Top 5 for Gov Tech News

In our efforts to stay current on the GovWebworks blog, we turn to the following gov tech news sources. We appreciate these outlets and resources for their reliable coverage of the changing face of gov tech via magazines, websites, and social media.

1) Government Technology

URL: govtech.com (opens in a new tab) Founded: 1987 Owner: e.Republic Incorporated (opens in a new tab) Location: Folsom, CA

The oldest publication on this list was founded in 1987, two years after the release of Windows 1.0. Since then, Government Technology (GovTech) has grown to reach 75,000 in print circulation, with 4.4 million online visitors a year (as of 2016).

Focused on “the smart use of technology in solving state and local government’s priority issues,” GovTech is supported by research from the Center for Digital Government, an advisory institute for information technology policies in state and local government. Other publications owned by e.Republic include TechWire, PublicCIO and Governing, the award-winning magazine acquired in 2009.

While the most popular online articles of 2017 were often disaster related, such as “The Worst is Not Yet Over for Southeast Texas,” Governor Declares (opens in a new tab), govtech.com also gets attention for trending articles, such as Analytics, AI and Orchestration are Top New Security Topics (opens in a new tab).

Highlights:

• GovTech 100 (opens in a new tab) – an annual list of companies working with state and local government agencies across the country
• Government Experience Awards (opens in a new tab) – annual award for states, counties, and cities that are “offering citizens more integrated, anticipatory and personalized electronic services”
• Most Popular Cybersecurity Posts for 2017 (opens in a new tab) – Dan Lohrmann, former Chief Security Officer of Michigan, addresses security issues for government agencies

2) StateTech

URL: statetechmagazine.com (opens in a new tab) Owner: CDW (opens in a new tab) Location: Vernon Hills, IL

Not to be confused with GovTech, StateTech and its companion publications (BizTech, EdTech, FedTech, and HealthTech) are produced by CDW, an IT company focused on, you guessed it, government, business, education, and healthcare.

The various outlets provide an insider perspective that encourages IT upgrades, for example What It Means to Deal with Outdated IT Infrastructure: From dropped calls to cyberattacks, legacy systems can seriously slow down the speed of government operations (opens in a new tab).

They also showcase advances being made in state and local IT across the country, such as Kentucky’s New CIO Sets Out to Optimize State IT (opens in a new tab).

Highlights:

• 50 Must Read State and Local Blogs (opens in a new tab) – an annual list of top blogs for local public sector IT
• White Papers (opens in a new tab) – in analysis of topics such as Building an Effective Mobile Policy (opens in a new tab)
• State by State (opens in a new tab) – topic search via clickable US map

3) StateScoop

URL: statescoop.com (opens in a new tab) Founded: 2008 Owner: Scoop News Group (opens in a new tab) Location: Washington DC

Like StateTech, StateScoop has a collection of similarly named companion publications, FedScoop, CyberScoop, and EdScoop. Unlike StateTech, it is owned by Scoop News Group, a public sector media company. Topics are more newsy than rose colored, such as Maryland recoups $81 million from botched Medicaid system upgrade (opens in a new tab).

Monthly impressions for the four outlets average 300,000, or 3.6 million annually, with 180,000 daily email newsletter subscribers. The dailyscoop enewsletter provides a useful summary of top StateScoop articles and events for quick review.

Highlights:

• People (opens in a new tab) – a listing of top state government IT leaders, budgets, and strategy
• StateScoop 50 Awards (opens in a new tab) – honoring state government IT executives and projects
• FedTalks (opens in a new tab) – annual meeting of tech and government IT leaders and speakers

4) NextGov

URL: nextgov.com (opens in a new tab) Owner: Atlantic Media (opens in a new tab) Location: Washington, DC

With a mission to “lead the national discussion about how technology and innovation are transforming the way government agencies serve citizens and perform vital functions,” NetGov covers topics relating to data, cybersecurity, emerging tech, and IT modernization.

Coverage to extends to broader government issues as they relate to tech, such as Cryptojacking Scheme Affects U.S. And U.K. Government Websites (opens in a new tab) and Protest Filed on $7 Million DOD Cloud Support Contract (opens in a new tab).

Under the Government Executive Media Group umbrella, companion publications include Government Executive, Defense One (national security issues), and Route Fifty (state and local government) with 1.7 million unique engagers a month. Also owned by Atlantic Media are The Atlantic, Quartz and National Journal.

Highlights:

• Events (opens in a new tab) – upcoming topics and videos of past discussions
• Twitter (opens in a new tab) – well rounded feed

5) Agile Gov Leadership

URL: agilegovleaders.org/news/ (opens in a new tab) Founded: 2014 Owner: CivicActions (opens in a new tab) Location: Berkeley, CA

While AGL is not a media company, their news page offers a curated and relevant roundup of agile-focused gov tech articles and videos produced by other outlets. Similar to Flipboard, the articles are summarized on the AGL site with a link to the originating publication, for example, Local governments use online portal to share digital transformation projects (opens in a new tab) refers to an article by Government Technology (opens in a new tab).

Sponsored by CivicActions, the mission is unabashedly to promote agile in the public sector, but the approach is bipartisan. A list of featured Agile Champions and AGL Live monthly panel discussions include experts from various agencies around the country.

Highlights:

• Agile Government Handbook (opens in a new tab) – overview of history, best practices, and future direction of agile in government
• Agile Champions (opens in a new tab) – consultants for agile methods in the public sector
• AGL Live (opens in a new tab) – monthly panel discussions with leaders in government innovation

Summary

As the saying goes, the only constant (in the technology sector) is change. Remember when the next big thing was how we listened to music? The transition from phonograph (1877) to record player (1895) to cassette deck (1964) to Walkman (1979) to CD player (1982) to iPod (2001) took well over a century. These days, similar transitions take a decade or two. For example, the iPod (2001) to iPhone (2007) to Homepod (2018). While the public sector may lag behind the private, government technology is never more current than today.

Learn more

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