My friends over at Greenpeace recently published an interesting report entitled “How dirty is your data? A Look at the Energy Choices That Power Cloud Computing.” For those who think that cloud computing is an environmentally friendly business, let’s just say… it’s not without its problems. What’s most interesting is the huge opportunity the cloud […]
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eaves.ca: Depression and Decline: American Irresponsibility is Ending the American Era with a Bang
Despite the assurances of US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner it is increasingly likely there will be no debt deal. The United States is going to default on its debt. I know it sounds crazy, but I believe it is going to happen. If it does, this is the black swan event no one imagined or […]
Continue readingeaves.ca: The State of Open Data Licenses in Canada and where to go from here
(for readers less interested in Open Data – I promise something different tomorrow) In February I wrote how 2011 would be the year of the license for Canada’s open data community. This has indeed been the case. For public servants and politicians overseeing the various open data projects happening in Canada and around the world, […]
Continue readingeaves.ca: Province of BC launches Open Data Catalog: What works
As revealed yesterday, the province of British Columbia became the first provincial government in Canada to launch a open data portal. It’s still early but here are some things that I think they’ve gotten right. 1. License: Getting it Right (part 1) Before anything else happens, this is probably the single biggest good news story […]
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 readingeaves.ca: The Audacity of Shaw: How Canada’s Internet just got Worse
It is really, really, really hard to believe. But as bad as internet access is in Canada, it just got worse. Yesterday, Shaw Communications, a Canadian telecommunications company and internet service provider (ISP) that works mostly in Western Canada announced they are launching Movie Club, a new service to compete with Netflix. On the surface […]
Continue readingeaves.ca: Lots of Open Data Action in Canada
A lot of movement on the open data (and not so open data) front in Canada. Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Open Data Portal Launched Some readers may remember that last week I wrote a post about the imminent launch of CIDA’s open data portal. The site is now live and has a healthy amount […]
Continue readingeaves.ca: Mind. Prepare to be blown away. Big Data, Wikipedia and Government.
Okay, super psyched about this. Back at the Strata Conference in Feb (in San Diego) I introduced my long time uber-quant friend and now Wikimedia Foundation data scientist Diederik Van Liere to fellow Gov2.0 thinker Nicholas Gruen (Chairman) and Anthony Goldbloom (Founder and CEO) of an awesome new company called Kaggle. As usually happens when […]
Continue readingeaves.ca: CIDA announces Open Data portal: What it means to Canadians
For those who missed it, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has announced it is launching an open data portal. This is exciting news. On Monday I was interviewed about the initiative by Embassy Magazine which published the resulting article (behind their paywall) here. As (I hope) the interview conveys, I’m cautiously optimistic about the […]
Continue readingAkaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism: TVO’s The Agenda: Faith in Secularism – Akaash Maharaj Videocast
Speaking on TVOntario’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin, I make the case that separation of church and state is as much in the interests of the church as it is in the interests of the state. However, upholding the ideal of the secular state often demands more courage than we
Continue readingAkaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism: TVO’s The Agenda: Faith in Secularism – Akaash Maharaj Videocast
Speaking on TVOntario’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin, I make the case that separation of church and state is as much in the interests of the church as it is in the interests of the state. However, upholding the ideal of the secular state often demands more courage than we
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 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 […]
Continue readingeaves.ca: Lost Open Data Opportunities
Even sometimes my home town of Vancouver gets it wrong. Reading Chad Skelton’s blog (which I frequently regularly and recommend to my fellow Vancouverites) I was reminded of the great work he did creating an interactive visualization of the city’s parking tickets as part of a series around parking in Vancouver. Indeed, it is worth […]
Continue readingeaves.ca: How to Unsuck Canada’s Internet – creating the right incentives
This week at the Mesh conference in Toronto (where I’ll be talking Open Data) the always thoughtful Jesse Brown, of TVO’s Search Engine will be running a session title How to Unsuck Canada’s Internet. As part of the lead up to the session he asked me if I could write him a sentence or two […]
Continue readingeaves.ca: Applications and Hardware Already Running On Open Data
Yesterday, Gerry T shared a photo he snapped at the University of Alberta in Edmonton of a “departure board” in the university’s Student Union building that uses open transportation data from the city’s website. Essentially the display board is composed of a simply application, displayed over a large flat screen TV turned vertically. It’s exactly […]
Continue readingeaves.ca: New York release road map to becoming a digital city
Yesterday, New York City released its “Road Map for the Digital City: Achieving New York City’s Digital Future.” For those who missed the announcement, especially those concerned about the digital economy, the future of government and citizen services, the document is definitely worth downloading and scanning. At the heart of the document sits a road […]
Continue readingeaves.ca: TorStar Op-ed: Liberals have to create a next political centre
This past Saturday the Toronto Star published the following piece by Taylor Owen and myself on its op-ed page. Thought I’d put it here for those who might have missed it. Liberals have to create a new political centre Canadians may have once valued the Liberal party, but they reject what it has become. The […]
Continue readingPample the Moose: Election 2011: Thoughts on "Truthiness" and Evidence-Based Policy
Just a quick post today to link to a blogpost I was invited to contribute to canada.com’s Decision Canada election website. In it, I reflect on recent Conservative changes to programs such as the long-form census and the court challenges program which…
Continue readingAkaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism: Akaash Maharaj – Global News: Analysis of the NDP Platform
My analysis of the NDP’s platform for Global Television News. It has proven to be a politically shrewd, but fiscally improbable document. Ultimately, could Layton deliver on his his five key areas during his first 100 days, as he promises? Not unless t…
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