NYS Forum

Forum's Webmasters' Guild Meeting Features Blogs and Wikis Presentations by Four State Agencies

Attended by more than 100 people, the May 2nd Webmasters' Guild meeting featured presentations by four NY State agencies on implementation and utilization of blogs and wikis. Paul Maguire, ISO at NYS Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services and co-chair of the Webmasters' Guild, opened the meeting by introducing the presenters and the topic. Robert Vitello, CIO at the NYS Department of Labor, discussed the concept of wikis and how wikis are being utilized at the Department of Labor; Helene Sobelman, Manager of Distance Learning Program at the NYS Office of Children and Families Services (OCFS), discussed OCFS' implementation of blogs, best practices, required support and usage; Terri Daly, Director, Customer Support at NYS Chief Information Officer/Office for Technology, presented the CIO/OFT process of wiki implementation; and Mike Short, Chief of Enterprise Development at the NYS Department of Civil Services, presented an overview the Department of Civil Services' implementation and usage of wikis. The meeting concluded with questions and answers session.

The presentations given at this event are available at Webmasters' Guild Resources.

The NYS Forum and NYSERDA Host State's First Green IT Conference

On Thursday, April 10, 2008 The NYS Forum, in partnership with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), hosted the first Green IT Conference in Albany, New York at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center. The conference addressed the State Administration's program to reduce the state's energy consumption by 15% by 2015, known as the "15 by 15" program. Attended by nearly 400 participants, those at the conference benefitted from over fourteen presentations by government and information technology industry experts. Topics addressed included a focus on understanding the environmental issues from local, state, national and global perspectives and providing specific examples of information technology best practices related to energy efficient data centers and buildings, recycling programs and how the technologies themselves are being designed to be far more energy efficient.

The presentations made at the conference are available at http://www.nysforum.org/events/itgreening/agenda.aspx.

For tips on how you can address the greening of your IT operations and for other useful online resources visit http://www.nysforum.org/events/itgreening/resources.aspx.

If this conference and topic are of interest to you, The NYS Forum's IT Greening Committee meets regularly to discuss and address issues related to green IT and creating education events to address it.  Also, it is very likely that there will be a 2nd New York State Green IT Conference next year and if you have an interest in being involved in the planning of that event, please contact the New York State Forum at 518-443-5001 or info@nysforum.org.