The Long Tail is in the Zeitgeist (Part Deux)

A couple of weeks ago I wrote:

We are fast becoming a culture that is fascinated with cultivating a personalized experience at the intersections of every possible niche market or experience; this desire has penetrated far deeper into the zeitgeist than I think we realize.

What I failed to say was: in addition to being pulled into the niche by citizens, bureaucracies are facing tremendous pressure to be in the niches by their workforce. Today, I want to finish what I started by exploring three different examples: innovation, social media, and work-life balance.


Innovation

Make no mistake, bureaucracies are 20th century organizations with 21st century challenges. So is it any wonder we make mistakes?

Take the common approach to innovation for example. How many organizations have innovation groups or secretariats? Making innovation a business line rather than your core business is one of the biggest reasons that the pursuit of innovation usually fails. The reality is that the size of the system ultimately undermines its ability to be innovative.

While it may be true that a large enterprise will never be as agile as eight people in a room with a coffee pot, it is also true that if we are to have any hope at fostering innovation we should acknowledge the fact that innovation may not be something that can be built into traditional hierarchical structures.

Perhaps we should focus less on formality and whether or not a particular innovation is scalable across the enterprise but rather ensure that we accord ample flexibility to our human resources so they can be innovative in their own right.


Social Media

The way in which government agencies are approaching social media is, to my mind, generally short-sighted. The overwhelming trend is to use social media as a way to disseminate information about the organization and it’s policies and programs to the public.

By now anybody who has spent any time in the space is familiar with the criticism that social media isn't a broadcast medium in so much as it is a conversation.

But, have we wrongly favoured a line of reasoning that privileges the narrow use of social media for official external communications over the widespread use of these technologies for less formal communications between and among staff?

I think we have. I also think this is precisely why we see departments with Twitter accounts blocking Twitter for its employees or departments with Facebook pages blocking access to Facebook. In short we have adopted an institution-centric model for social media rather than an employee-centric one.

I can't say for certain but I have the feeling that this may be partially a by-product of the fact that communications and marketing professionals are leading the bureaucratic charge towards the use of social media; communicators who are charged with communicating what their departments are up to.

Before moving to the next example, I think it is worth mentioning that one of the defining properties of the long tail is that the total niche of the distribution rivals the total mainstream and that the larger the organization, the flatter the distribution becomes; both of which are tantamount to evidence that we do in fact have much more to gain from diffusing these technologies informally across the organization than we do from formally centralizing them.


Work-Life Balance

Nowhere is the tension between the generic approach of the machinery and the desire for specificity more apparent than in the management of our human resources. People are desperate for autonomy, mastery and purpose but instead get telework policies and casual fridays. It's no wonder employee engagement is on the decline.


It's about relevance

If our public institutions are to have any chance at success, if they are to remain relevant in changing times, then they (we!) must get better at satisfying niche demands from both the outside and inside of our organization.

But make no mistake, this movement, from what government does to what government is being asked to do, will be painful.

How painful?

Well, I suppose that is a matter of how well equipped our organizations are to:

1. create an environment conducive to what Vint Cerf calls "permissionless innovation";
2. diffuse communications technologies and extend trust to use them; and
3. allow people to exercise greater autonomy over their work.

Simply put, any organization tightening the managerial reins in this environment will experience more tension than those loosening them; and I've argued before that in a hyper connected age, this will undoubtedly effect the flow of talent between and among organizations.

Food for thought.


Originally published by Nick Charney at cpsrenewal.ca subscribe/connect

Speechless

I've got to warn you, I am about to do two things I told myself I never would.

First, I'm going to start by breaking the cardinal rule of blogging as a public servant: don't ever talk about the particulars of your workplace.

Second, well, let's just say if I explained it now, it would give too much away.


The Only Constant is Change

Some of you may question what is important enough to prompt me to speak to the specifics of my workplace. Last week, I got some bad news. Last week I learned that my boss is leaving.

If there is one thing I have learned in my time in the public service it is this: you cannot overstate the importance of good leadership.


The Team

The team I work in comprises only 8 people, including my boss.

