunity to participate this week in Brussels (official press release here). On the same day, it was announced that President Obama will create an Office of Social Innovation. This ad hoc meeting, very well organized by the Bureau of European Policy Advisors, gathered 40 social innovator...

• edited Recovery through innovation about 1 year ago.

  "The European stimulus plan is about promoting innovation in all sectors", said President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso on the final session of the workshop on Social Innovation I had the opportunity to participate this week in Brussels (official press release here). On the same day, it was announced that President Obama will create an Office of Social Innovation. This ad hoc meeting, very well organized by the Bureau of European Policy Advisors, gathered 40 social innovator...

• created Recovery through innovation about 1 year ago.

  "The European stimulus plan is about promoting innovation in all sectors", said President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso on the final session of the workshop on Social Innovation I had the opportunity to participate this week in Brussels (official press release here). On the same day, it was announced that President Obama will create an Office of Social Innovation. This ad hoc meeting, very well organized by the Bureau of European Policy Advisors, gathered 40 social innovator...

• commented on Mass Citizen Input about 1 year ago.

  Two interesting websites were launch today, both with potential to reinforce citizen's engagement: the first is Who Runs Government and is a Washington Post initiative. It offers a look at the world of Washington through its key players and personalities, from the White House to the Congress, from the Federal Agencies to the Military. "Our goal is to become the web destination for business, opinion and political leaders – as well as students, educators and engaged citizens - lookin...

• edited Obama should embrace social media to create a more effective and transparent government about 1 year ago.

  Yesterday, the Federal Web Managers Council  (FWMC) of US Government published a report on "Social Media and the Federal Government: Perceived and Real Barriers and Potential Solutions." (PDF) . The paper adresses the perceived and real barriers to using social media and recommend potential solutions. Cultural issues, lack of a strategy for using these new tools, employee access to online tool, advertising, procurement, privacy, acess for people with disabilit...

• created Obama should embrace social media to create a more effective and transparent government about 1 year ago.

  Yesterday, the Federal Web Managers Council  (FWMC) of US Government published a report on "Social Media and the Federal Government: Perceived and Real Barriers and Potential Solutions." (PDF) . The paper adresses the perceived and real barriers to using social media and recommend potential solutions. Cultural issues, lack of a strategy for using these new tools, employee access to online tool, advertising, procurement, privacy, acess for people with disabilit...

• created Harvesting human feelings from blogs about 1 year ago.

  We Feel Fine uses large scale blog analysis to provide a glimpse inside the hearts and minds of people all around the world. Once a sentence containing ‘I feel’ or ‘I am feeling’ is found, the system looks backward to the beginning of the sentence, and forward to the end of the sentence, and then saves the full sentence in a database. Once saved, the sentence is scanned to see if it includes one of about 5,000 pre-identified ‘feelings’. We Feel Fine is divi...

• edited Open Government about 1 year ago.

  Yesterday, the Obama team has modified the copyright notice on change.gov to embrace the intellectual property licensing of Creative Communs, allowing bloggers and others to freely use it. A group of internet visionaries, lead by Lawrence Lessig, launched today a letter making the case for a looser online copyright regime. The group includes authors like Tim O’Reilly (who coined the term Web 2.0) and Clay Shirky (“Here comes everybody”) and the leaders or officials of Mozil...

• created Open Government about 1 year ago.

  Yesterday, the Obama team has modified the copyright notice on change.gov to embrace the intellectual property licensing of Creative Communs, allowing bloggers and others to freely use it. A group of internet visionaries, lead by Lawrence Lessig, launched today a letter making the case for a looser online copyright regime. The group includes authors like Tim O’Reilly (who coined the term Web 2.0) and Clay Shirky (“Here comes everybody”) and the leaders or officials of Mozil...

• commented on Mumbai hostage network about 1 year ago.

  Thanksgiving Text Messages from Captives at Taj Provided More Reasons to Give Thanks "Our experience Thursday demonstrated once again how dramatically technology has forced us all into the same neighborhood. As we sat around our Thanksgiving table -- and our warm fireplace in Evanston, Illinois -- we were in frequent contact throughout the evening with people who feared for their lives in a dark hotel room on the other side of the World. At the same time very surreal and very immediate."

