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This is an archival or historical document and may not reflect current policies or procedures
Updated: June 1, 2014
Welcome to our Open Government Plan 3.0. This plan reflects our continuing effort to become more transparent to the American public; invite greater public participation in the policies and decisions of our agency; and foster expanded collaboration with the people we serve, advocates, and many government and non-government groups.
I am proud to lead Social Security's implementation of President Obama's Open Government Initiative and to carry out our commitments to improve our operations and services in an open and transparent manner. In this plan, you will find a summary of achievements from our second Open Government Plan as well as several new efforts, including a flagship initiative to deliver a Message Center for people using our online services. The centerpiece of this initiative is the suite of services we now offer at my Social Security, where you can securely and conveniently access valuable personalized Social Security information. We are excited to offer additional options for getting information and completing business with us online.
Our Open Government Plan 3.0 also outlines our efforts to improve services including wounded warrior collaboration, health information technology, and data exchanges. We encourage you to review the information on our website and on Data.gov and we welcome your thoughts on additional data and information we should make available to the public.
In putting this refreshed plan together, we sought comments from the public, our employees, and advocates. We appreciate your interest and participation, and welcome your additional insight on ways we can improve our programs and service to you.
Please follow our progress on the milestones in our plan at www.socialsecurity.gov/open/plan-progress-2014.html, and share your thoughts and ideas by sending us a message to firstname.lastname@example.com.
Thank you.
Carolyn W. Colvin
Acting Commissioner of Social Security
Section I: Progress on Open Government Plan 2.0 and Development of Open Government Plan 3.0
Section II: Open Government Goals and Objectives
Section III: Open Government Flagship and Major Initiatives
This plan reflects our commitment to increase transparency, expand participation and collaboration, implement one flagship and three major initiatives, and make open government sustainable at Social Security. We also report on planned actions and commitments in our second Open Government Plan. Overall, we have made strong progress toward our open government goals and objectives.
Transparency: We are committed to sharing information that helps the public understand our programs and hold us accountable for our performance. We release information in a format the public can use. We submit datasets to the Federal Government's document repository at www.data.gov, and we are incorporating feedback on those datasets as we publish additional information. We support the open data initiative, and we are working to build an enterprise data inventory. While we strive to be open and transparent, we must protect the personal information the public entrusts to us. We will ensure that transparency does not put that information at risk.
Participation and Collaboration: We will expand on our long history of public participation and collaboration. Our open government communications activities include potential tools and tactics for both external and internal audiences. We offer opportunities for participation on our open government website at www.socialsecurity.gov/open and report there on ideas we receive and progress we make. We also use our agency Internet site at www.socialsecurity.gov to share information and provide opportunities for participation and collaboration. We will expand the use of social media tools to discuss our programs and services.
Internalize open government principles: Our Office of Open Government is responsible for coordinating and managing open government initiatives. As of March 2014, the Office of Open Government is part of the Office of the Chief Strategic Officer. Now, agency leadership directing strategic planning and monitoring agency attainment of performance goals also provides direction and oversight of open government goals and initiatives. Our Open Government Executive Steering Committee provides guidance on overall strategic direction. We used open government approaches to develop our new Agency Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2014-2018, available at www.socialsecurity.gov/agency/asp/materials/pdfs/plan-2014-2018.pdf - just one example of how we are using open government principles. We plan to use an array of communications activities to foster culture change and promote open government principles in our workforce.
Flagship initiative and other major projects: This plan includes a flagship initiative, Message Center, and three major projects: Wounded Warrior Collaboration, Health Information Technology, and Data Exchanges. These projects underscore the value of open government and support our agency mission, goals, and objectives.
Our Agency Mission:
Deliver Social Security services that meet the changing needs of the public.
Our Open Government Mission:
Support the agency's core mission through the principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration.
Who We Are and What We Do:
We run two of the nation's largest entitlement programs: the Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program and the Supplemental Security Income program. In fiscal year (FY) 2013, we paid 65 million people an average of $850 each month. In addition, we assist people in applying for food stamps and Medicare, including subsidies for the Medicare Prescription Drug Program. For more information on all of our programs and benefits, please visit our Understanding the Benefits web page at www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10024.html.
For examples of alignment of Open Government Plan 3.0 with our Agency Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2014-2018, go to Appendix A.
Accomplishments of Open Government Plan 2.0
See Appendix B for a status of the flagship and major initiatives in our 2012 plan. View an item-by-item implementation progress chart on our 2012 plan commitments at www.socialsecurity.gov/open/plan-progree-2012.html.
Development of Open Government Plan 3.0
We solicited ideas and comments from various audiences to help us update our Open Government Plan. We reached out to our traditional advocates through our quarterly national advocate conference calls and our online Social Security Update newsletter at www.socialsecurity.gov/newsletter/. Those venues reach approximately 14,000 organizations and individuals. We reached out to representatives of non-governmental organizations and institutions who had previously conducted the outside review of our initial Open Government Plan. We also announced on Facebook, Twitter, and our open government portal at www.socialsecurity.gov/openopportunities for providing input for the plan.
We invited the public and our employees to provide ideas and to comment and vote on the relevance of others' ideas through two online engagements:
As of this plan's release, these engagements drew 499 unique visitors, who contributed a total of 92 ideas, 113 comments, and 704 votes.
In order to reach out to our employees across the country, we included links for both engagements in the agency's annual Sunshine Week broadcast.
Goal I: Improve Transparency
"In all parts of the world, we see the promise of innovation to make government more open and accountable. And now, we must build on that progress."
--President Barack Obama, September 23, 2010
Social Security will meet the open government principle of transparency through information sharing and accountability
Improving transparency is a multi-faceted effort that includes:
For more information about our involvement in federal transparency initiatives (Data.gov, eRulemaking, Information Technology Dashboard, Recovery.gov, USAspending.gov, and declassification program (per Executive Order 13526)), see Appendix C.
Appendix D describes our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) program and how we ensure transparency through a presumption of openness.
Objective 1: Provide high-value information that meets the public's needs
The public accesses Social Security information millions of times each year through the agency's website at www.socialsecurity.gov. In 2013, we redesigned our web pages and launched our mobile version. We anticipate additional redesigns and presentation changes to improve ease of use on electronic devices such as tablets and smartphones. We are also exploring the use of web content management systems to enable non-technical employees to update and add new content. In identifying and prioritizing changes to the website, we consider public feedback and satisfaction levels.
We present information and data that the public can easily understand and use. Our partnership with Data.gov began in 2009 and provides a platform for public access to our data. We are expanding the information we make publicly available under the Digital Government Strategy and the Open Data Initiative. We outline our implementation of the Digital Government Strategy at www.socialsecurity.gov/digitalstrategy/, displaying milestones that address our data inventory and publication efforts. Our Information Resources Management Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2014-2017 includes a two-year plan of action (www.socialsecurity.gov/irm/IRM_2014.pdf#page=65) to "incorporate data transparency considerations into the systems development lifecycle so that we can release data in standard formats in a more efficient and automated way."
Changes to the Systems Development Lifecycle to Enable Open Data
In accordance with the Executive Order on Open Data, by June 30, 2014, we will develop checkpoints to capture and promote open data. Our goal is to expand, enrich, and open our data inventory process, by building in automated data publication capabilities early in the systems development lifecycle.
Objective 2: Inform the public about significant planned actions supporting transparency (Public Notice)
We use a variety of communication tools and approaches to support transparency, including our open government portal (www.socialsecurity.gov/open). We foster the use of agency data through ongoing contacts with stakeholders and interested parties. You will find a summary of our communications and outreach actions in Appendix E.
Collaborating with the Department of Justice to Make Social Security Information Available
The Department of Justice's Limited English Proficiency (LEP) website (www.LEP.gov)now includes our Asian and Pacific Islander language preferences page at www.lep.gov/demog_data/demog_data.html. LEP.gov's mission is to promote a positive and cooperative understanding of the importance of language access to federally conducted and federally assisted programs.
Objective 3: Provide information to the public on internal management areas
We provide members of the public with information they request either through the FOIA process or through other means, such as our outreach with stakeholders. In addition, we provide information about our programs information about internal management processes, and information people use to make decisions in their lives.
Freedom of Information Act
We operate under a presumption of openness, sharing information with the public about our programs and projects. We believe our FOIA program strongly reflects this commitment. For example, in 2013, we added a link to our FOIA home page (www.socialsecurity.gov/foia/) on every page of our agency's website so that the American people have greater access to the information we release under FOIA. In addition, last year, we redesigned the content, navigation, look, and feel of our public-facing FOIA website, and we updated our existing web-based FOIA Library with information most requested by the public.
In FY 2013, our agency responded to 39,455 FOIA requests. Our backlog at the end of the fiscal year consisted of only 67 pending requests, representing a scant 0.2 percent of our total FOIA workload for the year.
Social Security's Exceptional Performance in Processing FOIA Requests
The Center for Effective Government's "Making the Grade: Access to Information Scorecard 2014" evaluated the performance of the 15 federal agencies that received the greatest number of FOIA requests in FY 2012. The Social Security Administration was the top performer in processing FOIA requests that year, earning a "B" grade.