She is a Director General (DG), we are her DGO (Director General's Office); and unlike typical DGOs, we don't have anyone reporting up into us. We are the closest thing in the public sector I have seen to a SWAT team:

1. Lightweight (mobilize quickly)
2. Proximate to senior leadership
3. Experienced in our areas (unique skill sets and backgrounds)
4. Clear on our responsibilities
5. Able to think ahead and anticipate issues
6. Surrounded by an enabling culture
7. Results driven
8. Handpicked by the boss

The worst part is that despite another few months under her leadership, the team is already starting to go its separate ways. I don't expect the next iteration to look the same as the last.

It gets worse: we are being moved under a Director (read: getting heavier, losing proximity to senior leadership) who is yet to be determined (read: unclear responsibilities and culture) and Director General who is also yet to be determined (read: double jeopardy).

In short, the entire unit is imploding, and quite frankly I'm pretty upset about it. It affects me personally, but also I think this is a huge blow for the public sector in general.

We are losing the closest thing I have ever come to a results oriented workplace in the public sector.

We are losing the closest thing I have ever come to an innovation lab in the public sector.

We are losing proof that a small and flexible unit, properly managed, can be highly effective.


It's Personal

When my boss told me she was leaving it was a complete system shock. I forced out the word “congratulations”, but inside a small part of me died.

She was an integral part of the work I was putting forward; she was one of the designated champions; she, at least in my opinion was the strongest voice at the table. Without her, the likelihood of success for the work I am about to undertake drops dramatically.

That drop makes me think twice about staying in my current role.

There, I just broke the second rule – the one I wasn't going to tell you about at the beginning of this diatribe: self-doubt.

I doubt my ability to be successful in my current role because one of the most critical elements for success is being removed from the equation and replaced with an unknown.


Worst Conclusion Ever

I suppose I am supposed to conclude with something definitive, be it positive or negative about the future of my work, but I can't.

For the first time in a long while, I am left speechless.

[image credit: TheGiantVermin]

Recharge the Batteries

To be honest I had a difficult couple of weeks and I needed to take the time to unwind (buy me a coffee if you want the details). It was probably the first time in over three years in the public service where I took time off for the express purpose of simply recharging my batteries.

I took two days off this week and spent the time doing things I wanted to do. I created some nifty visualizations of the Digital Economy consultation paper, went for a run, had lunch with my dad, spoke at an event, taught a course, and wrote this simple blog post.

How often do you take the time to recharge?

What do you do?

I'm certainly going to start doing it more often and I'm interested in how it's done; I'm learning just how important it can be.

[image credit: Princess Cy]

Weekly Column: The Evolution Will Be Social-ized

This column was inspired by Gil Scott-Heron's famous piece, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. I have embedded a video below and you can get the official lyrics here. What you will find below the video is my rendition, which I lovingly call, The Evolution Will Be Social-ized.



The Evolution Will Be Social-ized

You will not be able to maintain the status quo
You will not be able to unplug, turn off, or silo up
You will not be able to lose touch with your citizens
Nor keep your approaches rooted in aging norms
Because the evolution will be social-ized

The evolution will be social-ized
The evolution will not be brought to you by procurement
Out of the box can't fix outside the box
True solutions lie not with the companies
Making profits from the sales of technologies
While the tools change from day to day
Underlying behaviours are here to stay
The evolution will be social-ized

The evolution will not be handed to you by the
Deputy Minister, the Assistant, or the Secretariat
Although we hope they play a role
The evolution will help us collaborate
The evolution will help us communicate
The evolution will position you in the global marketplace
For talent, because the evolution will be social-ized

There will be plenty of pictures of you and other champions
Spreading the word at every turn, employing the soft talk or rant
Or celebrating the small victories that are so damned important
Remember that telling these stories is essential
To release our social potential
Because the evolution will be social-ized

There will be no pictures of the obstacles
Getting in our way.
There will be no pictures of the obstacles
Getting in our way.
There will be no pictures of those who breed division
Nor those who take the time to speak but not listen.
There will be no slowing us down now
Soon you will run out of time to learn how
To engage in this new world, stop hesitating
Things are almost in full swing

Hierarchies, closed communications, and knowledge
As power will no longer be so damned relevant, and
We can work together without the need for territory
While fear of reprisal ceases to be obligatory
Not to mention good ideas dead in the water
Closed systems, formerly leading them to slaughter
The evolution will be social-ized

There will be no more clockwatching from 9-5
The rules change, and now it is the open who survive
Bureaucracy can no longer be blamed for our woes
We are starting to see what is right before our nose
The paradigm has shifted, continued relevance
Is simply not something we can leave to chance
The evolution will be social-ized

The evolution will not, die, fizzle or fade
Real people, real outcomes, not a game to be played
Stakeholders on all sides, inside and out
Changes so fundamental from within and without
The evolution will loosen a tight grip
The evolution will enable new leadership
The evolution will put the onus on us all

The evolution will be social-ized, will be social-ized
will be social-ized, will be social-ized
The evolution is no longer the frontier
The evolution is here.

