Prolific

Prolific Online Protection is AVG PrivacyFix (For Promotional Purposes)

noreply@blogger.com (Nolan Pickens) — Thu, 22 May 2014 19:36:00 +0000

And while you’re at it, check out the following TED Talks below by Gary Kovacs & Keren Elazari:

“Tracking Online Trackers”

Gary Kovacs

"Hackers: the Internet's Immune System"

Keren Elazari

http://www.slideshare.net/noland57/avg-privacy-fix-assignment-ss

Prolific Government is Open Government

noreply@blogger.com (Nolan Pickens) — Fri, 16 May 2014 14:17:00 +0000

In reading “Social Media In the Public Sector” by Ines Mergel and Bill Greeves, I could not help but reflect on those vital points found in the literature of the research detail that I uncovered for the Department of Homeland Security; or more specifically, their open government initiative in general— and FEMA’s online engagement strategies in particular. Since much of what was mentioned in the book literally hit on FEMA’s strategic imperative to engage the public, and capitalize on opportunities that provide more efficient, effective and responsive government, which is not to mention their unwavering commitment to be accountable, open, and transparent in delivering traditional or digital public services. In fact, it has been mission-critical services of this type that has greatly impacted their role in managing the inordinate amounts of demands and responsibilities associated with emergency management including, but not limited to:

As for a National Security Strategy, it has been open government and online engagement that has fostered FEMA’s initiative to take a “Whole Community Approach”, which has helped them achieve the following strategic imperatives:

While their Core Values and Guiding Principles serve to undergird it all. Plus it encompasses:

Still, it did not happen overnight. FEMA’s approach and strategic imperatives evolved over time. They had to adjust and readjust their focus and priorities in order to effectively and efficiently “connect government to improve government.” By widening their communication pathways via Social Media, they were able to drive-up transparency, participation and collaboration, which in effect aided in the process of establishing accountability, as well as a “knowledge network” and other relevant ideals including, but not limited to:

A most powerful quote by John Adams reads, “Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right and a desire to know.” Even in harking back, this quote is so very powerful and reflects those principles embodied in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). It captures the true essence of open government less the nuances of this new digital age, which in part includes Social Media Networks, where virtual communities participate, collaborate and actively engage. And where, FEMA’s future success awaits, as they turn the page to the next chapter of digital public service delivery requiring a full embrace of the “knowledge network”, which is comprised of various social media tools being used as vehicles to add value to the governance process including:

Undoubtedly, these vehicles of new media bring tremendous VALUE of information sharing and openness to FEMA’s 2014 Strategic Plan. As promulgated on their website at www.fema.gov, it has in fact widened their communication channels, as well as fostered greater community engagement and unity of effort and purpose among all members of the emergency management team. To that end, it has contributed to their capacity building initiative(s) and overall governance model, which in the grand scheme of things lead to more sustainable democratic development.

This increase in open government dialogue with the people strengthens our democracy. It promotes transparency, participation, and collaboration, thereby making government more efficient, effective and responsive. Plus the “cloak of secrecy” is lifted and government becomes “cool” again. Through open government and online engagement or what has otherwise been called web democratization, the government becomes more answerable to the people via social media on one hand. While the people on the other hand become more trustful of the government via social interactivity. This public trust in the government then lends itself to public confidence in politicians, political institutions and political systems further contributing to the national priorities of the country— whatever they may be at the time.

In particular, the increase in open government dialogue via social media makes carrying out the day-to-day mission, vision and goals of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) more manageable. It creates a multi-directional exchange of information and communication [system] that functions to “tap citizen’s expertise”. An online greet (if you will) created to expeditiously meet the expectations of the nations citizens being governed, and that exist for the governed, while co-opting the governed (in that same vein) to actively participate in the governance process. Open innovation that empowers citizens, fights corruption, and harnesses new technologies to strengthen government in general.

Additionally, the business of Emergency Management requires deep consideration of many factors including increased empowerment of individuals due to technological innovation; the evolving security environment; dramatic demographic shifts; and changes in the man-made and natural environments. This is why open government dialogue via Social Media is so very significant, particularly in ascertaining the facts in real-time through spontaneous reporting— a leading practice that FEMA has officially adopted to solve problems using a vast ecosystem of applications. Those mobile applications of late that allow for instant messaging to include images and video’s that can be posted to their website at www.fema.gov— anytime, anywhere. These are the very same applications they use to capitalize on opportunities that provide more efficient, effective and responsive government in their unwavering commitment to be accountable, open, and transparent in delivering both traditional or digital public services.

