Uncle Sam wants YOU...to be a hero hacker

by Michelle Hertzfeld and Robert L. Read, illustrated by Rishi Sohoni

Update: Round 3 is now closed. However, there will be additional rounds; so this article still applies, but you may have to wait a few months for Round 4.

[Please use this link: http://michellehertzfeld.com/thoughts/uncle-sam-wants-you/ for additional promotion of this article.]

Round Three of the Presidential Innovation Fellows program is now accepting applications from creative, energetic policy hackers, entrepreneurs, user experience experts, designers, frontend developers, backend developers, system architecture wizards, data wranglers, and more to serve their tours of duty to radically improve the delivery of government digital services.

Why should you (yes, YOU) take time out of your busy schedule to apply? Three important reasons:

Uncle Sam Wants YOU...to Help Millions

Working with Innovation Partners inside government agencies Rounds One and Two of the Innovation Fellows program touched millions of lives in important ways (click for larger view):

Innovation Fellow Projects: Contributors and Beneficiaries

Here’s a taste of what these projects do:

• The Green Button initiative gives American families and businesses secure and easy access to their own utility energy information, giving them opportunities to save energy and money.
• The Blue Button initiative provides individuals with secure online access to their own health data.
• FBOpen gives small business owners with a new, easier way to learn about and compete for Federal contracts.
• Project Open Data unleashes freely-available data from the Federal Government that was previously difficult to find and use (think National Parks, climate, and government spending) back to the taxpayer.
• Disaster Response and Recovery leverages technology to provide with a helping hand (tools, apps, services and more) when they need it most.
• Work at the Smithsonian Institution gives Americans their own history, digitized.
• Adverse Drug Effects gives doctors the information they need to treat patients safely.

The Round 3 projects will build on this work and introduce great new projects.

Uncle Sam Wants YOU...to Work With Amazing People on Big Problems

Innovation Fellows come from many backgrounds and have a wide range of skills, but they share two characteristics: excellence and dedication. Do you long to work with a team that constantly challenges you? Do you long to work with peers who are all top-of-class problem solvers and creative minds?

And not only are the people you’ll work with extremely technically and creatively intelligent, but they’re also a group of people who have chosen to dedicate their precious time and energy in exchange to move their country forward. This is an opportunity to disrupt government and

truly transform how it works for the people it serves. You want a more participatory democracy?  Here’s your chance.

As an Innovation Fellow, you will have extraordinary leverage to solve big problems and implement game-changing solutions. Some of the projects in the diagram above were not planned, but discovered as opportunities in the course of other projects.

Uncle Sam Wants YOU...to Serve and Return

Becoming a Fellow is a commitment to work as hard as you can on behalf of the American people. It is a commitment to patiently run through walls that exist in the government bureaucracy. It is a commitment to spend a lot of time in DC.

But it is not a never-ending commitment. You are not signing up to become a permanent Federal employee. You will contribute your industry and entrepreneurial expertise to improve government and take what you have learned from other Fellows with you when you leave.

So What Are YOU Waiting for?

Apply by April 7, 2014. Throw your hat into the ring to make digital services in America an extension of the civic innovation that Franklin and  Jefferson pioneered while collaborating with some of the smartest, most dedicated people you will ever meet, solving some of the most important, challenging problems of this generation.

Even if you choose not to apply, please help spread the message

Please republish this article or the following links to promote the Presidential Innovation Fellow program:

• Read: a blog post by Todd Park, U.S. CTO and  GSA Administrator Dan Tangherlini.
• Watch: U.S. Deputy CTO Jen Pahlka issue a call to the innovation community to join the ranks of the Presidential Innovation Fellows and serve their country.
• Find: The list of Round 3 Presidential Innovation Fellows program projects here.

P.S. Consider saving the taxpayer money by contributing to our Open-Source projects…

The Fellows’ projects are in the public domain by default and can be found at github under the team Presidential Innovation Fellows.

Exploring Sewing: A different technology for me....

I have always wanted to learn to sew---somewhat inexplicably.  When I became a Presidential Innovation Fellow and started working 70 hours a week for the American people, I quite practicing viola, which has taught me something:  I cannot live for long without doing something when my hands.  I have to work with my hands.  I argue (I'm not the first) that the brain should really be thought of as including the retina and the fingertips.

Four years ago, my daughter was interested in being a fashion designer.  Being a supportive father, I bought her a sewing machine.  However, after a while, it sat unused in the closet---until last month.

My first project was a skirt from a pattern.  Skirts are the easiest garments to make.  The project was partially successful---the skirt is wearable, but has not yet been worn.

My second project was to address a need we have had in our house for some time: privacy drapes in our hot-tub/laundry/bath room.  These are barely needed because the geometry of our house doesn't let people see in---unless they are, for example, in a truck.

But nonetheless we wanted drapes, to cover the window shown in the first photo.  Note that this window is unusually wide and short.  Furthermore, I strongly wanted something translucent so as to not darken the room too much even when the drapes are drawn.   Finally, I wanted something to match the red hot-tub cover and the cedar paneling.

You can't find drapes like that at Wal-mart.  You can find drapes like that online---you can find anything online---but where is the fun in that?

I'm happy to say that Nancy Zieman's Sew with Confidence remained in the box with the Baby Loc Design Pro sewing machine, and that it includes an almost clear description of how to make tab drapes.  Having scraps and muslin available, I made a test work without purchasing any new material, which is shown in the fourth photo.  Hanging this on the curtain rod proved successful, and making it helped me understand how to make the drapes.

I purchased some burgundy poplin and yellow cotton gauze, and followed the same approach.  The result was mostly successful.  As The Dude would say, the drapes "really tie the room together."

I am much more confident in my use of my machine now.

Some things I learned:

1) Making the rough draft was a technique I will employ more often.

2) Gauze is so stretchy that it is almost impossible to measure and cut perfectly.  You will note the hem is uneven.  I worked a long time to get it that close!  Perhaps someone with a large table and rotary cutter could have done better.

I personally am always interested in home economics.  Here is the breakdown of this project:

Curtain Rod from Wal-mart: about $15

Gauze and poplin, (of which much remains): $45

Sewing notions and impulse buys : $10

Total input in terms of time: 12 hours

So in terms of cash, this project was slightly cheaper (arguably) than buying drapes, but it would have been hard to get the color and translucence and all-cotton construction that I valued.

At minimum wage, this would have been a financial loss over buying drapes.  At what I make as an expert computer programmer, it is a financial disaster.

In terms of education, however, it more than made up for the loss.  I value very highly leveling-up my sewing skill.  I can now honestly claim to be a rank beginner.

On top of that, my wife seems happy with the results, always an added bonus.