Rock Creek Roundup (August 27 Edition)

Posted by: Meagen Ryan, Director of Strategy Aug 27, 2010 0 Comments

Health and Human Services debuts a new health insurance widget, the Office of Special Counsel sets guidelines for political activity by federal employees, the government URL shortener go.USA.gov receives rave reviews, and Power It Down suggests we conserve energy by turning off our computers when we finish work today, all in this week’s edition of the Rock Creek Roundup.

—Following on the heels of the recent Healthcare.gov website launch, the Department of Health and Human Services this week launched an interactive online widget that will allow people to search for affordable health insurance options. The widget, available for use on the Healthcare.gov homepage, allows users to select their state and provides other answers about their specific situation; then, the widget presents a menu of health insurance options available. The department is also making the widget code available for download so that it may be easily embedded on other websites.

—In advance of the upcoming political season, the Office of Special Counsel issued guidelines urging federal employees to be careful not to mix their work, their politics, and their social media presences. In a nine-page PDF document, OSP outlines how federal agencies and employees will be able to comply with the Hatch Act, which insists federal employees not participate in partisan political activities. According to the guidelines, federal employees can “fan” political candidates or political parties on Facebook as long as they do not do so during work time or while in a federal workspace. The policy also addresses how employees who are managing other employees should interact when it comes to political conversation and campaign and social media.

—The government-created and government-approved URL shortener appears to be a smashing success. The go.USA.gov shortener, created by GSA’s Center for New Media and Citizen Engagement, has already processed more than 18,000 government links and was key to helping the Library of Congress better manage its collection, including the entire Twitter archive it accepted this past April. Matt Raymond, the library’s director of communications, likes the fact that go.USA.gov won’t be a passing Internet fad. “We’re confident that because this is an entity of the government, that it’s here for the long haul, and because of the popularity of Web 2.0, and the .coms, we see some of them come and go, and we don’t want to have to rely on a third-party of commercial service,” Raymond said.

—Are you one of those folks who never (or rarely) turns off your desktop computer when you leave for the day? You’re exactly the audience that the Power It Down initiative is trying to reach. On Friday, August 27, employees at federal, state, and local government agencies, as well as private businesses, nonprofit agencies, and even individual household users are pledging to power down their computers at the end of the day as a way to save energy and money. One local government is promoting the initiative not only to its own employees but also to its citizens, using its Facebook presence to announce the initiative and publicly recognize companies that are participating.

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Meagen Ryan

Director of Strategy

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