We plan to conduct further research on commercial and government off-the-shelf software and the collaborative FOIAonline (https://foiaonline.regulations.gov/foia/action/public/home) tracking and processing tool to fit our FOIA support system. We are searching for a system that allows requesters to track requests electronically. We anticipate examining alternatives to our current automated FOIA support system by the third quarter of FY 2015.
See Appendix D for more information about our FOIA organization, how we process FOIA requests, and initiatives underway to improve our FOIA program. You may find detailed information about our FOIA program at www.socialsecurity.gov/foia/.
Proactive Disclosures
We created a proactive disclosures web page in our FOIA Library at www.socialsecurity.gov/foia/readingroom.html#a0=0, which provides the public a single location to view the records we have proactively released. Of course, due to the personal nature of much of the information in our records, we are unable to post certain records publicly. We review our records on an ongoing basis and assess the feasibility of proactively disclosing information.
Examples of Proactive Disclosures throughout the Agency:
We provide policy makers at our agency, the White House, Congress, and the public policy community with:
We also provide the public with:
Research and statistical material is available in print and online. We make our research and policy publications available on our public website at www.socialsecurity.gov/policy/. You also may find a list of frequently requested statistics at www.socialsecurity.gov/foia/List%20of%20Frequently%20Requested%20SSA%20Statistics.pdf.
We provide targeted information related to employment support for beneficiaries:
We have a robust privacy program. Our Office of Privacy and Disclosure leads and participates in a variety of privacy-related activities and workgroups to ensure the agency's overall privacy compliance. Our compliance documents are:
NOTE: The Social Security Administration is not subject to the provisions of the Federal Agency Data Mining Reporting Act of 2007; therefore, we are not required to prepare Federal Agency Data Mining Reports.
Records Management
Our Office of Budget, Finance, Quality, and Management maintains and oversees agency policies and procedures governing our records. We are taking actions to meet records management requirements in the M-12-18 issued by the Office of Management and Budget on August 24, 2012 by the required due dates. For comprehensive information about our efforts and our records management program, visit www.socialsecurity.gov/records-management/.
Legislation and Congressional Affairs
We provide online access to agency testimony before Congress, information about pending Social Security-related legislation, legislative proposals and reports we have sent to Congress, and histories of significant recent legislation affecting our programs. We post testimony and legislation during the current Congress separately from testimony and legislation for prior Congresses (back to the 104th Congress) so that the most recent information is quick and easy to find. Program resources, such as fact sheets, quick links to actuarial cost estimates for solvency proposals, and budget information are also available.
Our Internet home page includes a section titled "Business & Government" with a drop-down menu where you can find a link for "Congress." However, much of the information on our legislative program and activities at www.socialsecurity.gov/legislation is of interest to the public as well. The site also links to the legislative histories of Social Security program-related legislation going back to 1935 (www.ssa.gov/history/legislativehistory.html). These histories are a vital resource for researchers, drafters, and analysts.
In addition to our ongoing effort to update the site as time and resources permit, we continue building our online repository of materials that may be of interest either for historical reasons or to promote transparency. For example, since the publication of our 2012 Open Government Plan, we have added four years of content to our repository of legislation and testimony from previous periods (the 105th and 104th Congresses).
Congressional Requests
We receive congressional inquiries by phone, letter, fax, and via the Internet. The inquiries generally involve constituent-related Social Security issues, program policies, or requests for program or agency information. These inquiries most often come into the Office of the Commissioner, local Social Security field offices, state disability determination services, and our Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs.
In most cases, the office receiving the initial inquiry addresses the questions raised and provides a response to the congressional office. No matter which office handles an inquiry, program experts thoroughly research and respond to all congressional inquiries.
Goal II: Expand Participation
"We're also soliciting the best ideas from our people in how to make government work better."
---President Barack Obama, September 2011
We will continue to invite the public to participate with us in open government. We greatly benefit from their ideas and opinions. We want to expand on the successes we have achieved and further infuse participation principles into:
We will support public participation by:
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Objective 1: Provide the public with easy and visible access to participate with Social Security
In 2012 and 2013, to solicit and prioritize ideas from disability partners and the public on evaluating the disability determination process, we used a crowd-sourcing tool for public engagements. We plan additional outreach efforts for the next several years to solicit input from disability partners and the public early in the process to help in the development of disability policies and procedures. In the next two years, we will solicit ideas about various topics in the disability determination process, such as documentation requirements for medical listings evaluations and how we decide if disability benefits should continue or end. We will also consider using a crowd-sourcing tool to solicit and prioritize feedback from our agency components about the implementation and use of revised disability determination policies.
We maintain a proactive approach in providing the public with information and engagement opportunities that are easy to access, such as webinars. In the last few years, we produced and hosted more than 25 interactive web events on a variety of topics, including our representative payee program, Social Security's importance to young workers, and online business services. We presented a webinar titled "Benefit Verification Letters Online, Easy as 1-2-3" to advocates, social service agencies, and other third parties as a way to demonstrate the ease and convenience of our online service options, more specifically the access to benefit verification letters.
Our Ticket to Work Program also presents a recurring series of Work Incentive Seminar Events (WISE), designed to educate beneficiaries about the Ticket to Work program and available work incentives. These WISE webinars cover important topics for Social Security beneficiaries, including self-employment opportunities for people with disabilities, free support services for young adults in transition to work, and choosing appropriate service providers.
Objective 2: Provide new and easier methods for public involvement in our program administration
We are using social media tools to engage audiences in discussions about our strategic planning, programs, and services. We strengthened our online communications by forming a Social Media Response Team. Our team moderators respond to comments users post on our Facebook and Twitter accounts, answering questions from the public on a wide variety of our programs and services. The moderator responses to individuals often are helpful to our larger base of Facebook fans and Twitter followers. The Social Media Response Team has responded to over 1,000 inquiries in the last year, providing direct responses to questions and links to our online services or more detailed information to enhance the public's understanding of our programs. Our fans and followers numbers have increased by tens of thousands, and we believe our more vibrant, interactive forum has contributed significantly to the growth.
To further foster participation, we enhanced our online communication tools to facilitate communications and community building with external audiences. We redesigned our web pages in 2013 as we launched our mobile version of www.socialsecurity.gov. Concurrently we updated our other web pages, including the open government portal at www.socialsecurity.gov/open and the FOIA Library at www.socialsecurity.gov/foia/readingroom.html to help the public more easily find information about our programs and our available online services.
Continuing our efforts to reach our audience, in March 2013, we increased our social media outreach. Building on our success with establishing a Social Media Board to oversee the creation and posting of daily messages on our Facebook and Twitter sites, we added an Internet social media hub (www.socialsecurity.gov/socialmedia/), a directory of digital communication channels that helps us reach a broader audience and engage citizens. We will update our hub with additional information related to policies that govern agency use of social media and social media tools. Information on the hub will support others in the agency who plan to use social media tools to communicate with their external audiences, such as advocacy groups, congressional staff, the press, potential staff recruits, and partners.
We also:
Compassionate Allowances—Participation and Collaboration in Developing Disability Policy
Compassionate Allowances are a way of quickly identifying diseases and other medical conditions that are so serious that they obviously meet our disability standards, based on minimal objective medical information. Since 2007, we have collaborated with the public, the National Institutes of Health, Alzheimer's Association, National Organization for Rare Disorders, policy researchers, and our own expert medical staff to determine which medical conditions to include in the Compassionate Allowance process. In 2008, we developed the initial list of 50 Compassionate Allowance conditions based on information we received at public outreach hearings (we have held seven Compassionate Allowances public outreach hearings), public comments on an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, input from our employees, and the advice of medical and scientific experts.
To date, we have approved more than 200,000 people with severe disabilities through this fast-track disability process. We actively work to increase the number of conditions identified as Compassionate Allowances. On January 13, 2014, we announced 25 new Compassionate Allowances conditions, bringing the total list of conditions to 225.
Goal III: Increase Collaboration
"Creating a more Open Government requires a sustained commitment by public officials and employees at all levels of government; it also requires an informed and active citizenry."
---The Second United States National Action Plan, December 2013
We reach out to external organizations in support of public service and greater openness across government. We plan to expand on our to-date progress through additional collaborative efforts.
Objective 1: Improve collaboration with government and non-government entities
We will expand our innovative partnerships and use technology to improve collaboration within and outside our agency.
Here are just a few examples of our ongoing collaboration efforts:
Objective 2: Collaborate with others to provide new and easier methods for public and employee engagement during agency decision-making processes
We will post information at www.socialsecurity.gov/open/ to provide the public with information about collaboration opportunities. In addition to expanding our engagement with the public, we also are committed to increasing employee participation and are building a modern infrastructure necessary to support such efforts. Our use of a tool called IdeaCAT is one example of how we are collaborating to improve employee satisfaction, openness to new ideas, and overall customer service. The IdeaCAT team was one of the first recipients of our agency's Open Government Honor Award.
We developed IdeaCAT in September 2010 based on lessons learned from the collaborative development of the Electronic Claims Analysis Tool (eCAT), a tool to document the analysis of a disability case. IdeaCAT is a web-based, crowd-sourcing tool that allows users to submit ideas for enhancements to eCAT. IdeaCAT allows users to vote and comment on the ideas that others submit. This tool helps prioritize improvements to eCAT.
