Federal Mobile Apps: Best Practices and Lessons Learned

The National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce held its first webinar in a quarterly educational series on mobile applications for government on Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

The webinar consisted of a panel discussion around the steps to building mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, and Windows Phone. In particular, it focused on actual case studies including the design, development, and deployment of mobile apps at various federal agencies. Panelists included:

  • Jody Engel, from the Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health who described her experiences in creating MyDietarySupplements, an iPhone app that helps consumers track their vitamins, minerals, herbs and other products and get information on dietary supplements
  • Gwynne Kostin, the Mobile Director at GSA, who outlined the current state of mobile applications in the federal government and described how GSA is helping federal agencies provide mobile solutions to citizens,
  • LaShemma Simmons, a program manager at the National Technical Information Service, who is offering mobile strategy, design, and development services to other federal agencies through an easy-to-use interagency agreement,
  • Lane Cooper, who moderated the panel and is the Executive Director and Founder of BizTechReports, an independent reporting agency with offices in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco Bay Area that analyzes trends in business technology