The way legal services are delivered in Canada is changing. Increased competition and a demand for lower prices has pressured law firms to slow hiring and deliver their services more efficiently. After finishing my first year at Queen’s Law I started thinking about how law students can help firms meet the demand. It starts
Continue readingTag: innovation
Canadian Progressive: What’s Wrong With TPP?: Prominent Academics Respond
Prominent Academics Respond to the TPP (via EFF) We asked several academics to let us know their thoughts about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). The TPP is a secretive, multi-national trade agreement that threatens to extend restrictive intellectual property (IP) laws across the globe and rewrite international rules on
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: A Big Tell on Muskrat Falls Exports #nlpoli
A meeting of the Eastern Canadian premiers and all the New England Governors and the provincial government here sends Keith Hutchings. Who? The minister in charge of the innovation and business department. Nice enough fellow, but not exactly a superstar in the cabinet. But just notice: the meeting is supposed
Continue reading350 or bust: TED Talk Thursday: How To Set Goals…For The World
Jamie Drummond co-founded the advocacy organization ONE (Bono is another co-founder), which is focused on ending extreme poverty and the AIDS epidemic. In this inspiring June 2012 TED Talk, Mr. Drummond discusses the UN Millennium Development Goals: In 2000, the UN laid out 8 goals to make the world better
Continue readingeaves.ca: Real Estate as Platform: Canadian Real Estate Industry looking for developers
As some readers know, I’ve been asked from time to time by members of the real estate industry to comment on the future of their industry, how technology might impact it and how open data (both the government variety, and the trend by regulators to make the industry’s data more
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Austerity and Innovation – Reinventing Society
Over the last week, I have been busy – let me bring you up to date. Last Wednesday, May 2, I tuned in to a podcast of the MARS lecture on “Austerity and Innovation” given by Geoff Mulgan who is the Chief Exec of the National Endowment for Science, Technology
Continue readingopenalex: Experimental Cities
[Below is a post that I just wrote for sustainablecitiescanada.ca. I’ve been thinking about this idea that cities can function as laboratories for developing policies for a while now. It’s an interesting alternative or complement to more traditional top-down approaches to planning. But beyond novelty, I think if used well
Continue readingeaves.ca: When Industries Get Disrupted: Toronto Real Estate Boards Sad Campaign
As some of my readers know I’ve been engaged by the real estate industry at various points over the last year to share thoughts about how they might be impacted in a world where listings data might be more open. So I was saddened to read the other day about
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: Liberal Change For Innovation
May 2 2011- The Liberal Party had its worst defeat in history. June 18 2011- The Liberal Party holds an extraordinary convention over the phone and online, the first teleconference of its kind in North America. January 11 2012- Despite suffering worst electoral defeat, Interim Leader Bob Rae announces the
Continue readingeaves.ca: Smarter Ways to Have School Boards Update Parents
Earlier this month the Vancouver School Board (VSB) released an iPhone app that – helpfully – will use push notifications to inform parents about school holidays, parent interviews, and scheduling disruptions such as snow days. The app is okay, it’s a little clunky to use, and a lot of the data – such as professional […]
Continue readingeaves.ca: Using Data to Make Firefox Better: A mini-case study for your organization
I love Mozilla. Any reader of this blog knows it. I believe in its mission, I find the organization totally fascinating and its processes engrossing. So much so I spend a lot of time thinking about it – and hopefully, finding ways to contribute. I’m also a big believer in data. I believe in the […]
Continue reading350 or bust: Google On Why Renewable Energy Is On The Way, and Lubicon Cree On Why It’s Needed
Google is putting its substantial money where its mouth is on new energy technologies. From New Energy News: When the story of this moment in history is told, it will be about the huge numbers of people in emerging economies coming out of poverty and t…
Continue reading350 or bust: The End Of Cheap Oil: An Opportunity to Create A Better World
“As a species with the creativity, adaptability and opposable thumbs that enabled us to create an Oil Age in the first place, we can be pretty certain that there will be life beyond it. Similarly, we may be able to prevent the worst excesses of c…
Continue reading350 or bust: Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
An Open Letter to All Humankind Please Help Me I am thommo and I am a human being. I write this open request for help to all other human beings on this beautiful planet we share. The world that I am currently living in appears to be broken. It’s …
Continue readingeaves.ca: The next Open Data battle: Advancing Policy & Innovation through Standards
With the possible exception of weather data, the most successful open data set out there at the moment is transit data. It remains the data with which developers have experimented and innovated the most. Why is this? Because it’s been standardized. Ever since Google and the City of Portland creating the General Transit Feed Specification […]
Continue reading350 or bust: It’s Time To Stop Spinning Our Wheels On Climate Change
Much of the UN climate negotiations that went on in Copenhagen in December, 2009 was just so much hot air and spinning of wheels without any movement towards a liveable planet and a sustainable future for our children. But maybe things are changing. …
Continue readingeaves.ca: If the Prime Minister Wants Accountable Healthcare, let’s make it Transparent too
Over at the Beyond the Commons blog Aaron Wherry has a series of quotes from recent speeches on healthcare by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in which the one constant keyword is… accountability. Who can blame him? Take everyone promising to limit growth to a still unsustainable 6% (gulp) and throw in some dubiously costly […]
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