Top 5 Gov Tech Blogs

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/ (opens in a new tab) 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 (opens in a new tab)
• Academy section with courses including The Roadmap to IT Modernization

2) NASCIO

URL: community.nascio.org/browse/blogs/recentblogs (opens in a new tab) 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:

• State Technology Innovator Awards
• Top Ten Talks (opens in a new tab)

3) Code for America

URL: medium.com/code-for-america (opens in a new tab) 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 (opens in a new tab)
• Process vs. Product (opens in a new tab): Civic innovation beyond open data and civic apps

4) DigitalGov

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 (opens in a new tab) (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:

• U.S. Web Design Standards
• DigitalGov Twitter feed (opens in a new tab)

5) 18F

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:

• analytics.usa.gov – Google Analytics data for .gov sites
• Why Your Agency Doesn’t Need a Mobile App

Learn more

• Check out the GovWebworks blog for more articles on gov tech
• Contact us to learn more about our services