And we don't stop. . .

The first month went by like a blur. It was so fast I almost forgot to post a report (oops!). It's probably a cliché, but I really did hit the ground running.

My first week was busy with trying to make heads and tales of exactly what I would be doing for my year. I sat down with Josh (my supervisor) and we mapped out a plan for the year. Something that was real helpful was a skill assessment that we wrote out together. We listed skills that I have or would like to have by the end of the year and then he asked me to place my self on a scale from 1 to 10 on each skill. We promised to check in every three months to see how I was progressing. It was also good because it gave us guidelines for the kind of work I would be doing. Once that was finished, he had me working right away.

The highlight of last month was a report that Josh and I co-authored on the way the City of New York shares its information electronically. As a media justice organization, PPH focuses on media and internet policy. One of the ways that we advocate for a more free and more open internet is through periodical articles on key issues that go hand in hand with our organizations overall agenda.

This particular article focused on the way NYC could take better advantage of technology for more government transparency and more government participation. It was exciting because researching for the piece had me talking to people across the spectrum. I spoke to representatives at City offices like the NYPD and the Dept. of Information Tech. and Telecommunications who thought the city was doing a brilliant job on sharing information. I also spoke with people like Daniel O'Neil at everyblock.com (a website dedicated to offering citywide statistics for several cities across the US) who though the NYC could do much better. I also spoke with Council Member Gale Brewer who has been one of the big players within the City government pushing to use technology more to make government more accessible. In the end, I learned a great deal about what they do here at PPH and understood how better to help the organization in building towards doing more advocacy work like this. If you want to check the article, you can go here.

Overall it's been an exciting month and I'm looking forward to what lies ahead. I'm currently trying to rework the programs community outreach strategy, which is proving to be a challenge. I'm also trying to narrow down a few course options for the In Service Training. Till next month.

Comment from Jules Goins on August 11, 2008 - 2:01pm

Kris:
Nice article. Already building up your clips portfolio.

I have to agree with the PDF part of the article; nothing makes me less likely to write about a subject than dealing with info locked in a PDF.

And if you want to read more, check out Kris' blog here.