

Two weeks ago, I participated in a forum on how Obama should use technology. It's a topic loads of people are discussing these days (including this excellent piece by Evan Ratliff). During the panel, we could only come up with one good example of smart ways that the government had used web technology under Bush: the patent office's peer-to-patent system, which crowdsources the patent-review process.

Afterwards, one of the conference attendees, sent me this long fascinating list of smart ways different federal agencies started using technology during the last eight years. It's not mind-blowing, but it's not terrible. More online innovation will likely happen in the first six months of the Obama administration than in the eight years of Bush. But let's give credit where credit is due. Here's some of the coolest stuff:

The FBI has built a Most-Wanted widget.

The TSA has an employee blog — about security.

The State Department has an internal Diplopedia to help diplomats share information with each other.

The CIA recruits on Facebook.

And, best of all, the Library of Congress now uses Flickr to show off some of its special collections and documents.

Read thewhole list here.