The entire IdeaCAT process is transparent because the IdeaCAT team provides feedback and status on comments via its web page and newsletters. In addition, IdeaCAT posts all comments without moderation, permitting the user community to "police" the discussion if necessary.
Goal IV: Internalize Open Government Principles
Our guiding principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration require us to approach our jobs in new ways and learn to think about service in new terms. In keeping with these principles, we are implementing the Digital Government Strategy tenets and requirements across the agency. We update our Digital Government Strategy Report quarterly at www.socialsecurity.gov/digitalstrategy/.
Objective 1: Infuse Open Government principles throughout the agency
We will remain committed to infusing open government principles into our business processes.
For example:
Open Government Honor Award
In 2013, we honored three teams with our Open Government Honor Award, a Commissioner-level award recognizing employee efforts in promoting an open and transparent government. The three recognized teams were:
The Limited English Proficiency Video Vignette Team, which collaborated with agency components and 13 other agencies to produce a video training series that gives federal employees training to better recognize and provide service to individuals with limited English proficiency;
The Health IT Partnership Team, which applied the principles of participation, collaboration, and transparency to establish a health records exchange with 20 providers in 19 states and Washington, DC; and
The Cook County Jail Secure Messaging Team in the Chicago Region, which set up a streamlined approach to prisoner reporting employing the Government Services Online secure messaging system.
Objective 2: Incorporate open government principles into the way we organize and do our work
To understand our executive leadership structure, see the agency organization in Appendix F, Chart 1.
Highlights of actions related to organizational support for open government include:
We also support open government through internal processes and systems. Some examples include:
A Message to All SSA and DDS Employees
Subject: Imagine the Future: Serving America in 2025 – Let Us Hear from YOU!
Hello, I am Ruby Burrell, SSA's Chief Strategic Officer, and I am pleased to share with you the exciting work we are doing to help the agency map out new paths for serving the American public in the next 10 to 15 years. We also are eager to get your input on this important topic.
My team, the Office of the Chief Strategic Officer, is working with the National Academy of Public Administration, to develop a long-range vision and high-level strategic plan – we call it "Vision 2025" – to better position us to meet the long-term future service needs of our diverse customer population. We see Social Security's 2025 service delivery model using new and innovative technologies to deliver great service and value to the American people. We are thinking beyond smartphones, tablets, and wristwatches to ready ourselves for yet unrealized technology that could lead to service channels and platforms we cannot yet imagine.
Of course, we will continue to need the efforts of our invaluable employees, who will use these high-tech venues, tools, and virtual settings, to process our work and administer our programs and services.
So please join us in imagining the future! We have established an online engagement forum for you to participate in our discussions and contribute your perspective on how we will serve America in 2025. I invite you to share your ideas through our Vision 2025 forum, which will be available through May 2.
Thank you.
Ruby Burrell
Chief Strategic Officer
Objective 3: Align open government activities with our mission and strategic goals
We incorporated open government principles in developing the plan for our updated Agency Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2014-2018 (www.socialsecurity.gov/asp/plan-2014-2018.pdf), released in March 2014. We used broad-based internal and external engagements to determine the appropriate goals and strategies. We will infuse open government principles into our implementation of those strategies, and into our methods for measuring our performance against the goals. In addition, the Information Resources Management Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2014-2017 (www.socialsecurity.gov/irm/IRM_2014.pdf), also released in March 2014, includes the technology framework for supporting our open government efforts.
We are in the process of developing a long-term strategy to help prepare the agency for success in the years ahead. As we develop this strategy, we are asking questions such as, "How should Social Security operate differently in the next 10-15 years to accomplish its mission?" and "How might a changing operational environment affect Social Security's ability to deliver services effectively and efficiently in the future?" Work on a long-term strategy is vital, as it will allow us to proactively anticipate and address challenges, and position us well to take advantage of new opportunities when they arise.
Highlights of alignment between agency mission, strategic goals, and major agency efforts and the open government initiative include:
Objective 4: Provide public access to our open government performance measures and results
We provide information about open government measures and results. For example:
Objective 5: Support the transfer of open government ideas, tools, and other materials
We support the transfer of open government across the agency. Some actions underway include:
Internal Social Enterprise Platform
An organization as large and geographically dispersed as our agency must harness the collective talent and expertise of employees to solve problems. In 2013, we benchmarked the use of innovation management systems at other agencies and in the private sector to identify industry best practices and leveraged the project experience of our staff. We piloted one tool to assess its suitability in 2012 and 2013, which we named SSA Engage. We are using the lessons from that experience to explore the best options for an enterprise platform. Meanwhile, we continue to use SharePoint throughout the agency, as well as crowd-sourcing tools. Recommendations to create an environment for exchange of ideas and to harness collective talent (blogs, social software, etc.) are included in several agency-level human capital plans currently under review. Our Information Resources Management Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2014-2017, states our commitment to "explore and expand internal social enterprise platform to allow employees agency-wide to take part in knowledge sharing…"
Section III: Open Government Flagship and Major Initiatives
Each of the initiatives in this section supports at least one of the open government principles, furthering our efforts to improve transparency, participation, or collaboration.
Open Government Flagship Initiative—Message Center
Overview - When fully implemented, the public can access alerts, announcements, email, and online notices through our secure Message Center within my Social Security accounts. Agency employees will securely communicate with the public through the Message Center application by posting alerts and announcements, emailing, and providing online notices. As a way to expand capability across applications and platforms, we will also provide high-quality support through video communications, click-to-talk, instant messaging features, and screen sharing within my Social Security and other parts of our Internet site. The Message Center will allow us to provide online support to anyone, anywhere, at any time. The Message Center supports transparency and responds to customer requests for these services.
By FY 2015, we plan to release generic alerts, such as alerts about office closures or new applications announcements within my Social Security. These alerts will not contain personally identifiable information. The public will receive these alerts via their personal email or text messages, per the individual's request. In addition, we will provide an online notice and a click-to-talk feature.
Public outreach - To ensure we are meeting the public's needs; we will elicit user feedback as part of the development for Message Center.
Measurement of improvement – During our first year, we will track usage and develop ongoing metrics. We expect to measure the number of registrants and the level of activity. We anticipate that increased information sharing will provide high-quality service without adding to the backlog of customers seeking service, and reduce the burden on our frontline employees. We may use processing time, accuracy, and customer satisfaction measures to assess improvement in transparency and access to information and services.
Sustainability and continued improvement - The launch of the Message Center is part of an ongoing plan to develop a broad range of online services within my Social Security. As public demand for online services increases, the Message Center plays a foundational role in our online communications strategy.
Major Initiatives
1. Health Information Technology (IT)
Health information technology (IT) will reduce the time to obtain the medical records needed to support disability determinations and will help us manage that information more efficiently. Using health IT provides:
We developed this initiative based on input from and collaboration with medical associations, health privacy advocates, medical providers, and state and federal agencies such as Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DoD). We collaborated with a growing number of partners to prove – in a live production setting – the capability to obtain and process medical records faster using health IT. Health IT fully automates the process for obtaining medical evidence. The time it takes us to complete a disability claim should decrease as the number of treating sources using health IT increases. By the end of FY 2013, we had partnerships with various medical networks and providers in 19 states and the District of Columbia.
We plan to continue our outreach efforts in FYs 2014, 2015, and 2016, to include additional medical providers and connect with VA and DoD on the eHealth Exchange. The eHealth Exchange is a community of partners who share health information under a common trust framework and a common set of rules. We will also continue to collaborate with government-wide health IT policy and standards setting advisory panels, workgroups and task forces. We participate in these committees to ensure that Social Security's unique business needs are included in national standards and policies. For example, we participate on the Office of the National Coordinator's, Policy Committee's Privacy and Security Task Force that focuses on resolving questions related to health care records and the protection of personally identifiable information.
Each year, we make about three million initial disability claim determinations. In FY 2012, about 17,000 initial claims contained health IT medical evidence, about 0.5 percent of the workload. In FY 2013, about 45,000 initial claims contained health IT medical evidence, an increase to about 1.5 percent of the total initial claims. We anticipate this percentage reaching 2.5 percent in FY 2014 and 4 percent in FY 2015.
2. Wounded Warrior Collaboration
We are collaborating with the VA and DoD to improve the transfer of medical information and speed the disability decision process for Wounded Warriors, service members, and veterans. We are using a two-phased approach to improve health information sharing with DoD. The initial phase uses existing electronic data sharing technologies to automate the exchange of medical information. Using this approach, records from all DoD medical treatment facilities are sent via a single request from the state disability determination service. The request goes to a centralized DoD site, which pulls a standard set of information from available electronic records. We implemented this process nationwide at the end of FY 2012. It has proven to be much more timely and efficient for both our agency and the DoD. We have had a similar semi-automated process in place with the VA since 2006.
The phase-two plan reflects our long-term approach and aims to improve medical information sharing by using the federal eHealth Exchange to request and receive medical records from DoD and VA, just as we do with other health IT partners. We plan to launch a pilot in 2014. In preparation for the pilot, the DoD and VA will implement solutions to process patient authorizations for the release of protected health information that comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy rule.
