If you feel there is an important collaboration-related recommendation to make that falls outside the scope of the topics listed above, feel free to submit your recommendation as a draft here, and work with others to put together the best set of such recommendations.
Drafting Directions: Review the comments from the
Discussion blog as well as
comments made by government employees and review the submissions in
From the Inbox. Incorporating earlier input, you may write your own draft, or combine and edit those of others to create a new one.
Writing policy requires translating good ideas into clear, specific directions for practical implementation. Hence a good recommendation will be no more than 4 sentences and a set of recommendations will be no more than 1 page. To be of maximum use, a recommendation should address:
- Who is being directed to do something? (e.g. "All agencies must...")
- What is the institution being directed to do?
- Why is it important that they do so?
- How will success be measured?
Note that per the
terms of use, your drafts are expected to be (among other things) civil and on-topic. We are depending upon you, the community, to help maintain the quality of this process, by reporting drafts which appear to violate these terms. Once reported a sufficient number of times, drafts will be submitted for moderator review. They will then be republished in their original place, republished as an
"off-topic" draft, or archived off-line if it can not be republished.
Return to
Open Government Directive, Phase Three: Drafting, or to the
OSTP Blog.
To Whom It May Concern,
I'm an Engineering student at SUNY Ulster. I have a preliminary Complete GREEN self-contained civil engineering plan which I am working into AUTOCAD. This is reorganizing infrastructure with smart building along side several technological advancements including waste management, new vertical farms, and new energy techniques. These buildings are large covered in vertical wind turbines and glass solar panels in layers and has space for wildlife migration to be unaffected. I've used sacred geometry in carbon-nano tube pillars for strength. Through this Universal and versatile design the people will move into government housing for luxury (no shoveling, automatic garbage, laundry options, food options, no driving, everything you'd want in a half mile, and a higher standard of living). The environment is in horrible shape and we are about to peak in civilization lets do it right. Utilizing sustainability, carbon credit, methane extraction and carbon dioxide extraction have been incorporated within 100 years our planet could be back to normal if this plan goes global.
A strong economy needs exports. This in the basements of each city there will be global production manufacturing. Enough to supply more than the world's population but manufactured by order only, for resources consumption control a step toward a resource economy. We will have a theme and specialty school in each city. Manufacturers/Companies who want to convert green will move in at reasonable prices (The buildings have an elaborate HVAC system acting as a carbon credit requirement). Another boost added to our economy called vertical farms. Each city will have an agriculture income year round mostly powered by the sun due to plexi-glass, hydroponics, and mirrors. The waste management will be culminating Methane for fuel. I've also changed recycling processes at the source; to Paper, compost (no meat or oil), glass, plastic, cans, card board, misc. into one can taken out by a bot from wall (which throws down a chute to it's categorized location). Misc. is incinerated (only bones; then I use it for "Mayan chard earth") in vertical farms. This will permanently give the US work on all levels. It houses feeds, could clothe, will work, and entertain the people. Protect them from natural disaster. As well as net gains in agriculture, energy, and income are per building. We willing be maximizing the productivity within our limited resources when space is becoming more of an issue. Build something you'll only need to build once. I have techniques which will garauntee a 1000 year basement atleast.
Energy is backed by four 900-1000 kilowatts geothermal generator system (with electrolysis patent for more hydrogen by Timothy Flick of Moorhead) in the basement "wet-wall". Energy will also be created by Solar panels from Prism solar awaiting specs. Vertical wind turbines = 5.75(23 x 23) = 3041.75 x 1,100 kilowatts = 3,345,925 kilowatts a month per building. need more space...
Dear Sir or Madam,
I have been thinking a lot about the financial crisis / economic downturn and have come to the conclusion that most of it has to do with falling home prices. The banks, and federal reserve have all seen bad loans rise as a result of falling home prices. I feel that prices of homes are set to rise again if the federal government enacts a program similar in nature to the GI bill that was passed after WWII.
My understanding of this bill was that it allowed returning veterans to purchase homes at a significant discount after they spent time in the armed forces. Let me explain the idea further. Right now a new enlisted soldier might make $10K per year for a 4 yr stint in the military plus they can get education credits toward college. What I propose would be an additional government-owned home buyer credit of say $10K per year to buy government-owned homes that the federal government buys out of foreclosure.
