In my imagination, at least, three things should be rising in importance:

1. Learning to analyze amid overload. More than ever, analysts need to learn how to validate and structure information in the face of the HUGE amounts of "stuff" out there. Going for the top 5 in a Google list of 3,000 is often helpful, but rarely a good final answer. How do government analysts learn to cope with overload today?

2. Using non-print information. Our brains and emotions have evolved complex structures to interpret voices, faces, movement, and graphics. Digital resources make non-print forms of information accessible, but -- outside of PowerPoint presentations -- are government analysts taking good advantage of what's possible?

3. Developing authoritatively reviewed, easily accessible "how to" information. Government desperately needs to get better at disseminating good practices and proven innovations. With IT-related guidelines, however, academics tend to write for other academics, and vendors tend to write for the next sale. You'd expect that associations of government professionals would develop digital tools and guidelines for their members. What are they doing and how well is it working?

We've got some pretty good web sites out there. But how far are we from a good digital workbench for designing, analyzing, and implementing government programs? What needs to be in there, and how do we get it built? What are the digital resources you use most often?