Round up: February 7th (Yeah that's right a Saturday Roundup!)

First of all I would just like to give a h/t to Laura who pointed us at this podcast featuring Seth Godin on how the internet is changing leadership.

While I got a lot out of the podcast, if I had to break it down to five simple statements it would look something like this:

1. People don't line up to follow defend the status quo, they line up to follow people who make change.
2. People aren't leaders because they are charismatic, they are charismatic because they are leaders.
3. Leaders need to secure enough in their future to make things happen but isn't so entangled with the religion of the status quo (e.g. bureaucratic tendency for risk aversion) that they are afraid to do something new.
4. Leaders need to be humble enough to recognize that connecting people and identifying opportunities is more important then recognition.
5. Shake things up now, ask permission later because very few people get fired for creative instigation (aka virtuous scheming).

The podcast was enough to prompt me to downloaded Seth's audio-book Tribes (which is available for free download here) and will give it a whirl despite Etienne's review, also you can see some of Laura's thoughts here.

Second, you may or may not notice that we now have a new favicon for the site. Ironically enough I checked my site from my work and my department blocks images from the site I am using to host the image, so if you are behind the same firewall as I am, you don't get to see it!

Third, here is a link to the GCPEDIA summary of the You and the Evolving Public Service Conference, where I am delivering a workshop on networking for public servants and the Keynote Address on Scheming Virtuously (Yes, its now a deck!). Mike was invited but couldn't make it.

Info & Links to Share

Colin McKay (Office of the Privacy Commissioner) posted a government job on craigslist (awesome!).

The NCVM has released their First Annual Report to the Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet on the Status of Visible Minorities in the Federal Public Service

CGEM has published their February issue which includes an article written by Etienne, in fact the entire issue focuses on renewal. I obviously haven't gotten to all of it yet, but I plan to.

The PM has decided to fold the Public Service Agency into Treasury Board; you can read Etienne's take on it here.


News (MSM)

1. 44% say work interferes with family time (Downturn strains ability to find elusive work-life balance)
2. Assault on the bureaucrats: Ottawa may be planning civil service wage freeze
3. When real work disappears, bring on the busywork
   

Blogs

1. If You’re a Government 2.0 Guru, You have no Business in Government 2.0 c/o Techno Sailor
   
2. US Air Force Social Engagement Process c/o Peter Smith
   
3. Canada Revenue Agency announces YouTube contest c/o Mike Kujawski (Make sure to read the comments, and follow them to the spoof video, where the real 'convo' happened).
4. Performance Management and Measurement c/o Etienne
5. Statistics Canada launched a census forum c/o Mike Kujawski
6. GCPEDIA: Government of Canada gets it when it comes to wikis and open-source c/o Douglas Bastien and/or GCPEDIA update c/o Peter Smith (both make some great points, but the latter post also includes some great tweets by @thornley.
   

BTW, where was my invite? I am looking at you Doug, Joe, Peter, and even Jeff! I have been in communication with all of you in the last 2 weeks!)

Final Reaction

Doug blogged some advice, namely, do not start a blog about the government of Canada. Which prompted Etienne to respond in kind.

Doug raises some key points and to be honest, my initial advice would be similar - don't start a blog about the government of Canada, not unless you are willing to bare out the (potentially numerous) consequences. I feel for both Etienne who has already, and Doug, who seems to be currently, undergoing rigourous reviews. Something that thus far, Mike and I have been able to avoid.

Etienne - I know we haven't chatted in a while now, sadly both Mike and I have been very busy in both our professional and personal lives, which obviously makes making time for side projects such as this blog more difficult to secure. We may in fact have inadvertently reduced the number of posts on the blog but to be honest, producing the roundups is a difficult and time consuming task given the amount of information we come across in a given week. Consider the size of this round up, the amount of information it shares (e.g. outbound links) and the date on which it is posted and well, I suppose I don't even need to finish the sentence - you understand the commitment well enough. With that said, I hope that all of you find the roundups informative and worthwhile.