The federal government buying foreclosures provides the banks a way to get bad loans off their books; reducing the need for bailout money. It is also helping the housing prices bottom. Right now it is assumed that one foreclosure on your street reduces prices on the entire street by an average of 5%. Falling home prices would be eliminated if the federal government buys the foreclosure and sells it to a veteran. It gives returning veterans a chance to buy a house or put down a significant down payment and start a family. This would decrease federal costs of unemployment and veteran related expenses.
The result: bank stocks rally, veterans get the treatment they deserve after serving their country and deflationary pressure in the housing market ends. Ultimately higher housing prices creates jobs in construction, provides consumers with more money to draw on through HELOCs and ends the banking crisis.
The US dollar should hold steady on the passage of this bill as these houses have intrinsic value - they just lack a buyer who can afford them. The amazing natural resources this country has was converted into houses unlike any place else in the world. These homes are not worthless so the money the federal government spends to buy the houses is not wasted. The US dollar should be fine with a program like this. It would simply require coordination between veterans affairs and HUD and the federal government in passing a bill that enacts this into law. It would gain significant political backing behind whatever lawmakers present the bill as military veterans and banks would be forever grateful as would every homeowner.
Andrew ODell
B.A. International Business - Rollins College 04
M.B.A. - Wayne State 11
There are two keys to collaboration: 1. Create the proper environment for collaboration. 2. Learn HOW to collaborate.
Both of these keys are well known to the "experts" in collaboration in the Organizational Development (OD) and Knowledge Management (KM) fields. The Administration is implicitly recognizing the importance of collaboration, but it has not yet recognized the value of the professional practices in which collaboration is embedded. Federal Government has not instituted enterprise wide knowledge management or organizational development policies or a Federal KM Center. The Federal KM Initiative, sponsored by the Federal KM Working Group (hosted at KM.gov) has a complete roadmap describing the why and how of this proposal.
Collaboration is a teachable, learnable skill. Why not let the collaboration experts take a crack at it?
Communities of Practice (CoPs) are groups that share interests and skill-sets. Usually, these are formed around professional or personal interests. It is possible, however, to set out deliberately to create groups who have an interest in topics of national concern. These could also be called "Communities of Purpose," or "Communities of Interest." Two internationally recognized experts in CoPs are Etienne Wenger and Hubert St. Onge. I can put you in touch with both of these gentlemen.
The CoPs idea can be utilized for virtually any area of interest or activity. Healthcare, taxes, energy, ecology, you name it. And there are well-known software platforms designed specifically to support CoPs, as well.
When I buy auto insurance I can significantly increase or decrease the cost by increasing or decreasing the amount of coverage I want and the deductible I'm willing to pay.
When I buy home insurance I can significantly increase or decrease the cost by increasing or decreasing the amount of coverage I want and the deductible I'm willing to pay.
When I buy health insurance I can not significantly increase or decrease the cost by increasing or decreasing the amount of damages I'm willing to sue for if the doctor is found guilty of malpractice. Because of this doctors are forced to practice defensive medicine, ordering more tests than necessary just to play it safe, which drives up the cost of care and in turn the cost of the insurance I have to pay.
A four-person team should be put together under the auspices of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The team should consist of a representative from the insurance industry, a representative from the AMA, an economist selected by the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, and a representative from some group that represents the public's interest (AARP, Consumer's Report, etc...). The purpose of this team would be to craft a set of insurance policies that fluctuate their rates based on how much the insured is willing to settle for if a malpractice case is decided in that favor. Once the economics have been worked out all insurance companies should be encouraged to offer this new type of policy.
Success can be measured by how much the cost of insurance, and healthcare in general, goes down. If malpractice insurance companies have a fixed dollar amount they can base their policies on then they should be able to lower the cost of the policies they offer physicians. If physicians know the limits of their exposure they might be tempted to practice defensive medicine less often. If the cost of defensive medicine goes down then the cost of insuring the public should fall as well. If the cost of healthcare continues to rise then this policy can be considered a failure.
One of the key parts of this idea is that malpractice awards aren't being limited. Policies will still be available for those who want to sue for an unlimited amount when their doctor makes a mistake - the only difference is that these policies will be much more expensive and everyone else won't have to share the cost of them.
