Barack Obama is going to appoint the nation's first CTO. What are the top priorities?
-
505 votes
Create/support a national IPv6 wired/wireless Internet
Connected services are to the 21st Century (and beyond) what the telephone was to the 20th century. A national CTO should support and enable the creation of a wired/wireless IPv6 wired and wireless Internet that blankets the entire country, so that everyone, rich and poor, young and old, urban an... More
-
432 votes
Make all non-classified taxpayer-funded software open source
All software created by or for the government should become open source, a shared resource, since it was paid for by taxpayer money. As should data and literature. Even better would be to use and improve existing open source software.
-
360 votes
ensure network operators operate their networks fairly
in consumer and end-user networks especially, neutral treatment of all traffic (without regard to protocol, source or destination) is essential to avoid a situation in which an ISP favors e.g. its own VoIP traffic over that of a competitor, or throttles an entire protocol (say, BitTorrent). Excep... More
-
350 votes
All legislation, precedence and codes publicly avail at no $
Make all legislation, precendence, laws, municpal codes, etc publically available at no charge, and providing a means of indexing, sorting, searching, and determining differences with updates and bills. It needs source control!
-
298 votes
encourage adoption of Agile software development practices
Successful technologies companies have mostly transitioned to Agile methods over the course of the last decade. It's time for government-sponsored technology projects to do the same.
Agile software development refers to a group of software development methodologies that are based on similar prin... More
-
212 votes
high speed trains in local and interstate levels.
i believe that we should have better public transportation to also kick or dependency on foreign oil. it promotes a greener country and encourages more americans to see their country from the ground.
its time that we upgrade our local and national trains to european standards. it makes simple ... More
-
200 votes
Embrace stem cell research
Reverse the Executive Order limiting stem cell research in the United States. This field promises to cure some of the most tragic and crippling diseases of our times.
The US has already begun to lose its leadership status in advanced medical research and risks losing its ability to compete in t... More
-
160 votes
Lazer sharks
Defend our nation from the terrorizers with friggn' lazor sharks.
-
147 votes
Decriminalize marijuana use for recreational purposes.
If alcohol is legal, marijuana should be as well. It's health risks are significantly less than those attributed to alcohol consumption. And, to be honest, everybody loves smoking marijuana.
-
140 votes
fund more pure science research (@ universities)
We have the greatest research universities in the world, but we limit what they can study because of policy & politics. Blind funding for good ideas should be the basis for how we enable pure research (top 2-5 universities per state should be "funded" for research in a speciality fi... More
-
125 votes
Protect scientific research from ideologies and religions.
Scientific research of all disciplines is continually hampered and stifled by regulations from all sorts of directions, motivated by political agendas, ideological censorship, via a variety of religious or superstitious motivations. This must not be. Science is what drives progress and improves e... More
-
110 votes
Start investing in Electronic Healthcare
Our paper based healthcare system is archaic and inefficient. The US currently lags behind our neighbors in electronic based healthcare.
Electronic health records are the key to empowering the patient, ensuring safety, security and privacy, and saving taxpayers billions in costs.
We need to i... More
-
110 votes
stop bandwidth caps and restore unlimited internet access.
More and more American broadband companies are imposing restrictive bandwidth caps on their users. This hurts the development of the internet, it hurts businesses that depend on digital distribution to sell their product, and finally it hurts everyday Americans who use the internet for learning, ... More
-
95 votes
Support Community Media and Technology Centers in the U-S
Community Media and Technology Centers provide essential training and ICT tools for people throughout the United States. Their work must be expanded and accelerated to ensure that all people have the ability to engage in civic life in the 21st Century. Expanded funding streams and improved fe... More
-
86 votes
Create a smart mass transit system
Let's build a smart mass transit system on the scale of the interstate highway system.
-
85 votes
Protect Net Neutrality
Carriers/ISPs are fast becoming power-hungry when it comes to controlling the information you send across the Internet. Net Neutrality prevents Internet providers from blocking, speeding up or slowing down traffic which may compete with their commercially provided services. This way the consume... More
-
84 votes
Encourage zero energy houses
Builders ignore new technology that returns investment within a few years. Examples:
- Use ground water heat pumps (3-1 energy return)
- Orienting the house to get sun
- Instant water heaters
- Solar sheets
- Both 120vAC and 24vDC wiring, e.g. for LED lights
- Smaller, not too big
- Rainwater col... More -
80 votes
Fund Fusion Technology Projects Similar to the ITER
France is beginning construction on the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), a tokamak style reactor to be functioning by 2016. The US has not been the leader in nuclear and fusion technologies in recent years. The US is lagging behind in scientific innovation in this area.... More
-
74 votes
Make sure all public services use open formats/protocols
Public services should use open formats and protocols.This promotes:
- interoperability
- lack of lock-in
- democratizes access
- promote competition between providers
- allows for support from other providers than the original vendor
- prevents data becoming obsolete or even inaccessible