3. Data Exchanges--Plans for Improvement and Expansion
We share certain electronic information through agreements with federal, foreign, state, local, and private organizations. This data typically contains personal information, and agencies disclose it in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, and specific legal authorities, using secure transmission methods to protect the information. We share our information to eliminate manual processes, reduce the burden on citizens in obtaining benefits across agencies, reduce improper payments, enhance the administration of our programs as well as other public programs, or for the advancement of research. Detailed information about our data exchange program is located at www.socialsecurity.gov/dataexchange.
Current and Planned Enhancements
We look forward to new opportunities in the coming years to expand on our open government initiatives. Specifically, we will continue to:
Examples of Alignment of our Open Government (OG) Plan
with our Agency Strategic Plan (ASP) Goals
ASP Goal 1:
ASP Goal 2:
ASP Goal 3:
ASP Goal 4:
ASP Goal 5:
Deliver Innovative, Quality Services
Strengthen the Integrity of Our Programs
Serve the Public through a Stronger, More Responsive Disability Program
Build a Model Workforce to Deliver Quality Services
Ensure Reliable, Secure, and Efficient Information Technology Services
OG Goal I: Improve Transparency
Provide direct access to information and notices for individuals and designated third parties
Modernize and improve our system for recording earnings and encouraging workers to verify their earnings
Update appellate and other disability program datasets
Expand use of agency data to enable our adjudicators to improve the accuracy of their decision-making
Produce webinars to increase customers' understanding of our programs, as well as inform them of our policies and requirements
OG Goal II: Expand Participation
Use crowd-sourcing tools for policy development
Use focus groups, usability testing, electronic town hall meetings, and webinars to foster participation
Develop and maintain social media policies and practices for our employees
Expand the availability of online applications using responsive design
OG Goal III: Increase Collaboration
Partner with other agencies and community organizations to provide service to Native Americans
Collaborate with other federal agencies to identify common solutions to protecting and securing customers' information
Work with the Department of Labor to update our occupational information; partner with other agencies and organizations to further modernize key aspects of our disability process
Update and expand use of IdeaCAT and other adjudicative tools
Share electronic medical information through data exchanges and expedite processing of disability claims
Goal IV: Internalize Open Government
Foster use of programmatic data internally
Set up various ways to receive and consider employee input on policies and procedures
Support use of internal tools such as IdeaCAT
Maintain Open Government Steering Committee and Commissioner-level open government honor award
Use Work Incentive Seminar Event webinars to reach people with disabilities, as well as educate agency employees on our employment support programs; explore and expand enterprise social media platforms
Flagship: Message Center
Support innovative, quality online services
Build out the infrastructure for enhanced communications around online services
Status of Flagship Initiatives in 2012 Open Government Plan 2.0
View an item-by-item implementation progress web page at www.socialsecurity.gov/open/plan-progress-2012.html#a0=0 reporting on commitments in our Open Government Plan.
We completed the flagship and three major initiatives in our previous Open Government Plan on schedule. Below is a brief summary of each initiative.
Flagship: Enhanced Services for People Receiving Benefits
To make our services even more accessible, this initiative consolidated our existing online services into a single "gateway," which uses a robust and easy-to-use authentication process to safeguard personal identity information. We wanted to provide a common online user experience that is flexible enough to meet the needs of our broad customer base. Our goal was to enable expanded use of our online services and to make those services easy to use. Because we complete over 100 million actions to keep beneficiaries' records current each year, we want to offer those people who can help themselves a convenient way to do so.
As we built the gateway to services, we used participatory tools and approaches to evaluate its impact and benefit. We collaborated with industry experts and conducted usability testing with the public. Members of the public, as well as our employees, provided important insight through our online dialogue and by submitting comments and suggestions.
We use surveys and web analytics to evaluate the impact of this initiative and to identify future enhancements. This initiative is a key part of our growing suite of online services, and we will improve it as necessary to meet the changing needs of the public.
NOTE: We update our customer satisfaction survey results each year on Data.gov at https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/social-security-administration-data-on-overall-customer-service-satisfaction-c9b99.
We established the following customer service standard: Our quarterly ACSI score average will remain above the level considered as a "top performer" (80) by ACSI.
Health Information Technology Initiative
In the first phase of this initiative, we planned to expand exchange of medical records through health information technology (IT) to various medical networks and providers in 13 States. We completed this milestone in FY 2012. Next, we planned to continue our outreach efforts to onboard additional medical providers and connect with the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on the eHealth Exchange (formerly known as Nationwide Health Information Network ). Efforts are ongoing to capture, prioritize, and implement requirements (technical and policy) for this exchange. In FY 2013, we expanded our efforts with 4 additional partner organizations, bringing the total exchanges to 20 providers in 19 states and the District of Columbia.
Virtual Life Electronic Record Wounded Warrior Collaboration
This initiative supported nationwide expansion of the DoD/Social Security Interim Health Data Sharing Initiative. Nationwide expansion began in April 2012; we completed it in August 2012.
We also planned to pilot health IT exchange with other federal agencies using the eHealth Exchange. We are working with DoD and VA on an ongoing basis to determine how to extract and package clinical data we need and to validate patient authorizations electronically. We expect to pilot this activity by December 2014.
We planned to make eAuthorization available for claimants filing online. We accomplished this in April 2012. We also planned to make eAuthorization available for claimants who file an online disability appeal. We completed this on August 11, 2012. Additionally, we wanted to expand eAuthorization (form SSA-827) to first-party appeals filed online. We now offer adults filing an Internet Disability Report - Appeal (i3341) on their own behalf to electronically sign and submit the SSA-827. Effective December 2012, adults can use our attestation process to sign and submit form SSA-827 during in-office or telephone interviews.
We intended to explore alternatives for third party filers and accomplished this by making available the telephone or in-person attestation process when a third party completes an online application or appeal forms.
Federal Transparency Initiatives
We support the President's agenda for the democratization of data. We added datasets to Data.gov in the past several years in accordance with Office of Management and Budget Memorandum M-10-06 and the overall principles outlined in the Digital Government Strategy.
We are also aware of the need to provide the data and information in a context that is understandable and displayed through visualization tools that make sense to the public. We receive ideas and comments from employees and the public about additional datasets and information that they wish to see posted. We use this input, along with executive guidance, in our strategic planning process to ensure that the principle of transparency becomes part of our ongoing operating procedures. The input also helps prioritize our ongoing release of datasets and information not previously available to the public.
We are a partner agency in the eRulemaking initiative known as the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS), publicly accessible at www.regulations.gov. We began working with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other partner agencies in the development of FDMS in June 2004. We and the other partner agencies worked with EPA and the contractor to design a user-friendly system where the public can submit comments on pending regulations. We started using FDMS on September 25, 2006.
Staff members from our Office of Regulations actively serve on several committees in the ongoing development and modifications to FDMS and the public-facing website at www.regulations.gov.
Information Technology Dashboard
In response to evolving Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reporting requirements and enhancements to the Information Technology (IT) Dashboard, we simplified processes and procedures for reporting program performance data and ensuring the quality and timeliness of the data. We increased our focus on the initial quality of reports. As a result, while we review at both the program team and program management levels, there are fewer errors to delay processing. In addition, we increased the frequency of our regular updates to Dashboard data in the area of project performance against established performance measures. This change enhanced the accuracy of performance information, project execution data, risks, and all facets of our major IT investment submissions and ensured that Dashboard reporting is as close to real time as possible.
For more information, visit www.whitehouse.gov/open/innovations/it-dashboard.
Our responsibilities under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) included:
We completed implementation for nearly all activities funded by ARRA with the exception of construction of our new data center. We expect to complete construction by July 2014 and complete migration to the new data center by the end of fiscal year 2016.
To further transparency, we post ARRA-related information on our ARRA website and provide links to Recovery.gov, USAspending.gov, and other sites that may be of interest to the public.
For more information, visit www.Recovery.gov.
System for Award Management - SAM.gov
Social Security is a voting member of and participates in the Change Control Board, a group that approves and prioritizes enhancements across shared services platforms, specifically www.sam.gov.
Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act - FSRS.gov
We provided three individuals to participate on the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act Subaward Reporting System (FSRS) focus group, which will be working on incorporating and improving the FSRS functionality into SAM.gov. We also participate in the Interagency Award Environment focus group.
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance - CFDA.gov
We maintain full descriptions for the public about our grant programs on the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance website at www.cfda.gov. Whenever there are major changes to existing programs or new programs are added to our portfolio, we submit this information to the site. Potential grantees can use this site to find out the objectives, proper uses, and eligibility requirements for our programs.
The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) requires information on federal awards be made available to the public via a single, searchable website. Accordingly, OMB established the USAspending.gov website. To improve transparency and provide the public information regarding how we are using the resources entrusted to our agency, we use USAspending.gov to post details regarding our, contracts, grant activity, and benefit payments. Our benefit payments include those obligated from the Old Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance trust funds, as well as those under the Supplemental Security Income and Special Veterans Benefits programs.
OMB issued guidelines for reporting spending data to the USAspending website in Memorandum M-09-19, Guidance on Data Submission under FFATA. In June 2013, OMB issued guidelines requiring agencies to assure the quality of financial data on USAspending.gov by validating information submitted through the portal. We expect to be in full compliance with these guidelines.
