We need to recognize that we don’t have a monopoly on the best ideas.
- Vivek Kundra
Friday Morning Keynote: Vivek Kundra
Vivek Kundra, who served the Obama administration as the first federal Chief Information Officer, was joined by Tom Ashbrook, host of 90.9 WBUR’s “On Point,” in a discussion exploring the impact and implications of cloud computing on journalism and the media industry.
Session Updates (9)
@alicyp
Alicia CypressJust because something is digital, doesn’t mean it’s open and transparent says @vivekkundra#ona11
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There’s a battle for the soul of the future of journalism right now…. You see some organizations that are doing an amazing job in terms of innovating and building capacity, and others are ignoring this at their peril in terms of a fad that’s gonna disappear.
The question is, do you want to be Amazon.com, or do you want to be Barnes & Noble?
- Vivek Kundra
Drowning in data
As the digital data technologies have risen, so has the amount of government data. Kundra says the U.S. went from 432 data centers to over 2,000 data centers in about 10 years.
In the 1960s the greatest innovation in tech was happening in government. In 1980, innovation moved to enterprise. In 2005, something big happened — all innovation moved to the consumer side.
- Vivek Kundra on one historical reason moving data to the cloud makes sense for government
“I was coming in 4:30 a.m. and leaving at 10 p.m. one day after the other after the other, and it was probably the best job over ever had in my whole life. But I also recognized as I was moving forward, that maybe it was time to move on.”
- Vivek Kundra on why he left his post as the U.S.’s first CIO
“It’s obviously not an area where I’ve spent a lot of energy, but it was classified information taken form the government that’s has massive negative implications for national security. …
“If you look at the Wikileaks incident, it shouldn’t have happened, from a technology perspective. There needed to be more controls in place that just weren’t there…. For a classified system, that’s unacceptable.”
- Vivek Kundra on Wikileaks
Will data.gov survive the next election?
“Crazy things have happened in politics,” Kundra responded. ”My view is it’s a one way street. I believe that in this community, the more it’s used as a platform, the more likely it won’t be terminated.” Is that a hint, journalists?
Former CIO to Journalists: Delve Into Data
Former Chief of Information Officer Vivek Kundra used a buzzword at his keynote speech Friday morning that is fetishized by many here but not typically associated with politicians: transparency. “I consider myself a digital journalist,” he said. “I want to aspire to a transparent government.” Kundra was the first ever federal CIO, and as such, [...]