Prolific Social Media & Citizen Engagement

noreply@blogger.com (Nolan Pickens) — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 16:41:00 +0000

The name of the social network Twitter was originally “Twttr”.
It took 3 years, 2 months and 1 day to get to the billionth tweet.
Today it takes one week or less for users to send a billion tweets.
10 tweets per second mentioned Starbucks.
The average Twitter user once tweeted 307 times.
Barack Obama’s victory tweet was retweeted over 800K times .
The 2012 election broke records—31.7 million political tweets.
32% of all Internet users were using Twitter.
69% of follows on Twitter were suggested by friends.
In 2012, almost 1 million accounts were added to Twitter.
USA’s 141.8 million accounts represented 27.4% of all Twitter.
50% of Twitter users were using the social network via mobile.
2012 brought an 800% increase in top TV show tweets.
The London Olympics generated 150 million tweets in 16 days.
Super Bowl 2012 had 13.7 million football-related tweets.
Religious leaders expected one retweet for every 500 followers.
Musicians expected one retweet for every 30,000 followers.
64% of consumers purchases are based on social content.
91% of 18-34 year old's using social media talked about brands.
60% of U.S. smartphone owners visited social networking sites.
46% of U.S. social media users accessed Twitter via cell phones.
31% of smartphone Internet time was spent social networking.
Infographics added to Stumbleupon generating 746% more pageviews than other kinds of content.
181,354 people on Twitter used the term “social media”.
Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Barack Obama and Lady Gaga have more Twitter followers combined than the entire populations of Germany, Turkey, South Africa, Canada, Argentina and Egypt.
Saudi Arabia ranked #1, as the fastest-growing Twitter nation in the world with a 300% year-on-year growth rate, and more than 3 million active Twitter users.
16% of U.S. Internet users were on Twitter.
The average Twitter user had 126 followers.
The average business had 14,709 Twitter followers.
More devices are connected to the Internet than there are people on the planet.
The “Castle in the Sky” TV screening generated 25,088 tweets per second—the most ever.
YouTube on Twitter has 40.1 million followers.
60% of Twitter users were female.
Twitter users once spent 21 minutes monthly on Twitter.
92% of retweets were based on interesting content.
Between 2008 and 2011, there was a 5,000% increase in the number of employees at Twitter.
The official Twitter account for Sweden was once run by a different citizen every week.
McDonalds employed 10 people to run their Twitter account.
@RealTimeWWII, a Twitter account created by Oxford history graduate Alwyn Collinson, narrates World War II on Twitter in real time; all the tweets are manually written with no script.
Infographics shared on Twitter once got 832% more retweets than images and articles.
Twitter is available in more than 25 languages.
Beginning of 2014, Twitter had more than 240 million users.
There were more than 500 million tweets per day in Jan 2014.
Twitter is now worth more than $11 billion.
16% of customers used Twitter to interact with businesses.
75%, or three out of four, heads of state utilized Twitter.
The Library of Congress acquired the entire Twitter archive.

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H Check out Del Harvey in this Ted Talk, where she discusses her role as the head of Twitter's Trust & Safety Team, and how she keeps 240 million users safe.

Reference: https://www.mediabistro.com/

Prolific Digital Media Strategies

noreply@blogger.com (Nolan Pickens) — Wed, 19 Mar 2014 15:26:00 +0000

Click the Link below for Video Footage of Slideshow Presentation:

The Administration & Finance and_Information Technology Division

" Asking government to articulate what success looks like and be accountable for results, is something that every citizen should expect." —Governor Deval Patrick of Boston, MA

A- MASSPIRG Transparency Rating
Women make-up 51.1% of Executive Branch Employees
5.7% of Eligible GIC Enrollee's Participating in WellMASS
AA+ Standard & Poor’s Bond Rating
197 Cities and Towns participating in CIC Grant Prog.
87 Communities used Muni Healthcare Reform
1,016 A&F Twitter Followers
523,297 Open Checkbook
Stabilization Fund Balance is 7.04% of Annual Tax Rev.
8 Secretariat Strategic Plans Published in Jan'13
14 A&F Agency Strategic Plans Published in Feb ‘13
$216M saved since '11 using Muni Healthcare Reform
$36M Invested in "Self-financing" Capital Projects
B MA Digital States Survey Rating
86% select A&F Agency for Excellent Customer Service
Minorities make-up 25.2% of Executive Branch
Aa1 Moody's Bond Rating
247, 159 Members Enrolled in the Health Connector
17 Administration-proposed Reforms Implemented
9,040,019 A&F Website Unique Page Views
5.2% of Commonwealth Subscribe to Wellness Init.
96% of Federal Grants Awarded
3^rd Largest Reserve Account in the Nation FY13
-9.3% per Capita CommCare Spending growth Rate
$1.56B in Rainy Day Fund

noreply@blogger.com (Nolan Pickens) — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 02:50:00 +0000

