Not So Random Thoughts...

Happy New Year!  I wish you and yours an awesome 2011!

Since I promised myself I would limit my “connectivity” over the Holiday break, I am going to make this a very brief, rapid-fire list of predictions for 2011.  So, without further adieu, here we go:

1. No surprise here, but mobile apps will continue to proliferate at a record breaking pace.  This will impact not only consumers, but the enterprise, in both the private and public sectors.
2. Mobile security will become a #1 priority.  In a rush to get apps out in 2010 security was an afterthought, in my humble opinion. 2011 will be the year where mobile application security will have to be addressed to reduce risks especially as enterprise apps are rolled out.  I suspect the folks at Good Technology are going to have a banner year in sales.
3. This is going to be a make or break year for BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7.  Research in Motion (RIM) and Microsoft are WAY behind on the device and mobile application front and I don’t hear too many folks clamoring for a BB or a WP7 now-a-days.  BB is better positioned, but they have an eroding user-base and their stranglehold on the enterprise is going to be seriously challenged (see Good Technology above) in 2011.  
4. Cloud computing will become a significant part of enterprise strategic planning initiatives for the vast majority of firms and agencies in the private and public sector (even in those firms and agencies that have resisted the Cloud in the past).  The benefits far outweigh the risks.
5. The vast majority of private cloud initiatives will fail, significantly underachieve, or never realize its full potential - all at a huge cost.  I say leave it to the public cloud experts, work out the security concerns, and start focusing on aligning IT capabilities with mission (business) drivers.
6. Public cloud providers (Amazon, Microsoft, Google, etc.) will have record cloud computing sales in both the private and public sectors.
7. All eyes, in the Federal space, will be on the General Service Administration (GSA) and their Google Doc procurement (via the Alliant vehicle in partnership with Unisys).  Should the deployment, migration to, or adoption of Google Docs somehow get “dorked-up” (highly technical term) Google may never win another contract with a Federal agency when it comes to their Google Docs offerings.  Same goes for Microsoft with their Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) win at USDA.  Remember, ALL EYES…
8. With Federal CIO Vivek Kundra’s announcement of a “cloud first” policy as part of the 25 Point Implementation Plan To Reform Federal Information Technology Management Federal agencies must identify three “must move” services to be migrated to the cloud (the first of which to be deployed in the cloud within 12 months and the remaining two within 18 months).  I expect (and highly suggest) the vast majority of agencies will identify/move their public-facing, non-secure websites (*.gov) to the cloud joining the likes of Recovery.gov and Treasury.gov (to name just two).
9. As firms and agencies in the private, and especially the public sector, become increasingly “brand aware”, the concept of “user experience” will begin to drive how technology is designed, deployed, leveraged and ultimately used.  Mark my words, user experience professionals will have an amazing 2011.  It would serve most technologists to get smart on the broader points of user experience.
10. In order to meet the ever-changing demands of whatever business you may be in and to take advantage of the power of cloud and mobile technologies, 2011 will force the private and public sectors to adopt some sort of Agile methodology for system development life-cycle purposes.  This will take an incredibly strong project management delivery mechanism that is well versed in delivering solutions in short iterative cycles leveraging the latest technologies.  
11. Microsoft Kinect Proof of Concepts will penetrate the enterprise.  Mark my words, this technology is going to change the world as we know it.  If I were a half-way decent coder, I would would spend every waking hour coding for the Kinect.  Microsoft was brilliant in making the code-base “open”. 

2011 should be an awesome year!  I look forward to expanding upon some of my predictions in the near-future and I can’t wait to revisit them later this year to see how accurate my “crystal ball” really is…

After reading GCN’s article ‘GSA takes a fast, free approach to Web dialogue tool’ I decided to take a look at the tool in question, IdeaScale, to see what the buzz was all about.  The article explains that GSA joins several Federal departments/agencies already using IdeaScale including the White House, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the Departments of Labor & Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  A link to the FCC’s IdeaScale site representing broadband.gov public feedback site was provided and my curiosity got the best of me…

Now I don’t proclaim to be a user-experience or accessibility expert, but it was quickly apparent to me that the site lacked appropriate ALT attributes in a variety of places throughout the site.  I quickly visited section508.gov to ensure my understanding of Section 508 was correct:

§ 1194.22 Web-based intranet and internet information and applications.

(a) A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided (e.g., via “alt”, “longdesc”, or in element content) – section508.gov

Once I confirmed my understanding of the Section 508 omissions on the FCC’s IdeaScale site I began to wonder what else, from an accessibility standpoint, might be missing?  I used a free, third-party application to evaluate broadband.ideascale.com (FCC’s IdeaScale site for Broadband.gov Beta) and it unearthed a variety of Section 508 “violations” that I will leave to the accessibility experts.  Needless to say there were quite a few “violations” noted.

So what does all this mean in the grand scheme of things?  My gut feeling is that as Federal departments and agencies rush to meet the mandates as outlined in the Open Government Directive, Section 508 compliance may have fallen through the cracks.  The question now becomes will these departments and agencies that are leveraging IdeaScale (or plan to do so in the near future) bring their implementations up to “code” in terms of Section 508 compliance?

I am all for the Open Government Directive and all IdeaScale has to offer (heck, they have made it free for government agencies to leverage) but should government agencies leverage such a quick and easy tool without addressing the Section 508 shortcomings?

An interesting dilemma…what are your thoughts?