• created "Why I Love Twitter" by Tim O'Reilly about 1 year ago.

  Why I Love Twitter by Tim O'Reilly If you care what I think, you know that Twitter is just about the best way to learn what I'm paying attention to. I pass along tidbits of O'Reilly news, interesting reading from mailing lists and blogs I follow, and of course, tidbits from the twitterers I'm following. These are all the things I could never find time to put on my blog, but that I spray via email like a firehose at editors, conference planners, and researchers within O'Reilly. A lot of my j...

• commented on TwitterGov: many tools available about 1 year ago.

  Here are 2 interesting public sector Twitters, suggested by @pauloquerido http://twitter.com/smithsonian http://twitter.com/downingstreet

• created TwitterGov: many tools available about 1 year ago.

  Twitter is the new fast growing web 2.0 global phenomenon. It became a top 1,000 site that reaches over 1.9 million U.S. monthly people. The site attracts a more educated, slightly more female than male, young adult audience. On his blog, Brian Solls, a Siicon Valley PR guru writes : “The social fibers that weave together this unique micromedia network is strengthened by the expertise, respect, trust, admiration, and commonalities. These fabrics bind the people who breathe life and per...

• edited Build your own timeline about 1 year ago.

  One of the great things I like in some magazines is their ability to craft beautiful and interesting timeline tables. The tables of historical events and theirs correlations allow everyone to have a visual and immediate understanding of current affairs and history.I just came across two fascinating start-ups that launched web 2.0 timeline tools. Using either http://www.xtimeline.com or http://www.allofme.com you have many ways to creatively use the timeline. You can start to create the Person...

• created Build your own timeline about 1 year ago.

  One of the great things I like in some magazines is their ability to craft beautiful and interesting timeline tables. The tables of historical events and theirs correlations allow everyone to have a visual and immediate understanding of current affairs and history.I just came across two fascinating start-ups that launched web 2.0 timeline tools. Using either http://www.xtimeline.com or http://www.allofme.com you have many ways to creatively use the timeline. You can start to create the Person...

• created The bees and the trees: Geoff Mulgan’s ten thesis on social innovation over 2 years ago.

  The opening panel I chaired at the Social Innovation International Congress had an excellent trio of speakers: Geoff Mulgan, Peter Armstrong and Richard Wilson. Geoff needs no presentation, since he is the world's thought leader on social innovation. He was the founder of Demos, was former Director of Tony Blair’s policy unit and is now Director of Young Foundation, an inspiring London-based institution. Peter is the co-founder of Oneworld, a cutting edge in harnessing media technology to ben...

• created Virtual Bali - a window on the UN Climate Negotiations for People Worldwide over 2 years ago.

  One example was OneWorld’s social innovation initiatives is Virtual Bali. With a live video feed from the summit, this Second Life place enrolled hundreds of participants and allowed huge savings on carbon. See how OneWorld’sVirtual Bali created a window on the UN Climate Negotiations for people worldwide. Read Peter's comments on this innovative experience here  Virtual Bali has received hundreds of mentions on the web - everything from articles in mainstream US and UK newspapers, to blog...

• created OneWorld: web 2.0 to promote sustainability over 2 years ago.

  I was delighted to meet Peter Amstrong and his lovely wife Anuradha on the Social Innovation Congress. They are two amazing examples of social entrepreneurs. Peter and Anuradha are the founders of OneWorld, a cutting edge in harnessing media technology to benefit people who need it most. Peter was a vibrant speaker on the panel I chaired. He explained how OneWorld leverages media innovatively for a fair and sustainable world. If you want to read what people around the world say about their ...

• created Social innovation to promote active ageing over 2 years ago.

  Last week, I had the opportunity to moderate the opening session of the “Next Rev – The Social Innovation International Congress”, in Lisbon. Organized by the Portuguese NGO Tese and by Young Foundation, with Cisco support, the two days of the excellent congress gathered nearly 300 participants, including an impressive international group of social innovators.  Professor Anibal Cavaco Silva, the President of the Portuguese Republic, participated in the conference, which focused on the appli...