Contract Data
OMB M-09-19 requires us to provide contract data to the Federal Procurement Data System Next Generation (FPDS-NG), which posts the data to USAspending.gov. It also requires us to provide a data file containing program source data (i.e., Treasury Account) directly to USAspending.gov via the USAspending Data Submission and Validation Tool (DSVT) until USAspending is capable of accepting program source data from FPDS-NG.
Federal Financial Assistance
OMB M-09-19 requires us to submit grant and assistance payments data using the Federal Assistance Award Data System (FAADS) PLUS format. Federal financial assistance includes grants and assistance payments made under federal domestic assistance programs listed in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance.
Open Procurement and Vendor Outreach
In accordance with the guidance contained in the Office of Federal Procurement Policy's February 2, 2011 memorandum on addressing misconceptions to improve communication with the industry during the acquisition process, we developed and published a formal Vendor Communication Plan at www.socialsecurity.gov/oag/acq/SSA%20Vendor%20Communication%20Plan.pdf. This plan discusses the steps we will take to enhance outreach to our industry partners and reduce unnecessary barriers to competition in the procurement process.
Additionally, to further facilitate exchanges with industry and promote internal market research efforts, we created a centralized repository that allows interested vendors to submit capability statements and other marketing information to our agency. This tool is a searchable database that will help agency personnel to identify qualified sources of supply and services and to promote exchanges of important procurement information with industry. View guidance on the use of our vendor repository at www.socialsecurity.gov/oag/Vendor_Repository.pdf.
Declassification Program
Freedom of Information Act Program
We employ a centralized approach for handling all Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and appeals submitted to the agency. Our centralized approach fosters uniformity in training, which enhances our ability to consistently apply a presumption of openness in our FOIA decisions and administrative appeal processes. The Office of Privacy and Disclosure (OPD) directs all FOIA activities within the agency, including developing FOIA policies and procedures, establishing national guidelines for handling FOIA requests, publishing the Annual Report on FOIA activities, and reviewing FOIA and Privacy Act requests and appeals to determine the proper disclosure of records. Agency offices support OPD's efforts by providing documents and other information that responds to the incoming FOIA requests. One agency component in the Office of Operations is responsible for responding to all FOIA requests seeking information regarding applications for Social Security cards.
OPD's Organization Chart and regional alignment is available at www.socialsecurity.gov/foia/OPD_Organization_Chart.pdf.
How We Process Requests
We receive FOIA requests via the Internet, by fax, by email, and through the mail. Visit our Make a FOIA Request web page at www.socialsecurity.gov/foia/request.html to learn how to make a FOIA request. We capture all FOIA requests in our electronic Freedom of Information Act (eFOIA) system.
We scan and image all requests submitted by mail, email, and fax into eFOIA; requests submitted using our online request form go directly into eFOIA. As soon as we enter a request into the system or a person submits an online request, eFOIA generates an acknowledgement letter. This letter confirms receipt of the request and provides the requester with their FOIA tracking number. Additionally, the letter supplies a telephone number to an automated voicemail system that the requester can call to inquire on the status of his or her request. OPD maintains a policy of responding to all calls placed to this number within one working day.
We may charge fees to process certain FOIA requests. The eFOIA system provides members of the public with the option to mail a FOIA request or to submit their requests and pay the fee online, which accelerates our response and reduces our administrative costs.
We process requests on "first in, first out" basis. We strive to handle each request within 20 days from the date we receive it. However, sometimes it may take us longer depending on the complexity of the request, the volume of records sought, the location of the documents, and our workload. A request may require us to seek paper records that we collectively maintain in multiple geographic locations or in archived storage. Prior to releasing records in response to a FOIA request, OPD conducts a thorough internal review to ensure that we apply our privacy and disclosure rules consistently and accurately. The complexity and nature of each request determines the extent of our level of review, which can include input and review by other offices within our agency.
Improvement Initiatives
We are improving our ability to respond to Privacy Act and FOIA requests in an accurate and timely manner. In FY 2013, we convened a FOIA Business Process Work Group that reviewed all aspects of our FOIA workflow, from the time we receive and log in a request, to the final review before we release documents. We immediately implemented the workgroup's recommendations to create a FOIA Desk Guide and an analyst Case Summary sheet. Based on the workgroup's recommendation, we also added a FOIA Library section to our color-coded case tracking sheets.
OPD maintains an in-house FOIA/Privacy Act training program for analysts that focuses on various technical, legal, and "hands-on" issues involved in processing requests. Some of these sessions focus on processing issues that can cause unnecessary delays in responding. This training provides a formal platform to emphasize the importance of presumptive disclosure, to discuss recent disclosures, and to examine new possibilities for additional disclosures.
OPD maintains a strong commitment to encourage and provide staff the opportunity to attend FOIA training from external sources, such as that sponsored by or in conjunction with the Department of Justice, university programs, and not-for-profit organizations. We conducted several in-house training sessions to push our technology advances. These training sessions included an overview of our shared drive to process requests electronically using Adobe Acrobat and e-Discovery software.
We use technology to enhance our FOIA capabilities:
Appendix E
Open Government Communications Actions
We engage external and internal audiences about our efforts and results on transparency, participation, and collaboration. Specifically, we:
In order to increase public knowledge and promote public scrutiny of agency services, we foster the public's use of the information we release. Our activities in this area include in-person meetings, conference appearances, social media, and other electronic participation and collaboration tools.
We use our Internet site (www.socialsecurity.gov) as a platform for sharing information and providing opportunities for participation and collaboration with the public. Internally, we use our Intranet as a platform for keeping our employees informed and engaging them in open government ideas and initiatives. We also use GovDelivery for interested members of the public to get notifications automatically when we update certain web pages.
Tools & Tactics
Externally we use:
Internally we use:
Chart 1 - Social Security Administration organization chart
Chart 2 - Office of the Chief Strategic Officer
Chart 3-Principal Open Government Executives and Components
Executive Lead for Open Government
Alan Lane, Executive Director of Open Government
Executive Accountable for Publicly Disseminated Federal Spending Information Integrity
Pete Spencer, Deputy Commissioner for Budget, Finance, Quality, and Management
Open Government Steering Committee Components
Whistleblower Protection
In August 2013, we published a Whistleblower Protection Ombudsman (WPO) web page to serve as an educational tool for our employees about whistleblower protections. The page includes contact information for the Office of the Inspector General's (OIG) WPO, background information on whistleblower protection and answers to commonly asked questions (http://oig.ssa.gov/whistleblower-protection).
In accordance with the Administration's second "Open Government National Action Plan for the United States of America," our WPO is working in conjunction with the agency's Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity (OCREO), to ensure that we and our OIG meet the requirements of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel's Title 5 United States Code section 2302(c) Certification Program.
The WPO, in conjunction with OCREO, will take the following steps to inform our employees of their rights and remedies under the prohibited personnel practices and whistleblower retaliation protection provisions of Title 5 of the United States Code:
Refreshed Plan Milestones and Completion Dates: 2014—2016
To view our progress on the Open Government Plan milestones, please see our implementation progress chart at www.socialsecurity.gov/open/plan-progress-2014.html.
Goals I –IV: Transparency, Participation, Collaboration, Internalizing
Open Government
Issue refreshed Open Government Plan and share it with public and employees
Post new high-value datasets/information holdings to Data.gov in 2014, 2015, and 2016
Foster use of agency data and solicit input from the public for prioritizing future data releases
Build an application to register new and update existing data assets
Within the data creation process, develop checkpoints to capture and promote open data
Incorporate data transparency considerations into the systems development lifecycle so we can release data in standard formats in a more efficient and automated way
Engage the public in providing input for disability program policy development
Provide the public with the opportunity to comment on our proposed regulations
Hold additional engagements on other potential areas for regulations changes
Provide information on other means to provide feedback on various topics
Use focus groups for public input and usability testing before launching online services
Hold engagements with the public and advocates regarding agency's services and programs
Further enhance our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) website and online reading room
Review FOIA cases to determine practicality of posting information on FOIA Library
Examine alternatives to FOIA system
Add items to the Proactive Disclosure web page
Give open government honor awards for employees to recognize achievements in advancing open government principles
Post our open government goals and our performance against the goals on our website
Build our online repository of congressional and legislative materials that may be of interest either for historical reasons or to promote transparency
Expand the use of social media tools to support transparency, participation, and collaboration
Improve the open government portal
Participate in projects with the Department of Treasury's Do Not Pay Program
Review the Annual Performance Plan to incorporate open government principles and activities
Display Whistleblower Protection informational posters throughout the agency and post to appropriate agency intranet pages
Provide new employees with written materials about the Whistleblower Protection Act
Issue statement to all agency employees about the Whistleblower Protection Act
Prepare and begin to show all new hires a video on demand to educate them about the Whistleblower Protection Act


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XY Monitors and Systems for Process Monitoring with 100% Quality in Manufacturing, Assembly and Product Testing
The maXYmos XY monitors make it possible to check and evaluate the quality of a product or production step on the basis of a curve. The user can apply evaluation objects in order to adapt the curve evaluation to the individual monitoring task. Based on this specification, the maXYmos can check each workpiece and decide whether the part is good or bad.
The maXYmos NC controls, monitors, evaluates and documents XY progressions for joining and press-fitting processes in combination with NC joining modules and the associated servo amplifier IndraDrive. The shape of the measurement curve allow the quality of individual manufacturing steps, assembly groups or even an entire product to be monitored and controlled in real-time.
