Since arriving as a Lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to integrate digital into the curriculum. I have a course on Digital Government and will be teaching modules next term on what we’ve lea…
Continue readingTag: public policy
eaves.ca: The Empire Strikes Back: How the death of GDS puts all government innovators at risk
The UK Government Digital Service(GDS) is dead. I’m sure it will continue to exist in some form, but from what I’ve read it appears to have been gutted of its culture, power and mandate. As a innovator and force for pulling the UK government into t…
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Delivery #nlpoli
Michael Barber headed a group of officials for then-Prime Minister Tony Blair that was responsible for getting Blair’s major commitments through the government bureaucracy and into practice.They called it the delivery unit and Barber has become a profi…
Continue readingeaves.ca: Canada’s Draft Open Government Plan — The Promise and Problems Reviewed
Backdrop On Friday the Canadian Government released its draft national action plan. Although not mentioned overtly in the document, these plans are mandated by the Open Government Partnership (OGP), in which member countries must draft National Action …
Continue readingeaves.ca: On Journalism, Government and the cost of Digital Illiteracy
Earlier today the CBC published a piece by Alison Crawford about Canadian public servants editing wikipedia. It draws from a clever twitter bot — @gccaedits— that tracks edits to wikipedia from government IP address. I love the twitter account
Continue readingeaves.ca: Open Mandate Letters
The newly elected Government of Canada made its ministerial mandate letters available to the public last week. They are absolutely worth checking out both for their content and as a example of public disclosure/communication. I’ll talk about that latter part in a second, but let me first let’s discuss some background information and
Continue readingeaves.ca: Moving to Harvard
Hi friends. Just a brief note to say that I’ve been invited to come to the Kennedy School of Government to be a Research Fellow in the Science, Technology and Public Policy Program (STPP) at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Politics of Menses #nlpoli
Until now, we had no idea how our governments valued menstruation. Some of you might be surprised to think this was a question but now we have an answer. Both the federal and provincial governments decided last month to remove the harmonised sales tax from tampons, napkins, and other feminine
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Harper’s the muzzling of Canada’s federal scientists assailed
This week, Canada’s three major public sector unions protested the Harper government’s continuing muzzling of the country’s federal scientists. The post Harper’s the muzzling of Canada’s federal scientists assailed appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Brain Farts #nlpoli
Some people have a hard time with the idea that a great many political decisions are not the product of deep thinking, extensive research, and agonizing debate. They come from brain farts. You can hear that pretty clearly in the most recent episode of On Point. The political panel talked
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: In Canada, gender inequality has persisted or worsened: study
A new study says gender inequality in Canada has persisted or worsened in critical areas such as violence against women, women’s economic security, and the human rights of Aboriginal women and girls. The post In Canada, gender inequality has persisted or worsened: study appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Needed: a local think-tank #nlpoli
Anyone who was paying attention to these things has known for about 25 years that the province would face a demographic crunch starting ‘round about now. Anyone who has been reading Bond Papers for any length of time will know that demographics have been a big issue your humble e-scribbler
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Harper’s inhumane mandatory minimums don’t reduce crime: rights group
A new report by the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association says Harper’ mandatory minimum sentencing policies are failing to reduce crime while imposing staggering personal, social and financial costs on Canadians. The post Harper’s inhumane mandatory minimums don’t reduce crime: rights group appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Free Tampons #nlpoli
Jessica Valenti, a columnist at the Guardian newspaper argued in her column in early August, that women should get free feminine hygiene products. Consider these points from Valenti’s column: “UNICEF estimates 10% of African girls don’t attend school during their periods” “One study showed that in Bangladesh, 73% of female
Continue readingeaves.ca: Government Procurement Failure: BC Ministry of Education Case Study
Apologies for the lack of posts. I’ve been in business mode – both helping a number of organizations I’m proud of and working on my own business. For those interested in a frightening tale of inept procurement, poor judgement and downright dirty tactics when it comes to software procurement and
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Bicycle Roads to Nowhere #nlpoli
Frecker Drive is a well-designed residential street in the west end of St. John’s. The street is wide: you can park cars on either side and still have space left for two cars to pass abreast easily along its entire length. This is a residential street. As you might imagine,
Continue readingeaves.ca: Canada’s Opaque Transparency – An Open Data Failure
Yesterday, at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s (PDAC) Canada Minister of Natural Resource, Joe Oliver, announced with great fanfare a new initiative to compel mining companies to disclose payments of over $100,000′s to foreign and domestic governments. On the surface this looks like a win for transparency, particularly for
Continue readingeaves.ca: Great Hacks from the Open Data in Vancouver
Last weekend I helped host an Open Data Day in Vancouver. With the generous support of Domain7, who gave us a place to host talks and hack, over 30 Vancouverites braved the sleet and snow to spend the day sharing ideas and working on projects. We had opening comments from
Continue readingeaves.ca: Open Data Day 2014 – Five Fun Events Around the World
With over 110 Events happening world wide it is impossible to talk about every Open Data Day event. But looking almost every event on the wiki I’ve been deeply moved and inspired by the various efforts, goals and aspirations of the people who have organized these events. In order to
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Why Does Canada Participate in the Olympics Anyway
I took this screenshot (CBC website) of the standings yesterday showing Germany in first place with 8 medals, Canada second with 10 medals and Norway in third place with 12 medals.
Yes, that’s right, because only being the very best in the world (we…
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