“Rating Agencies rate everything and ratings affect all of us"

—Annette Heuser

Taking On the Big Three Credit Rating Agencies

Prolific Inspectors Rating Scale in Points

"AAA" for 0 - 13 | "BBB" for 14 - 27 | "CCC" for 28 or more

A triple-A rating go out to Senator Al Franken (Democrat of Minnesota) for pursuing tighter rules that would institute more stringent control over the Big Three Credit Rating Agencies ("Big Three"). His unwavering determination and effort spurred on the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) to officially conduct a feasibility study concerning the potential launch of a public utility company that would oversee Standard & Poor (S&P), Moody’s and the Fitch Group. The implementation of these new rules and tighter control measures coming by way of oversight would promote greater investor protection through education and transparency while staving off or even preventing conflicts of interest.

Rating Description: Prime
Grade Points: 10

A triple-C rating go out to the government for failing the American public. They allowed the Big Three to exist and operate, as an oligopoly for many years past, and thus hold a global market share of 95% of the credit rating business— a form of imperfect competition that grants them considerable leverage to collectively wield immense power over other market players. But power corrupts and absolute power of this magnitude has the potential to corrupt absolutely. It can be catastrophic to the financial growth of the country, and has already resulted in a conflict of interest, as well as little-to-no transparency in the Big Three's past dealings.

Rating Description: Substantial Risk
Grade Points: 42

A triple-A rating go out to Bethany Mclean and Joe Nocera for authoring a powerful book entitled, “All the Devils Are Here, the Hidden History of the Financial Crisis,” where they shed light on the fact that an “erosion of standards, a willful suspension of skepticism, a hunger for big fees and market share, and an inability to stand up to investment banks issuing the securities” was the root cause of the financial crisis (p.111). Especially since, the Big Three Credit Rating Agencies continued to issue triple-A ratings on sub-prime loans that were packaged into mortgage-backed securities, which ultimately defaulted giving way to the bursting of the housing bubble.

Rating Description: High Grade
Grade Points: 13

A triple-C rating go out to the Big Three Credit Rating Agencies for having a hand in on the U.S. housing market crash and financial crisis of 2007- 2010; or worse still, being considered “key enablers of the financial meltdown” by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC), which was a 10 member commission appointed by the President to examine the root cause of the financial and economic crisis here in the United States and abroad.

Rating Description: Low Medium
Grade Points: 37

A triple-A rating go out to Annette Heuser, the Executive Director of the German Bertelsmann Foundation for conducting a TED talk and dishing criticism out about the Big Three and their ill-conceived ways of rating the national economies. But more important than that is her vision for launching a prolific International Nonprofit Credit Rating Agency (INCRA). One that serves the public good and shifts the balance of power away from the Big Three. By adding a new nonprofit player into the mix, it would not only increase competition and transparency while creating a more inclusive financial credit rating system, it would indelibly change the game, and thus provide better overall quality and services to the public-at-large. See the TED Talk below.

Rating Description: Prime
Grade Points: 5

TED Talk featuring Annette Heuser

The 3 Agencies with Power to Make or Break Economies

Also See: Franken Pursues Tighter Rules for Rating Agencies

Prolific Financial Times in the Mobile Age

noreply@blogger.com (Nolan Pickens) — Fri, 28 Feb 2014 15:04:00 +0000

“Money is the root (or the Cause) of all evil”

—Author Unknown

Everyone uses money, wants money, and need money in order to live, thrive and survive. Many articles, books, and novels have been written on money along with a whole slew of theories that have been formulated about money— some legitimate and some misleading. Money is a uniform phenomenon and a subject matter of considerable gravity, especially since it is the life-blood that sustains almost everything from the price system economies and world markets to the institutions that drive them.

Money for that matter is an institution in and of itself. Or more specifically, it is a well-devised medium of exchange or unit of account that serves as a fundamental part of culture and a useful expedient for the trade of goods and services. This is powerful. And money is power. But power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely, which is why money is considered the root (or the Cause) of all evil.

Also, this is the mobile age of digital ubiquity. It has changed the direction of money. To the extent that, it is becoming more and more prevalent that the advent of the mobile device and now mobile money is eliminating the need for credit cards & cash money to transact business, albeit a major security implication associated with it.

