Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything

The word “wiki” means “quick” in Hawaiian, and here author and think tank CEO Tapscott along with research director Williams, paint in vibrant colors the quickly changing world of Internet togetherness, also known as mass or global collaboration, and what those changes mean for business and technology. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia written, compiled, edited and re-edited by “ordinary people” is the most ubiquitous example, and its history makes remarkable reading. But also considered are lesser-known success stories of global collaboration that star Procter & Gamble, BMW, Lego and a host of software and niche companies.

There was always someone or some company in charge, controlling things, at the “top” of the food chain. While hierarchies are not vanishing, profound changes in the nature of technology, demographics, and the global economy are giving rise to powerful new models of production based on community, collaboration, and self-organization rather than on hierarchy and control…..

http://www.wikinomics.com/book/

Vote411.org

Launched by the League of Women Voters Education Fund in October 2006 to be a nonpartisan “one-stop-shop” for election related information. Here you can find information about voting options, election dates, candidates, polling places (polling place locator), registration deadlines, and voting machines.

http://www.vote411.org/

North Carolina Administrative Code

The North Carolina Administrative Code (NCAC) is a compilation of the administrative rules of approximately 26 state agencies and 50+ occupational licensing boards.

The NCAC and related material are available on the North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings Rules Division website: http://www.ncoah.com/rules/.

Managing Local Government Services: A Practical Guide

This is the third edition of the previously published Managing Small Cities and Counties: A Practical Guide. As a comprehensive text on the subject of local government services, this revision is relevant to local governments of all sizes.

This edition is refocused and updated to include the demographic, economic, technology and cultural trends that affect the management of service delivery. New chapters discuss the shift from “government” to “governance,” alternative methods of service delivery, community development, and the five management practices that are fast becoming the standard for professional local government management.

http://bookstore.icma.org/NEW_P151.cfm

Personal Income and Per Capita Personal Income

From the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis: Regional Economic Accounts - Local Area Personal Income. Income tables for the nation, states, regions, metropolitan areas, and BEA economic areas.

http://www.bea.gov/regional/reis/

Consumer Price Indexes (CPI)

By the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Consumer Price Indexes (CPI) program produces monthly data on changes in the prices paid by urban consumers for a representative basket of goods and services.

Price indexes are available for the U.S., the four Census regions, size of city, cross-classifications of regions and size-classes, and for 26 local areas. Indexes are available for major groups of consumer expenditures (food and beverages, housing, apparel, transportation, medical care, recreation,education and communications, and other goods and services), for items within each group, and for special categories, such as services.

Monthly indexes are available for the U.S., the four Census regions, and some local areas. More detailed item indexes are available for the U.S. than for regions and local areas.

Indexes are available for two population groups: a CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) which covers approximately 87 percent of the total population and a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 32 percent of the population.

Some series, such as the U.S. City Average All items index, begin as early as 1913.

http://stats.bls.gov/cpi/

Teachers and the Law, 7th Edition.

Focuses on legal issues reflecting current trends and decisions that are important to educators in the 21’st century. The authors designed the text for school professionals seeking an easy to use reference on every important area of school law, including student and employee rights, the impact of the No Child Left Behind Act on those rights, and how to understand their legal rights and responsibilities.

http://www.ablongman.com/catalog/academic/product/0,1144,0205494951,00.html 

http://www.pearsoned.co.uk/Bookshop/detail.asp?item=100000000215288

American Government Leaders: Major Elected And Appointed Officials, Federal, State And Local, 1776-2005

This book provides a single source of biographical information for the thousands of individuals who have held high elective and appointive offices in the United States federal, state, and municipal governments since independence in 1776. The first half of the book lists positions in the government with a chronological record of the individuals who have held the positions and the duration of their terms of office … The second half of the book is a biographical index of individuals found in the earlier sections listed in alphabetical order … http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-2598-3

Municipal Code Corporation - Municode.com

Contained on this website are Codes for more than 1,600 local governments (105 from North Carolina) in searchable online databases. Includes advanced and boolean search options. A few jurisdictions provide access to minutes and specialized ordinances. A multiple code search feature is also available by subscription.

http://www.municode.com/Resources/Online%20Library.asp or

http://www.municode.com/Resources/OnlineLibrary.asp

Sharing Water in Times of Scarcity: Guidelines and Procedures in the Development of Effective Agreements to Share Water Across Political Boundaries

When two or more independent governments share a common water resource, the timing and magnitude of the respective individual uses can be continual sources of conflict. Water scarcity is evident throughout much of the western United States and consequently water sharing between the states is expanding in scope. The growing use of shared water resources is often a major source of legal and political conflict. The problem is magnified in the international area. In 1995, ASCE initiated the Shared Use of Transboundary Water Resources (SUTWR) Project, whose purpose was to review existing transboundary water sharing agreements and develop …

http://www.asce.org/bookstore/book.cfm?book=5921