In 2009, President Obama issued a Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government.  That memorandum has been followed by additional memorandums and Executive Orders resulting in the Open Government Initiative.  As a result of this initiative, governments (both federal and local) are releasing data feeds, which have enabled the creation and use of new applications, from real-time accurate traffic information to localized crime reporting. While the Initiative is presented as “an unqualified good” there are some questions about the impact on citizens.  As such, the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology and Microsoft have issued an RFP to further explore the technical, legal, and regulatory implications of Open Data.  From the solicitation: The […]

July 31, 2014 marks Farnam Jahanian’s final day as Assistant Director for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) at the National Science Foundation (NSF). In this position, which he has held since February 1, 2011, Farnam has been a indefatigable champion for the computer science research community.  He led the launch of three Presidential Initiatives: the National Robotics Initiative, the Big Data Research and Development Initiative, and US Ignite.  He led the Directorate through the creation of 25 new solicitations, many of which were cross-directorate, and he spearheaded the expansion of interagency and international collaborations: Smart and Connected Health with NIH; Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience with NIH, Israel, France and […]