Maximum Control for Your Processes. With the maXYmos Family.
In-process monitoring of joining and assembly processes
Early detection of quality variations in the production process
Transparency in product process enables fast feedback
Traceable process results
Economization of test routines

subset: commoncrawl


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Iowa Central has increased its overall enrollment for the number of International Students attending. The College has named an advisor who works closely to ensure that students are fully aware of the procedures for enrolling and services provided once they have arrived. The advisor meets regularly with the student, assisting them in adjustments to the campus and city life of Fort Dodge.
For more information on International Studies at Iowa Central contact Patty Croonquist at 800-362-2793 ext. 1175 or email@example.com.
Prospective international students applying for admission to Iowa Central must submit all documents by the deadline date in order to have sufficient time to process and mail the I-20.
Fall Semester (September start date) - July 1 deadline
Spring Semester (January start date) - November 1 deadline
The Admissions Office will NOT accept faxed or scanned copies of transcripts as official. Please allow sufficient time to mail the original documents. Send your copies to the following address:
Iowa Central Community College
International Admissions - Attn: Deb
One Triton Circle
Fort Dodge, IA 50501
Students who are maintaining F-1 status are eligible to work on-campus, however there is no guarantee that employment will be available. Work is restricted to 20 hours per week for international students. Internships are available after one year. OPT (Optional Practical Training) is available for up to one year after graduation.


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I recently hosted a kitchen product party. I know, at my advanced age, having one of these parties seems kind of out of character. I have not hosted any type of "buying" party for more years than I can remember. I tend to shy away from having or attending gatherings where the main motivation is for me to spend my money. Anyway, my daughter and a friend of hers (the brand consultant) talked me into having the party.
Surprisingly, it was more fun that I imagined. I invited my friends from the golf course, some girls I work with and also my sister-in-law. Of course not everyone invited came, but the group that did had a great time. The consultant provided the food (which she made as her pitch for the products) and also a specialty drink. My friends and I were so busy talking to each other and sampling both food and drink that, I am sure, we missed the really great parts of her cooking demonstrations.
It was interesting to watch a group of mostly older women learning new tricks in the kitchen. The majority of us have been around for more years than we would like to admit, but new gadgets are always fun no matter what your age. Kitchen scissors that will cut chicken bones (there must be some reason to need that), skinny rubber (or rather silicone) scrapers that can reach inside small bottles, a strainer to fit over a can to drain juice, and a herb infuser were just a few of the wonderments we saw. How did we get along for all these years without one? As my almost 4-year-old grandson would say, "I just don't know."
My daughter, also in attendance, wanted to know if she could have another bridal shower because she now knows after eight years and two children what she really needs in the kitchen. We all chuckled with her about that. One of my friends cannot live without the hamburger browner, chopper thing she had previously purchased. She said it is the best thing she has ever owned. We all grinned about that too, as we wrote it on our order sheet. Another friend, the proud owner of a mango wedger, does not know how she survived without this great product. If you like mangoes, you have to have one, she said. I haven't checked to see how many mango wedgers were ordered that night. I am sure more than one.
These kitchen utensils and gadgets brought us together for the evening and kept us together, enjoying everyone's company for more than three hours. All of us probably have more kitchen "stuff" than we can ever use, but a new garlic press or a new ice cream scoop will make our time in the kitchen a new adventure for a while.
But perhaps this is the most important thing ... The laughter that we, as friends and family, shared that night, will last far longer. Sometimes we get out of the habit of having friends or family at our house — I have made that mistake. Having a party, any kind of party, makes your home a happier place.
This party made my smile a little brighter for days. My new kitchen gadgets have all arrived now, and they are terrific, especially the hamburger browner, chopper thing — it's truly a wonder.
Nita Wyatt of Wyanet can be reached at email@example.com.


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Condors are certainly big news at Oakland Zoo right now with the recent arrival of the first two birds at the newly-opened Steve and Jackie Kane Condor Recovery Center. As you may know, condors are the highly endangered cousins of the vultures that you see in the skies all over California. And like vultures, condors play a vital role in the ecosystem by feeding on the carcasses of dead animals. When these animals are shot by hunters or ranchers, the lead pellets in turn are ingested by the condors. It takes only a tiny fragment of lead to make a condor very ill. These lead-poisoned birds need medical care in order to survive, which is where the zoo comes in. For the past three years we've been working with the Ventana Wildlife Society near Big Sur, California, an organization that has been leading conservation efforts to save the California condor for decades. When a sick bird is spotted in the mountains around Big Sur, it's carefully captured by Ventana's condor vets and conservationists and brought to our facility. Once here, it's treated by specially-trained Oakland Zoo veterinarians who provide treatment for the condor until it is healthy enough to be released back into the wild. And you'll be happy to know that one of the aforementioned birds has already gotten a clean bill of health and has been returned to her home!
But there's more to our condor program than medical procedures. In April, a small group of young zoo volunteers had the opportunity of attending a special camp about condors. Held at the research facility within the Ventana Wilderness Area, Condor Camp is a 4-day program that lets people observe and participate in the conservation work being done by the Ventana Wildlife Society. This was the first time kids from the zoo (both Teen Wild Guides and Teen Assistants) had the chance to participate in this exciting program. Over the four days they went on a night walk, spotted condors that were feeding on dead seals and sea lions at the Pacific Ocean, and visited the feeding slope and re-release cages used by the staff. They also got to check out the Condor Cam, the remotely-controlled video camera that allows visual monitoring of the birds from the research center. But most exciting, the kids got to use the radio antennas and other equipment to locate the condors, some of whom regularly migrate between Ventana and their other stronghold at Pinnacles National Monument.
And then there's Condor Class. An educational program for middle and high school students, this half-day class held at Oakland Zoo is an on-site version of the new interactive Field Biology Workshops. The 20-30 students (from science classes at a variety of local schools) get the chance to use the high-tech tools of biologists, such as telemetry equipment and GPS units to track the birds, which all have ID tags and their own individual radio frequencies. The students practice with this equipment by finding hidden stuffed animals, study condor data gathered in the field by biologists and make scientific recommendations for the birds' welfare based on that data.
So as you can see, there's a lot of condor activity going on at Oakland Zoo these days. Although the birds here aren't available for public viewing, you can be sure they're receiving the medical care they need to get them back out in the wild as soon as possible, thus helping to ensure their continued success in returning from the brink of extinction!


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Stores »
This cute necklace makes a perfect gift .
Who said you had to give red for valentine's day.
very romantic and victorian
great earrings
very cute, delicate and unique.
very cute and feminine
A great gift for your valentine.
These cute earrings made a great valentine's day gift.
a perfect gift for a young lady.
We are a community of shoppers sharing our best finds from across the web.
© 2017 ThisNext, Inc. ThisNext is a member of BUZZMEDIA Entertainment, a division of BUZZMEDIA.


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AN ARTIST and designer from East Lancashire has been become the creative director of Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn's first solo album.
Aitor Throup, who grew up in Brierfield and attended Blackburn College, has spent more than a year on the project, which involved designing the album sleeve and creating videos to go along with the songs.
The move into popular music is a slight departure for Aitor, 33, who has previously designed high street fashion clothes inspired by the 'football casual' style he saw on the streets as a youngster.
The former Gawthorpe High School student studied sciences in Blackburn before becoming a fashion student in Manchester.
Aitor lived in Massey Lane, Brierfield, with his mother before moving to Manchester and then London His graduate collection — When Football Hooligans Become Hindu Gods — won the International Talent Support Award in 2006 for graduate collection of the year.
Aitor said: "It started about a year ago I guess when I sat down in the studio with Damon. I saw the work evolve naturally. All I seemed to do for months was absorb the process that he was going through.
"I spent quite a lot of time talking to Damon about what his intentions were for individual songs and also for the piece as a whole.
"I started to build symbols and metaphors which could get to the core of what he was trying to get across.
"At the same time there was a very personal focus on him as an individual as it's his first solo album." For their debut video project Everyday Robots, Aitor created a 'digital portrait' of the performer using CGI software and facial reconstruction techniques to form cranial scans showing the digitised anatomy of Albarn's head.
The Blur frontman will release the album, also called Everyday Robots on April 28.
According to Albarn's Facebook page, the album will feature guest appearances from Brian Eno and Natasha Khan of Bat For Lashes.


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It's sad but true: In business, you can't trust anybody, especially outside vendors, and it's imperative to document everything in case the situation goes haywire. Along the same lines, you hope you can trust your own coworkers to keep their own paper trail -- but it might save a lot of grief to be wary. Why am I imparting this advice? Because I'm living the nightmare.
I work at the headquarters for a large corporation, and several years ago we negotiated a contract with a major phone vendor whose service we used at the headquarters location. We also had two remote locations several hundred miles apart bundled into the contract for additional discounts, though they were in different states.
[ More in IT careers: Negotiating and patience are keys to landing a landing a fair IT salary. | Get your weekly dose of workplace shenanigans by following Off the Record on Twitter and subscribing to the Off the Record newsletter. ]
Several years passed with only minor problems that generally were remedied in short order. During that time, the phone vendor was bought out by a larger company, but it seemed to have little effect on service.