Thanks everyone for checking in, today's round up was probably more then you bargained for!

Email Rant: 10 Second Commute

It's been awhile since we did an email rant. So without further ado.


-----Original Message-----
From: Mike
To: Nick
Subject: 10 second commute


hmmmm....

http://tinyurl.com/7l2bvx


-----Original Message-----
From: Nick
To: Mike
Subject: RE: 10 second commute

and yet we are looking for what, an additional 4 million square feet of commercial real estate?

Who's brand is #2 globally? Oh that's right IBM!


-----Original Message-----
From: Mike
To: Nick
Subject: RE: 10 second commute


post both links on the blog... though with a more diplomatic spin


-----Original Message-----
From: Nick
To: Mike
Subject: RE: 10 second commute

btw did I mention that this podcast (c/o Deloitte) points to the fact that during hard economic times the government should be looking to reduce its capital expenditures and re-examine its real estate portfolio... (have I pushed you over the edge yet?)


-----Original Message-----
From: Mike
To: Nick
Subject: RE: 10 second commute


you no doubt heard on the radio this morning that they're looking at about 4 big purchases... all at the same time and therefore artificially spiking up demand


-----Original Message-----
From: Nick
To: Mike
Subject: RE: 10 second commute


yes. I actually like what the urban planner said yesterday morning on CBC about looking at commercial investments along the existing and planned transit way... that is, of course, if we had transit operators...

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike
To: Nick
Subject: RE: 10 second commute


that best brand slide show isn't necessarily about best people to work for - though there is probably a distinct correlation.


-----Original Message-----
From:Nick
To: Mike
Subject: RE: 10 second commute


i know but I am sure they also rank highly on employers... this is from 05 but I doubt much has changes since then, they probably still rank in the top 100.


-----Original Message-----
From: Mike
To: Nick
Subject: RE: 10 second commute

newer.


----Original Message-----
From: Nick
To: Mike
Subject: RE: 10 second commute


way to disprove the point and derail the rant - IBM Canada, not on that list... thanks a lot.

----Original Message-----
From: Mike
To: Nick
Subject: RE: 10 second commute

=)


----Original Message-----
From: Nick
To: Mike
Subject: RE: 10 second commute



Jacka...

Round-Up: December 2nd

Keep your eyes peeled, we may have a new government...


News

1. Strike ban proposal 'atrocious,' unions say
2. PSAC calls on all members to back coalition
3. Public service under fire
4. Goodwill toward public servants - Nothing beats a display of non-denominational holiday spirit for lightening the mood in The System
5. PSAC denies report striking postal workers crossing picket lines
6. Critics slam plan for new pay equity legislation
7. Facebook isn't just for friends
8. Managers want tribes, not teams

Other interesting tidbits

1. Gen-Y workers are worth taking the time to understand
2. Three Ways to Beat Burnout c/o Harvard Business Journal

Blogs

The financial collapse and the unsaid thoughts of public servants c/o David Eaves.

Round-Up: November 18

Here are some links that may be of interest:

c/o Ottawa Citizen

1. Government assets could be sold to balance budget, Flaherty says

Here is the snippet you probably want to know about:

Mr. Flaherty also said the government is looking at controlling the rate of growth in the salaries of public servants, and is continuing a strategic review of expenditures at all government departments.

c/o Havard Business Publishing

1. What leaders need to do right to move up
2. Confessions of an unrepentant BlackBerry addict

CPSRenewal.ca Weekly: You want acronyms? How about WLB, WLC and WLI?

I have (unsuccessfully) been trying to do some research into generational differences on what exactly constitutes Work-Life Balance (WLB). Well that’s not entirely true, I found this but to be honest it was a tad technical for my purposes.

What I am interested in is how people conceptualize WLB. Despite not being a large proponent of “generational issues” in the workplace, my interest in WLB stems mostly from what could be considered generational understandings of it. That being said, if we surveyed public servants on the subject I would hazard to guess that the responses would be consistent among tenures (i.e. lengths of service inside the federal government / exposure to the work culture), which is why they may masquerade as generational views. Vapid speculation perhaps, but lets start from there and move outwards.

