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Software and IT for Government

Last weekend after a short coffee nap, I had a chance to finish reading an interview in Offscreen Magazine with Tom Loosemore, a “digital reformer” from the UK who helps governments revamp their policies and systems to move into the internet era. Upon first reading the high-level description of Tom’s work, I wasn’t certain I’d enjoy reading the interview or find it very interesting. To my surprise, I gleaned a lot from the article, especially since I work in the same industry, providing software for government. Here are a few of the highlights:

Communication, Interpretation, and Disconnects

Have you ever said something that you thought was really clear, but someone understood in a completely different way? Wouldn’t it be nice if there was some computer or app that could figure out what another person really meant in their communication to you, so that you could just understand them? This is a significant problem in human interaction that has been around since the Tower of Babel (and probably before).