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Comment by brdd | Hacker News Reader

I disagree — as a direct result of play #7 in this playbook, multiple large-scale initiatives were launched; most notably 18F, which is like a "startup" within the federal government:

https://18f.gsa.gov/

Another one that comes to mind is Coding It Forward, which has the express mission of creating government tech internships that rival FB/Google internships in terms of pay, experience, and mentorship:

https://www.codingitforward.com/

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18F pre-dates the U.S. Digital Service by 6 months.

Coding It Forward is a civil society initiative, not a government one, and is analogous to thinking that a weak diplomatic corps can be fixed by sponsoring more high school Model U.N. chapters. There is no lack of viable and willing candidates _outside_ of the system, the issue is getting them _inside_ and letting them inform it.

Thanks for sharing! This is all good to know, I'll be reaching out to see if there's any possibility of these groups helping to address some of the issues within our institute at the NIH. Right now it's unclear to what extent that can assist an intramural research program.

18F is definitely a good start. I would also try Code for America[1], although they might only work at more of a local level.

1. https://www.codeforamerica.org/

There are digital groups of various sorts already operating at NIH. If the folks working on it are federal employees, there are groups that can help - but there has to be buy-in from decision makers.

Bureaucracies have infinite ways to stop something if you don't get cover from certain people.

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