Augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) — immersive technologies that enable users to experience digitally rendered content in both physical and virtual space — have the potential to enhance virtual work and transform the way businesses, nonprofits, and government organizations work going forward. But to get there, organizations will need to be innovative in how they implement these new technologies. In an op-ed, ITIF's Ellysse Dick goes in-depth on the potential for the technologies to transform the future of distributed work. Read more from Ellysse Dick.

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Space Force delegates acquisition authority to lower offices to speed up buying

The U.S. Space Force wants to be the most digital branch of the military from the start. And to get there, the force's leaders realize, acquisition cycles must be sped up to keep technology current and relevant. That's why Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond has delegated top acquisition authorities to offices in the field rather than the top brass. He said officers in the field closer to the operations of space systems should be the ones leading purchasing to inject speed into the force. Jackson Barnett has the story.

Alabama universities get $72 million for remote-learning tech

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey last week announced more than $72 million in coronavirus fund relief will be supplied to the state’s higher education institutions to purchase the technology infrastructure needed to support remote learning. The new funding will enable universities and colleges to purchase devices that can be loaned to students, remote-desktop software, video conferencing equipment for classrooms, security software and other technology needed for remote access. Colin Wood has the details.

Trump administration releases data skills catalog, ethics framework

The Trump administration recently issued a set of draft documents that will help guide agencies in developing functional roles that deal with data and helping guide those leaders in how to manage and use that data ethically. Deputy Federal CIO Maria Roat detailed the release of a curated data skills catalog and a data ethics framework recently at Informatica's Data in Action Summit. The skills catalog is meant to "help agencies develop competencies for managing data as a strategic asset and making data-driven decisions,” she said, while the ethics framework will help "guide the ethical management and the use of data throughout the entire data lifecycle, from creation all the way through the use of it, and ongoing.” Billy Mitchell has more.

Job of the Day

Chief Cybersecurity Architect |Department of Defense

Chief Cybersecurity Architect serves as the principal adviser for the development of cybersecurity architectures, and ensures the DoD cybersecurity architecture enables DoD C4 in face of capable cyber adversary, and DoD fielding of artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, enterprise cloud computing adoption, and other such capabilities throughout the required by the Department's Digital Modernization. See this job and others here.