But as we neared the end of the initial contract, call quality at Location A began deteriorating. Since a permanent fix seemed to elude the vendor, we exercised our option in the service-level agreement to discontinue service at the location. We rolled the numbers to a new vendor. Then the employees at that site pulled the old vendor's equipment off the wall and returned it in the prepaid, pre-addressed box supplied for the return.
I watched the monthly bill decrease as the final charges for service at Location A were tallied. After two months, we were down to only one remote location on the bill and no more computations.
But a few months later, the same deteriorating call quality hit Location B. Since we are a sales-oriented company, phone connectivity is extremely important. We decided to get a new vendor for this location also.
We contacted a new vendor, and the numbers were ported with no problem. The old vendor again provided a box for the equipment to be sent back. I began watching the old vendor's bill, relishing the day I would finally be clear of this duty. The next month's bill had a partial charge for a half-month's service, and the following month had a negative amount, as the vendor computed it now owed us $5.90. Since we still used the old vendor's service at HQ, the amount was to be credited to that account.
But the next month's bill set off alarms: We owed almost $800. I was on the phone immediately. The phone company said it had never received the equipment from Location B.
I contacted the location and discovered that someone had thrown out the prepaid box from the old vendor. I demanded to know why. Because it was empty, I was told.
I recontacted the phone company and had a new box issued. Several days later, I called the remote location and made sure the device was dismounted and packed up. I was told it was, and pickup was scheduled for the next day.


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Only the most noble of causes would inspire 100 people to dress up as Santa Claus on a freezing cold morning and run around a park.
But that is what happened in Nonsuch Park on December 8 as fundraisers in the shape of runners, walkers, and others who were simply there for the mince pies and mulled wine, descended on the grounds of Nonsuch Mansion for this year's Santa Dash.
The dashes are becoming increasingly popular as a festive way to raise money for good causes. From the Osaka Great Santa Run in Japan, to the Santa North Pole Dash in Missouri, in the US, people all over the globe are getting into the Christmas spirit for charity.
More than 100 Santa dashes are known to take place around the world to raise money for various causes.
The dash in Nonsuch Park raises money for St Raphael's Hospice in Cheam.
The hospice relies on donations, fundraising and legacies for £3m of the £4m a year it costs to offer specialist medical and nursing care for people with cancer and other serious illnesses, as well as providing support for their families.
It has cared for hundreds of patients each year for the past 25 years, free of charge.
When the dash was first introduced in 2009 it raised about £10,000 for the hospice, and following the success, a second Santa Dash on Wimbledon Common was launched in 2011.
Santas walk, jog and even sprint the one-mile course to raise money for charity.
Organisers send out Santa costumes a few weeks before the race and competitors can keep them afterwards so they can dress up again for Christmas Day.
A sea of red and white ebbed into the cafe at the mansion as runners tried to warm their cockles before the big race.
I ran my quickest around the course, finishing in joint first place with 15-year-old Jonathan Burstow, son of MP Paul and Councillor Mary.
Mick Walker, 64, brought 10 of his family along and they all dressed up for the part.
The builder from Wallington planned to race last year, but had to pull out. He said he was happy to put his body under strain for such a wonderful cause. He said: "My mum stayed at a hospice for her final days.
"The nurses were wonderful, they made her as comfortable as she could be at that stage of her life.
"The people who work at these hospices are fantastic people, if everyone could see what they do, I'm sure everyone would donate money to the cause.
"Nurses come to patients' houses and offer them everything they possibly can.
"We feel the stress and strain of losing a loved one, but these incredible people deal with death every day, and they get close to their patients, they are not simply patients, they see people behind that."
Mr Walker's nephew, Neil, had a similar story of how the hospice helped a loved one.
He said: "My mother-in-law died at the hospice but I know that she was incredibly well looked after there.
"She was there for her final two weeks. It all happened so quick. One day she was diagnosed with liver cancer, she spent two weeks in hospital, then she came home for a week before going to St Raphs.
"The people there are diamonds, they made us feel like she was getting the best possible care and they made us very much at ease in what was an incredibly distressing time.
"We were all still coping with the shock of the diagnosis when she died, it was all so quick. We came here today to offer our thanks and to raise as much money as we could for these wonderful people."
Reporter, James Pepper ran the Santa Dash to raise money for this newspaper's Give Your Quid campaign for St Raphael's Hospice.
For details or to make a donation go to yourlocalguardian.co.uk/giveyourquid.


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Mapping Prevention: YES we can!
"Prevention is hard!"
How many times have you heard that phrase? Many people understand primary prevention as a good concept, but it can be challenging. How does this approach to prevention play out in their community, and how do they get people to buy in to the concept that sexual violence is preventable?
I am so glad the fabulous folks at the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance (VSDVAA) have thought this through and created useful tools through their YES campaign! Although developed specifically by and for agencies and communities in Virginia, the "Yes: changing the future with fresh ideas and effective tools" campaign is useful for anyone looking for resources on how to frame prevention for their agency and community. The Recipe for Prevention card is a great place to start. Then be sure and check out the Prevention Talking Points that were created to supplement the recipe card.
For the 3rd installment of our Mapping Prevention video podcast series, I sat down for a chat with Jonathan Yglesias, Sexual Violence Prevention Coordinator for VSDVAA, about the campaign and the idea of branding prevention. Watch the video, and then let me know what you think about the campaign by posting a comment below.


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Excessive Gas and the Foods You Eat
Although passing gas can be embarrassing, it's also perfectly normal. Most people pass gas or belch more than 20 times a day. Your gut produces excessive gas for a number of reasons — swallowing too much air or changes in your diet, for example. Other common causes of gas are food intolerance and difficulty digesting certain foods. Even things that are good for you, such as fiber-filled foods, also cause gas, so eating them slowly and limiting or avoiding those that give you severe intestinal gas can help ensure you get good nutrition without all the bloating and discomfort.
Gas-Producing Foods: Vegetables
The sugars in some vegetables can lead to intestinal gas as they're digested. Onions and artichokes contain fructose, a type of sugar, while another sugar, raffinose, is found in asparagus, brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cabbage, among others. Vegetables that have soluble fiber, like peas, can cause gas as they're digested in the large intestine. Those with insoluble fiber should pass through without discomfort or excessive gas.
Gas-Producing Foods: Fruits
Some fruits contain another sugar, called sorbitol, which causes excessive gas. The biggest culprits include prunes, apples, peaches, and pears. Sugar-free gum and candy are sweetened with sorbitol, which is why they can lead to excessive gas, too. Fruits also contain soluble fiber, which when digested in the large intestine produces gas as a byproduct.
Gas-Producing Foods: Starchy Foods
Starches, which are very high in carbohydrates, can cause gas when your digestive tract goes through the process of breaking them down. At the top of the list are foods made with wheat, including breads, cereals, and pastas, all of which can lead to intestinal gas. Other common gas-producing foods in this category are corn and potatoes. Unlike all the other starches, the one that doesn't seem to create intestinal gas is rice.
Gas-Producing Foods: Milk and Dairy Products
Milk and other dairy products contain a sugar called lactose, which can be difficult for your digestive tract to process if your body doesn't have enough of the enzyme lactase. Cheese, ice cream, and milk all contain lactose, and may cause excessive gas in people. Those with lactose intolerance may need to skip these foods to avoid intestinal gas and belly pain.
Gas-Producing Foods: Oats
Though oatmeal makes a healthy and delicious breakfast, packed full of cholesterol-reducing fiber, it's also one of the foods that can cause intestinal gas. Oatmeal, oatmeal cookies, and other oat products — including oat bran — can all result in excessive gas because of their high soluble-fiber content. If you want to eat oats for their many health benefits, try slowly adding them to your diet in limited quantities to give your body time to adjust. If you're a fan of oat bran, try switching to wheat bran, which is high in insoluble fiber that passes through the body, usually without a problem.
Gas-Producing Foods: Beans
Everyone knows the ditty: "Beans, beans, the musical fruit…" As nutritious as beans are, they're notorious as a major gas-producing food. Beans create excessive gas for two reasons. First, they have a high raffinose content — the same gas-causing sugar found in certain vegetables. Second, beans also contain soluble fiber, whose digestion releases intestinal gas. Keep track not only of the amount of beans you eat, but also of other gas-producing foods you might be eating them with, like the cheese and onions you sprinkle on your three-bean chili. Or try an over-the-counter digestive aid like Beano.
Gas-Producing Foods: Sodas and Soft Drinks
A fizzy soda or sweet, fruity drink may taste delicious and refreshing, but your belly may have trouble digesting it — and uncomfortable stomach gas may be the result. The carbonation in sodas and soft drinks is just air, which can result in uncomfortable and excessive gas. Fructose, the sugar used to sweeten some of these beverages, can also be difficult to digest, resulting in intestinal gas.
- Last Updated: 12/28/12
- Last Updated: 12/28/12


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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/6/2013 (1517 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
BRISBANE -- He's been called a psychopath, a narcissist and a foul-mouthed crypto-fascist and Thursday morning he was sworn in as Australia's 28th prime minister.
