Government Technology - December 2008 - (Page 46)

pectrum reports from the IT horizon In 2007, Missouri created an employeerecruiting site and held job fairs in Second Life, an online virtual world. In September 2008, the state hired its ﬁrst IT worker recruited directly from Second Life site. State CIO Dan Ross said the new employee spectrum ideas to managing editor Karen Stewartson kstewartson@ govtech.com Send j DEC_08 Virtual World Brings Real Employee ﬁrst contacted the state as a computergenerated avatar during an Second Life job fair. He’s a Missouri computer engineering graduate who wanted to stay in the area, so it was a perfect match, Ross said. Ross said more than half of Missouri’s current IT work force is eligible for retirement in the next 10 years. He has aggressively searched for ways to attract young IT workers to state government. — STEVE TOWNS, EDITOR Wireless Deployments Government Technology magazine surveyed more than 400 government respondents about where they plan to deploy a wireless network in their cities or counties. The results are as follows: City Buildings Police Stations Fire Stations Public Works Trafﬁc Management Schools Parks None of These Other 15% 16% 14% 13% 21% 24% 31% 35% 46% Technology Safari A wildlife conservation group, Save the Elephants, is using GPS sensors to protect elephants from being jeopardized by the public and vice versa. According to a USA Today article, the group uses ESRI’s GIS system to track the animals to ensure they’re not being nuisances to farmers or endangered by ivory traders. Cell phones attached to elephants send text messages every hour revealing their location, which aids in safeguarding the creatures if they roam out of Kenya’s Amboseli National Park protected area or elsewhere in Tanzania and Kenya. — Karen Stewartson, Managing Editor ToughChoice Nine out of 10 U.S. college students said Wi-Fi access is as essential to education as classrooms and computers, according to a survey from Wi-Fi Alliance and Wakefield Research. Nearly three in five students said they wouldn’t go to a college that doesn’t provide free Wi-Fi, while 79 percent said without Wi-Fi access, college would be much harder. The research also found that 48 percent of respondents would give up beer before giving up Wi-Fi. Hooked Up BlackBerrys are by far the most popular mobile technology for connecting business users to the ofﬁce, according to a recent survey. SOURCE: THE POWER SURVEY BY J. GOLD ASSOCIATES. BlackBerry 66% Windows Mobile platform 23% Apple iPhone 16% Palm 9% Linux-based phones 6% 46

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - December 2008

Government Technology - December 2008 Contents Point of View Four Questions for... On the Scene Big Picture Year in Review Who Controls Your Network? Paper Makes a Comeback Halting Meth Abuse Spectrum Up Close signal:noise Digital Communities Contents Becoming a Digital Community Rethinking 700 MHz Smart Grids: Powering the Future Gearing Up for Crime 2.0 Software Predicts Crime Local Portals on the Red Carpet More Than Just a Pretty Face

Government Technology - December 2008

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