Officially I found two GoC websites that have information on WLB:

1. Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC)
2. Canadian Centre of Occupational Health and Safety (which is a federal agency)

[Related: TBS’s Telework Policy]

From HRSDC’s website:

Work-Life Balance (WLB) is a term that refers to the desire on the part of both employees and employers to achieve a balance between workplace obligations and personal responsibilities. Work-Life Conflict (WLC) occurs when the cumulative demands of work and non-work roles are incompatible in some respect so that participation in one role is made more difficult by participation in the other.

Interesting definition: a desire to achieve balance. However, what I find even more interesting is that the focus shifts abruptly to Work-Life Conflict (WLC). I can only assume that WLC is the antithesis of WLB.

HRSDC’s website continues:

Sometimes described as having too much to do and too little time to do it, role overload is a term that is sometimes used as a means of examining the conditions that give rise to WLC. WLC has three components:

1. Role overload;
2. Work to family interference (i.e. long work hours limit an employee’s ability to participate in family roles); and
3. Family interferes with work (i.e. family demands prevent attendance at work).

Considering all of the above at its most basic level, WLB really only has to do with two things: (1) too much work, and (2) family.

Given, we have families, but many new recruits don’t in the typical “2.5 kids and a white picket fence” kind of way. I suppose one could make an argument in favour of a more liberal application of the word family given that people generally consider their family life to be their “not at work” life.

That, or the new recruits is actually one of those 2.5 kids, still living in their parents house with the white picket fence. Invoking the term ‘family’ carries a great deal of assumptions about the status and age of public servants.

Further – it risks marginalizing people who don’t have families. Like taking your kids to play hockey is legit. Whereas going to play hockey (say as part of the GCWCC) is not so legit.

In my travels through the Internet on the Google train I came across this little gem, which turned me on to the term Work-Life Integration (WLI) (reproduced from above link, follow it there is more to the article then the snippet below):

Work-life integration

Rather than work-life balance, Reynolds says she seeks "work-life integration".

"I don't see any issues communicating with friends during work, or multi-tasking, as long as I get the job done," she adds.

So what does Generation Y do for HR? Aren't they just sitting around e-mailing, texting, Facebook-ing and MSN-ing their mates about the latest cyber party when they should be getting on with some real work?

Not according to Russell Prue, IT expert at technology specialist Anderton Tiger. He believes that Generation Y is ready to solve many employers' problems, if organisations would let them.

"Young people are incredibly creative when they are allowed to be," he says. "They are driving this technological revolution their expertise could be invaluable to their employers."

Prue argues that organisations should be grasping the opportunity to harness the communication and technology skills of a new breed of worker.

"Properly implemented technologies often produce cost savings, and at a time when the focus on economical and efficient methods of communication is in the minds of employers, why not use Web 2.0 tools?" he asks.

"Companies need to make sure they have a meaningful presence in the virtual world: a shop in Second Life a profile on Facebook a company promotional video on Youtube. Tools like Twitter can also be hugely effective at improving in company communication."

There is currently a void waiting to be filled, Prue believes.

Generation Y has come to accept a dual existence with a much richer home life than work life. Young people are used to finding that the technology they rely on outside work either does not exist in the office or - worse still - is there but banned.

"They think it's madness that the organisations they work for don't make better use of the technology that's part of their everyday lives," he says.

Reynolds agrees that workplaces are woefully set up to encourage Generation Y-ers to use their best talents.

"The processes and structures in organisations generally disable the characteristics of Generation Y, rather than capitalising on them," she laments. "Encouraging informal networks, open collaboration and open communication is a must.

"We grew up communicating, contributing, collaborating and commenting, then we arrive in the workplace and there are closed networks, closed communication channels and technology from the dark ages."

Mills adds that young workers often have quicker ways of doing things than their more mature colleagues. "It is about the ease at which we can get things done," she says. "For example, finding information on the internet, organising group work and communicating with peers."

Cool – but it doesn’t actually explain (in a concise way), exactly what WLI means. So, I did some more Googling and came across two organizations who have dedicated pages on their approach to WLI, you may or may not have heard of:

1. Cisco Systems
2. Simon Fraser University (SFU)

Both of which expand the different types of programs (Cisco) and concepts (SFU) that should be included under the rubric of WLI, but again, I am looking to capture the essence of WLI.