People far and near are using the Internet and their mobile devices to “transfer money, purchase goods, and engage in other types of financial transactions everyday (Pew Research Internet Project).” No longer are the days of strictly hand-to-hand [money] exchanges using cash or credit cards tucked away neatly in one’s wallet sleeve or pants pocket.

Today, there are digital [money] exchanges and virtual wallets via mobile phones serving people, as a useful expedient for the trade of goods and services. They are being used as an “all-in-one payment device, identification system, coupon book and financial planner (Pew Research Internet Project).” This is powerful. Mobile money is power. But power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely, which is why mobile money may be considered the root (or the Cause) of all of tomorrow’s evil.

This is due to a new technological advancement known as near-field communication (NFC). NFC facilitates a process that allows “… users to store payment information in the clouds and pay for goods at participating retailers by tapping their phone at the point of purchase (Pew Research Internet Project).” This process is part of a “mobile wallet” system that is being adopted by many of the major market players in the retail, banking, and financial markets.

According to a study conducted by the Federal Reserve in March of 2012, it was found that:

21% of mobile phone owners had used mobile banking services over the course of a year.
11% of mobile phone owners had planned to use such services the following year.
90% of mobile phone owners used their devices to check account balances and transactions.
42% of mobile phone owners used their devices to transfer funds between accounts.
12% of mobile phone owners used their devices to pay bills and make Acct-to-Acct transfers.

Still, there are some major widespread concerns associated with mobile money, and this process of mobile payments by way of NFC such as:

· NFC Hacking

· Market Fragmentation

· Lack of Interoperability

· Lack of Privacy

Nevertheless, it is this mobile age of digital ubiquity that is forging a new path for the future generations of this country. Mobile money will arguably be the new money. And the new medium of exchange will be an “all-digital-all-the-time format” using the mobile device. By 2020, the plastic credit card and paper currency may very well be a thing of the past. Everyone instead may be using mobile money, wanting mobile money, and needing mobile money in order to live, thrive and survive.

It certainly seems like the wave of the future. But, I guess only time will tell— the most Prolific of Financial Times in the Mobile Age.

Prolific Images and Text-based Content

noreply@blogger.com (Nolan Pickens) — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 20:22:00 +0000

The business of Public Administration is heavily impacted by technology in the 21^st Century. Why?

Because technology has “enabled and empowered” the average citizen with the advantage of "ubiquity and pervasiveness" given its ability to connect vast communities of people at the click of a button via the Internet. People anywhere at any time with an Internet connection can unite, network, share information or even trade secrets while sitting back as distant happenings unravel to shape situations in their immediate area codes.

This is the same technology that is being used to preempt the impact of globalization and address some of the demographic changes sure to ensue over the course of the next decade. Burgeoning technology that is “…being leveraged to facilitate public administration and governance” or bridge generational gaps, meld cultures and build business connections. New technology such as Social Media and Web 2.0, which is truly game changing, and particularly prolific in Public Administration in so many ways on so many levels!

But, please feel free to weigh in yourself, if you will...

Prolific Images

noreply@blogger.com (Nolan Pickens) — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 19:54:00 +0000

Welcome to Prolific

noreply@blogger.com (Nolan Pickens) — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 16:36:00 +0000

My name is Nolan Pickens. This is the launch of my new blog site called Prolific. The intended purpose of this blog site is to produce quality content about public sector and private sector business matters. There will be a vast array of ideas and a whole host of information being shared between and among directors or administrators charged with managing public need(s) and demand(s). We will be using internal and external sources of technology including, but not limited to hyperlinks comprised of the following:

· Text-based Content

· Images

· Video’s

· Pictures

There will be an open flow of communication with the general public and this will be made possible through a subscription process called Real Simple Syndication (RSS), which is a feed management system used to alert the public, whenever new updates are posted to the blog site. Essentially, the RSS feed associated with the blog site is the means by which private sector and public sector participants expatiate upon various themes of interest, while engaging the public in order to garner consideration, and disseminate information through dialogue.

Open dialogue that necessitates feedback to keep these professionals in the proverbial loop, especially since execution of “the people’s will” is the public managers raison d’être, and social media is a lifeline to communicating with them. Or more specifically, a prolific marketing communication tool that improves upon efficiency, effectiveness, and responsiveness for successful delivery of public services.

So welcome to Prolific, a platform built for high functioning thought leaders, and a place where great business ideas produce [in large quantity] solutions to some of the greatest challenges faced by both private sector and public sector organizations. Let's have some fun innovating through the exchange of idea's in order to effect positive change because at the end of the day, that's what's Prolific in the terrific world of Public Administration!