W. David Stephenson is currently writing "Democratizing Data: to transform government, business and daily life" (July, O'Reilly Media). He is a leading e-gov., Web 2.0, homeland security and crisis management strategist and theorist. He is known for innovative strategies empowering the public to be full partners in government strategy and services through creative use of personal communication devices and Web 2.0 devices and applications, including data visualization. He writes the leading homeland security blog, emphasizing creative technology use and protection of civil liberties. Stephenson has been active in liberal politics since the 1960s. He was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, and speechwriter and press secretary to former Mass. Governor Michael

Blog Entries by W. David Stephenson

New Anti-Terror Weapons: You, Me, iPhone & Twitter

Posted August 10, 2009 | 10:15 AM (EST)


Several weeks ago DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced DHS has decided to emulate the widespread World War II strategy of actively involving the public in terrorism and disaster planning and response. As the Secretary said, "For too long we've treated the public as a liability to be protected rather...

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Recovery.gov: the First Step Toward Smart Regulation?

Posted February 23, 2009 | 11:03 AM (EST)


The Obama Administration created Recovery.gov as a critical stimulus component, taking a "don't trust us, track us" approach to assure funds are distributed quickly and fairly and "recipients and uses of all recovery funds are transparent." It will also provide clues about how serious the Administration is about campaign...

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Automated Data Feeds Make Smart Regulation Possible Now

Posted September 23, 2008 | 03:13 PM (EST)


There's been a lot of talk in recent days that what we need isn't more regulation of banking and business in general, but "smart" regulation. It seems to me that we also need more regulation, but we certainly need to make sure whatever is imposed is also as technologically sophisticated...

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Let My Data Go: How Activists Can Transform Government Through Public Data

Posted July 15, 2008 | 05:52 PM (EST)


Whoever wins in November faces record voter skepticism about whether "government is on the right track," while record deficits will make it difficult to add new programs that might rebuild public confidence. The new administration must simply get more from less.

One novel solution, which I'll address...

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