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 In a word - WOW! New design, new content - check it out at WhiteHouse.gov. They're blogging over there on the Potomac, and you can subscribe to the RSS feed.
 
The Department of Labor site has been redesigned, but the content is still the same. I've heard rumors of upcoming changes to the site that will make it easier for citizens to navigate and more interactive. I'm looking forward to that.

There's been a lot of online (and offline) chatter about an emerging "government 2.0" era where government agencies use social media to connect with citizens while making more raw data available to us for mashups and file sharing. Perhaps we're seeing the first stages of that. I hope so.

I also hope this will inspire government agencies at the federal, state and local level to rethink their websites and how they can use technology to more effectively inform and provide services to citizens.

What information do you need - from the Department of Labor or from other government agencies?

At the National  Association of Manufacturers, the Manufacturing Institute explores new approaches to  supporting US manufacturers. With the arrival of Emily DeRocco, the Institute expanded its mission by establishing a National Center for the American Workforce and a National Center of Manufacturing Research and Innovation.

I'm in Washington today to participate in a new Education Council to support these efforts. The Council is composed of representatives from secondary and postsecondary schools. We are going to explore  for major topics today:

• A 21st-century career and technical education agenda: creating educational pathways K-Gray.
• Innovation in the manufacturing economy
• Education and adult literacy
• Manufacturing skill certifications

I'll report what I learn  in this blog post.

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Here is an example of taking a small step to build networks among education, workforce development and economic development organizations: a career fair in Greensburg, IN,

Underwritten by the local community foundation, it's a small step, But these steps start crossing the invisible boundaries that are holding us back.

EcO15, the workforce development and educational arm of the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) created with the help of a Decatur County Community Foundation grant, hosted the first career expo for the students.

Read more.

The Kellogg Foundation has issued an interesting report on innovation in the "social sector". The report provides a good overview of the process innovation. Here's how the Kellogg Foundation introcduces the reader to the initiative:

The report called Intentional Innovation: How Getting More Systematic about Innovation Could Improve Philanthropy and Increase Social Impact, calls to the importance and value of thinking and using more systematically about innovation in the work of philanthropy and nonprofit sector.
 
Through this study, the Kellogg Foundation, working with Clohesy Consulting and the Monitor Group, learned some concepts for helping change the way the social sector thinks about innovation.

You can download a copy of the report from this page.

Here's an example of an innovating network on a small scale...that could multiply quickly.

• The Challenge: Engage high school students in an experience that will introduce them to the excitement of advanced manufacturing technologies.
• The idea: Create a guitar summer camp for high school students in which students build their own guitars.
• The Network Entrepreneurs: Two professors from the College of Technology at Purdue
• The Network Partners: Purdue, IndianaWIRED, area high schools, private sector sponsors including Fender
• The Next Step: Repeat and expand the network
• The Results so far: See for yourself >

Interested in learning more? Contact Mark French at Purdue.

Purdue Summer Guitar Camp from Ed Morrison on Vimeo.

Johnson County, Kansas has an ambitious referendum on the ballot to create an "Education Research Triangle" among Kansas State University, the University of Kansas, and its KU Medical Center.  The initiative is designed to anchor a life sciences cluster.

The Triangle would comprise three new academic and institutional projects:

    * A new $28 million, 103,000-square-foot National Food Safety and Security Institute at Kansas State University in Olathe. The institute would focus on threat assessment and prevention, forensic agricultural science, agroinformatics and modeling, communications strategies, and advanced ag technology. Certificate and short courses would be offered for professionals in agricultural and food emergency response; and federal law enforcement and intelligence. The institute would draw a projected 1,000 new students.
    * A $23.3 million, 75,000-square-foot classroom-and-office facility intended to expand and enhance engineering, science, and math programs at the University of Kansas Edwards campus in Overland Park. Ten new degree programs would be offered — four undergraduate, four graduate and two professional science masters — in an expansion projected to draw 1,000 new students to the campus.
    * A new $25 million clinical trials center in Fairway for the KU Medical Center to house a clinical and translational research center, including the clinical trials office for the KU Cancer Center and the headquarters of the Midwest Cancer Alliance.

 Read more.

 You can learn more from their website.

Here's an interesting initiative to tie businesses to schools through an e-mentoring program:

Schools are calling on businesses in Fayette County to participate in "e-mentoring" with students seeking career advice.

The program designed by Smart Futures, a nonprofit education consulting firm, will connect students from all Fayette districts with business leaders via e-mail.

"Here's an opportunity for businesses to get involved in education," said Ron Sheba, education and workforce development manager for Fay-Penn Economic Development Council, which is instituting the program. "Here's a chance to help without getting face to face."

Read more. You can learn more about the e-mentoring program going on in Pennsylvania from its web site,

Business Week has an interesting podcat this week on how NASA uses Web 2.0.

NASA's chief knowledge architect, Jeanne Holm, discusses how the space agency is adopting Web 2.0 technologies, including wikis and social networking tools, to sift through, organize, and archive mountains of mission and launch data.

Listen from this page.

The platform under Innovating Networks keeps improving.

The folks at Near Time have added some exciting new soclal networking features. You can learn more about these features here. You can attend a free webinar by registering from the same page.

A statewide commission in Rhode Island has recommended expanding research at the University of Rhode Island and integrating the university more closely into the state's economic development strategy. One critical recommendation: a $100-million bond referendum in 2010 to attract 20 to 30 top researchers to URI and upgrade the university's research infrastructure.

Read more. You can download copy of the report from this page.

The Center for Energy Workforce Development, a consortium of companies in the energy industry, held their annual meeting earlier this month.

You can learn more about their summit from this page.

The Center is involved in promoting another of our networks, Energy Regions.

Here's another report that documents the slipping performance of United States students in mathematics.

The United States is failing to develop the math skills of both girls and boys, especially among those who could excel at the highest levels, a new study asserts, and girls who do succeed in the field are almost all immigrants or the daughters of immigrants from countries where mathematics is more highly valued.

Read more. You can download a copy of the report here.