Kevin Rudd, 55, has performed one of the most stunning political resurrections in Australian history almost three years to the day after his own colleagues nailed him to the cross and left him weeping over his fate in a frozen Canberra courtyard.
On June 24, 2010, 21/2 years after he won office, Rudd's own ruling Australian Labor Party threw him out of the PM's office and installed his deputy, Julia Gillard.
On Wednesday night, the ALP performed the same party trick, this time in reverse. Following reports that Rudd was manoeuvering to have a leadership vote by caucus members, Gillard called one and lost 57 to 45. The nation's first female PM was believed to be leading the party to a political Little Big Horn in an election to be held on Sept. 14 poll.
She quickly resigned as prime minister and announced that she will not seek re-election. She is expected to return to the practice of law.
The re-anointed Rudd, the stone rolled away from his tomb, stepped back onto the centre political stage with a flick of that floppy silver hair and a self-deprecating grin.
Now the Mandarin-speaking former diplomat who began life on a humble Queensland share farm is planning another miracle -- winning the September election.
It doesn't get any weirder than this.
Replace a slain leader with a slain leader, and even a Mafia hit man might raise an eyebrow.
What the Australian public make of it remains to be seen. What is certain is that three years of cold war between Gillard and Rudd have left a deep distaste for politics in an electorate hungry for stability.
The entire two-party system, which allows for a change of what many suspected is pretty much the same guard every few years, has never been more on the nose.
Two new parties are circling, hoping to make inroads into the 150-seat lower house and 76-seat Senate.
But there's no doubt Rudd, despite inspiring the hatred of many in his own party with his temper and relentless micromanaging, has an almost mystical hold on the Australian people guaranteed to lift Labor's flagging fortunes.
Highly cerebral in an anti-intellectual nation, ungainly amid a people who worship athleticism, an observant Christian living in a secular world, Rudd has skipped through hoops of paradox to become a celebrity politician without equal.
A colleague, Steve Gibbons, who holds the Labor seat of Bendigo, once called him a "psychopath with a giant ego,'' while everyone from Gillard to the now-former treasurer Wayne Swan have lined up to point out his failings as a leader and a human being,
Many Labor MPs were prepared to make the September election the party's own funeral pyre rather than allow Rudd back. After he won Wednesday night's ballot, a host of front-bench talent, including the defence minister, announced they were leaving politics.
But the people love him. Loyalty oaths are declared, intimate family anecdotes shared and spirits buoyed as crowds swarm around Rudd when he appears at a shopping mall or a suburban sausage sizzle.
Just last Sunday, after exiting the Anglican Church in South Brisbane after his weekly spiritual benediction, Rudd was showing that effortless ease he has with the Australian public.
As he strolled the footpath towards his favourite coffee shops, two pestering journalists flanking him, a distinguished woman of about 80 approached and asked how he felt.
"Fine,'' he replied. "And you?''
"I pray for you every day,'' she replied.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott might also try some prayers. Abbott's ride to power appeared effortless with Gillard as an opponent.
Rudd's return makes the September election a far more interesting contest.
Michael Madigan is the Free Press correspondent in Australia. He writes mostly about politics for the Brisbane-based Courier Mail.
Oz a 'time bomb'
Australia has been called a "leveraged time bomb waiting to blow" due to its reliance on sales of natural resources to China. For that reason, Australia is a microcosm of what awaits the world as China's economy slows, William Pesek writes.


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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 7/12/2012 (1719 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
If there's an African version of the Sound of Music ever made, it could be about the Mulimbwa family.
But instead of a large family of Austrian folk singers fleeing the Nazis, the nine Mulimbwas are gospel and hip-hop singers who fled Congolese government and rebel forces.
They didn't arrive by land over the Alps but by air from Uganda, where they waited for years with no place to call home -- until now.
On Tuesday, they arrived in Winnipeg to a jubilant throng of relatives and strangers welcoming them at Richardson International Airport with warm coats and hearts.
"We're still in shock," said Sylvie, the oldest child at 25. "We've been waiting for this a long time."
In 2002, they fled from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Uganda, where the refugees languished for close to a decade. Relatives and the congregation of First Presbyterian Church in Winnipeg sponsored them in 2006 to come to Canada. In mid-November, after waiting six years, they got the green light and their visas to come to this country.
"I had faith one day it would happen," said the father, Bahati, 55. He has a marketing degree and worked for a big sugar company in the DRC. He wants to go back to school to have his credentials recognized here and return to work as soon as possible.
"I'm very happy," said his wife, Esperance Safari, whose name means hope.
"After a long time of suffering, I've come here and I'm very excited," said the 50-year-old mother of six girls and a boy. The family is renting a small, two-storey home in St. Vital full of appliances they're learning to use for the first time.
The toaster, dishwasher, smooth-top electric stove and coffee maker are all foreign to them, said Nico, 17, their son. His aunt Stephanie and cousins who arrived in Winnipeg several years ago are helping them get accustomed to so many new things.
"They're teaching us," said Nico, offering a tour of the place. His sisters and parents share bedrooms on the second floor. He sleeps on a neatly made twin bed in the middle of the unfinished basement.
"We're not disappointed," said Odette, 19, the middle child. The youngest, Glodi, is 12.
They're looking forward to attending school but aren't yet sure where or when, said Nico.
In Kampala, Uganda, the refugee family relied on support from relatives in Winnipeg and could only afford to send Nico and his two younger sisters to school. The family was rich in musical talent, though. The four older girls, who attended school before they fled the DRC, stayed home singing gospel and hip-hop, forming a group called The Bahatizz.
Here less than a week, they've already got gigs lined up this Sunday at churches in Lorette just east of the city and in Winnipeg, and are eager for more, said Francine, 21. Their songs are about human rights and hope, Rachel said.
Hope got them through the hard times, said dad Bahati, who studied theology as well as marketing.
"We're going to start fresh."
The hard times for Bahati began more than two decades ago in eastern Congo. His brother-in-law was killed, leaving his older sister, Stephanie, with four boys and no support in a country with no social safety net. Bahati adopted his four nephews so they could attend the school run by his employer, the sugar company in south Kivu, where he was also a pastor at his church. Then fighting broke out and the sugar plant had to close.
Bahati's oldest nephew, Martin, was sponsored by the Canadian government to come to Canada in 2000. Martin, who works as a computer technician for Great-West Life, sponsored his three brothers and their mom to come to Winnipeg. In 2006, they sponsored Bahati and Esperance and their seven kids through Hospitality House Refugee Ministry and Martin's First Presbyterian Church.
The family was rejected in 2010, but appealed to the Federal Court with the help of human rights lawyer David Matas. The decision was overturned.
When the Mulimbwas arrived in Winnipeg, there was much singing and dancing.
"It was a dream come true," said Martin, who's in a band of his own with two of his brothers.
For the refugee sponsors, it was part of an early Christmas present. Hospitality House learned in November that 30 people sponsored years ago were arriving within weeks, said Tom Denton, executive director of the agency. He was at the airport to greet the Mulimbwas Tuesday night.
"It was pandemonium. And it was wonderful."


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Did you know?
You'll find proteas if you look carefully in this area. They're a long way from where you'd usually expect to see them in and around Cape Town, but do occur here too. The Blyde protea (Protea laetens) is endemic to this area.
You'll find the dramatic Lisbon Falls north of the little town of Graskop in Mpumalanga, just outside the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve. It's situated in a very rich waterfall area - in fact, there are more waterfalls here than in any other part of southern Africa.
The Lisbon Falls lie within the popular Panorama Route, where you can visit some of the very best natural attractions in the region, including the Pinnacle, God's Window, Bourke's Luck Potholes, and some of the other waterfalls in the area including the Mac Mac Falls and Berlin Falls.
They're named after the Portugese capital of Lisbon, which is also the name of a large farm in the area. Nearby, you'll also find the Berlin Falls, which are just as spectacular. The names mark the provenance of some of the gold miners who flocked to this area in the late 1800s after gold was discovered at nearby Barbeton and Pilgrim's Rest: miners rushed from all over the world in the hope of striking it rich.
Set in a bowl of hills, the Lisbon Falls is a great place to start your sightseeing on the Panorama Route, or to unwind after a day's hectic sightseeing in the area. Pack a picnic and relax under shady trees in one of the most scenic picnic places in the area. Watch out for some fascinating birdlife including tiny colourful sunbirds.
Travel tips & Planning info
Who to contact
Graskop Tourism
Tel:+27 (0)13 767 1886
Email: email@example.com
How to get here
The Lisbon Falls are a few kilometres north of Graskop, off the R532. Look out for the signposts.
Around the area
Nearby attractions include God's Window, the Blyde River Canyon and other waterfalls such as the Berlin Falls.
Tours to do
Lisbon Falls are part of the Panorama Route, which you can do on your own or with a guide.
What will it cost
There is a small fee per car (or if on foot per person).
Length of stay
You'll probably only want to spend 30 minutes or so at the falls. Spend a few days in this area if you can as there is so much to see and do.
Where to stay
There are plenty of accommodation options in and around the town of Graskop, including hotels, lodges, B&Bs and guesthouses. Hazyview, which is a little further away, also offers many accommodation options.
What to eat
There are restaurants and fast-food outlets in Graskop.
Best buys
Souvenirs include local curios, traditional art and leather goods.