Author: J.J. Toothman

  • Keturah + J.J. = 10 years

    What I knew is that it was at some point this month.  And in fact, I got major points for not only remembering, but for recognizing the occasion with a gift that I gave to Keturah while we were in New York the other day.  But I didn’t know the exact day in the the…

  • Big shoes to fill in the NASA I.T. world

    I’ve been asked by many people inside and outside of NASA.  What are my thoughts on the departure of Chris Kemp from the role of CTO for IT? I like Chris.  And I’ve enjoyed tackling some I.T. issues with him at NASA over the past few years.  The first time we sat down and had…

  • On returning to New England

    It’s done. Despite the fact that I haven’t changed my mailing address or gotten a new driver’s license or even found a permanent place to live, it’s time for me to admit that I am once again a full time New Englander. The family and I are all on the east coast and currently staying…

  • The post where I finally talk about leaving San Francisco

    I’ve had a hard time getting myself to actually write this blog post.  In fact, I can’t believe I’m about to type the very next sentence. My wife, our two sons, and myself are moving away from the San Francisco Bay Area. When I moved to San Francisco in 1999, it was a dream come…

  • Presentation: How To Use Open Source Techniques For Your Project Management Needs: Achieving Organizational Culture Change And Breaking Down Barriers Through Social Media Participation

    Below is  a presentation I gave at the Social Media for Government conference in Washington, D.C. recently. My talk tied what I’ve experienced participating with open source communities and how the attributes of the most successful open source communities can be applied to working within our institutions and enterprises to change stagnant working cultures. How…

  • Data as Art Presentation at Strata Conference

    Many thanks to O’Reilly for producing Strata .  It was an amazing conference. And many thanks to everyone who attended my session titled “Data as Art.”  I am most grateful for the patience everyone had while I was dealing with A/V challenges.  Trust me, you weren’t nearly as frustrated by that as I was.  I’ve…

  • Speaking at Strata Conference This Week

    I’m very honored and excited to be included in the program for the O’Reilly Strata Conference in Santa Clara this week.  An entire conference focused on data mining and visualizations is ultra-intriguing to say the least.  I just read a blog post that puts the conference into proper perspective by stating “Big data is the…

  • What I’m Working On at NASA – Winter 2011 Edition

    A few subtle changes since my last sharing of current work activities.  NASA Web Service Office Exciting news.  As I’ve mentioned previously, I was spending a lot of time trying to increase the number of people who were dedicating the majority of their time tackling NASA’s Web challenges.  Those efforts have manifested itself in the…

  • Amazing Shuttle Video

    So, so good. It’s 45 minutes, but well worth it.  I plan on watching this with my kids.  Many times.

  • Open Government is modern democracy

    One of the major duh-slap-me-in-the-head moments for me at GOSCON was when Carolyn Lawson was describing the sometimes polarizing aspects of the term Open Government.  The dark side of the Open Government movement is that it is being referred to as a movement than many government officials consider to be the trendy topic du jour…