What I am tempted to do is draw a parallel between WLI and open source. Here is the first paragraph from Wikipedia’s Open Source article:

Open source is a development methodology, which offers practical accessibility to a product's source (goods and knowledge). Some consider open source as one of various possible design approaches, while others consider it a critical strategic element of their operations. Before open source became widely adopted, developers and producers used a variety of phrases to describe the concept; the term open source gained popularity with the rise of the Internet, which provided access to diverse production models, communication paths, and interactive communities.

Here is my attempt to craft that into my vision of WLI:

Open source Work-Life Integration (WLI) is a development management methodology, which offers practical accessibility to a product's source an employee’s goods ability to provide services and knowledge. Some consider open source WLI as one of various possible design management approaches, while others consider it a critical strategic element of their operations. Before open source WLI became widely adopted, developers and producers used a variety of phrases were used to describe the concept; the term open source Work-Life Integration gained popularity with the rise of the Internet and the proliferation of social media, which provided access to diverse production models, communication paths, and interactive communities.

Not perfect, but at least this is closer to what I think of when I hear someone say that they support work-life balance (or flexible work arrangements, etc). Unfortunately, I get the feeling that new hires and not so new hires have a pretty different view on this?

Round-Up August 25

News

I came across an article entitled, Stop Blaming Your Blackberry and this follow up response to it; both address the issue of Blackberries and their impact on work-life balance.

Here is another letter responding to the Kathryn May's article last week (PS ordered to hire more minorities).

There is still a lot of (negative) buzz around the raises for Senior Public Servants in BC. Here is one letter in particular that I found interesting.

A PS worker pleaded no contest in a 2.4 million dollar fraud case.

Kathryn May is usually a good read but this isn't even newsworthy.

'Strengthening' the Act respecting the Public Service of Saskatchewan has become the subject of a news article. I am not fully in tune with Saskatchewan's provincial politics but I think it has something to do with the firing (and subsequent successful litigation) of a senior provincial official.

News on Blogs/Blogging

Here are a couple of interesting tidbits on blogging and journalism and blogging in the Public Service (sort of).

CSPS

The CSPS is rebroadcasting (still waiting for podcasts ...) an armchair discussion on Public Service Renewal done by Nicole Jauvin, President president of the Canada Public Service Agency on August 28th from 1:00 to 2:15 pm.

CPSRenewal.ca

[ncharney]: FYI - I will be a discussant at an HRSDC Knowledge Talks event also being held on August 28th, the topic of discussion is Governance as Leadership. Unfortunately the event is only open to HRSDC staff, but don't worry I am looking to blog on the experience the following week.

Weekend Round-Up August 11th

Developments @ CPSRenewal.ca

We may be doing our first podcast in the near future, we have an interview lined up and have been graciously offered the technical support to do it.

We would most likely be interviewing a recent hire to discuss his/her experience with the on-boarding (hiring) process.

Any thoughts?

Events

I just want to draw your attention to barcampOttawaGov. It is:

A chance for Government of Canada employees to get together and talk about what they're doing with social media and new technologies. A chance to meet others in communications, marketing, web development, design (and any other job description) to find some inspiration, some motivation and help build a community.

if you haven't seen it yet, check out the wiki here. Remember that this is not an official Government of Canada event - see you there.

News

Chamika sent in an interesting article in BusinessWeek entitled Six Reasons to Run from a Job Interview, and apparently Canadians are working less?

Round-Up August 6

Kathryn May has a great article in the Ottawa Citizen where she reports on an Angus Reid poll that indicates that fewer Canadians think that the Public Service is an 'honourable' place to work.

You can find her article here, the summary of the Angus Reid poll here, and the full report from Angus Reid here.

Happy reading!

Round-Up July 7

Media Analysis

1. Canoe - Family issues overtake work issues for federal workers: survey
2. Hill Times - APEX finds negative impact of technology on PS executives' workload, stress

Blogs

1. David Eaves - What government embraces Facebook? (hint: it’s not ours)
2. David Eaves - Oh, to live in a country with an open government
3. Colin McKay - Making the argument for free government data

Government Publications

1. Public Service Agency - It's My Day published its latest edition.
2. APEX report referenced in the 2nd news article.

Other Notes

We added a search tool to the right hand bar and have added social bookmarking buttons courtesy of addthis.

Have a great week!