Dude, get some fiber optics in your diet.

Although I've never tried it, I don't recommend eating fiber optic cabling. It's glass. However, I do recommend a plan to deploy fiber to communities lacking choice in Internet. Why? Mainly because our great country, the United States of America, the inventor of the Internet, ranks 31st in the world behind Estonia in terms of download speeds. Upload speeds for Americans are worse – we're No. 42. These numbers are grotesque. For those scoring at home, Hong Kong is No. 1 right now for Internet speeds. In just 10 years, the U.S. has slipped from No. 1 to No. 31.

At the 2014 GMIS International conference in Savannah, The University of Georgia and the Georgia Chapter of GMIS International were proud to award the Information Technology Leadership Program certificate to the following Georgia members:

Michael Blanchard, City of Augusta
Benjamin Brengman, City of Garden City
Will Lyons, Paulding County
Cam Mathis, City of Savannah

Denise Potvin, Information Technology Director
GMIS member since 2004
Number of IT staff: 1
Population: 22,000
IT budget: $150,000-$200,000

The title of a new cybersecurity report – State Governments at Risk: Time to Move Forward – shows how its sponsors view the state of cybersecurity today. (Governing)

Cities are notoriously noisy: The more people, activities and events condensed in a given space, the louder it is. In order to distill meaningful insights from all the noise, you need a good listener. Some government officials are beginning to catch on. (Government Technology)

University technology leaders sound off on the issues they will face next year -- issues that highlight three major trends. (Government Technology)

What does the CIO role look like now, and what will it look like in the future? (InformationWeek)

The best public workers are looking for a lot more than good pay. There's plenty that can be done to keep them engaged and productive. (Governing)

Enjoying a long career doesn't happen by accident. It takes planning and effort. (CIO)

Desperate to attract tech-savvy workers, one company is turning to an unlikely talent source: high school. (MSN)

Two-thirds of banks are planning to spend more on information technology this year, the highest proportion since before the start of the financial crisis. (Yahoo News)

Senior government technologists increasingly look to a mobile-first strategy for developing digital content and services. (CIO)