So, Ontario, Canada’s most unbearably self-righteous Province, just concluded another one of those spiffy “election” things everyone is getting so worked up over these days. As of this writing, it’s still not entirely clear just how low the voter turnout was but it seems to be definitely below 50%—the lowest in Provincial history. The McGuinty Liberals […]
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Politics, Re-Spun: Occupy the Church, Occupy Together
Christians. Church. God. Jesus. Occupy. What do these words mean to you? For many, the connotations are negative. Personal experiences with judgemental, rigid, frozen people who identify themselves as Christians have left a bitter taste in their mouths. Memories of being harangued, condescended to and lectured linger long after their encounter. Media and political examples […]
Continue readingThanks Steve
I still remember fondly the first computer ever to find its way into the family home. The Apple IIe was magic, allowing these clumsy finger to type badly, then delete the virtual mistakes. I remember Gary Gladstone and myself huddled over the computer …
Continue readingeaves.ca: The Science of Community Management: DjangoCon Keynote
At OSCON this year, Jono Bacon, argued that we are entering a era of renaissance in open source community management – that increasingly we don’t just have to share stories but that repeatable, scientific approaches are increasingly available to us. In short, the art of community management is shifting to a science. With an enormous […]
Continue readingThings Are Good: See Canada’s Environment in Google Earth
Tides Canada has teamed up with Google Earth to allow the world to see Canada’s precious environment using Google’s technology. Now you can visualize things like the boreal forest and the migration of many wild animals.
It’s one thing to say that the Canadian boreal forest is the largest intact forest ecosystem on earth, Ms. Moore […]
Continue readingeaves.ca: The Geopolitics of the Open Government Partnership: the beginning of Open vs. Closed
There hasn’t been a ton of press about the Open Government Partnership (OGP). This is hardly surprising. The press likes to talk about corruption and bad government, people getting together to talk about actually address these things in far less sexy. But even where good coverage exists analysts and journalists are, I think, misunderstanding the […]
Continue readingeaves.ca: The Economics of Open Data – Mini-Case, Transit Data & Translink
Translink, the company that runs public transit in the region where I live (Vancouver/Lower Mainland) is getting ready to launch a real time bus tracking app that will use GPS data to figure out how far away the next the bus you are waiting for really is. This is great news for everyone. Of course […]
Continue readingeaves.ca: What Re-Releases of Star Wars can Teach Us About Art and Product Management
The other day I noticed this tweet fly by in the twittersphere Was this a complaint? In light of the fact the internet was rife with complaints about changes to the movies in the Blue Ray release of the original trilogy, I suspect so. While I do harbor Lucas a small amount […]
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 reading264MHz: Socialist Party Resolution: Open Source Software
Where as open source software shares the spirit of socialism because it is about openly and freely sharing software with all and stands on contrast to the secrecy and profit maximization of closed source software. Where as software is unique because once built, unlimited copies can be made at no cost. If houses where like […]
Continue readingeaves.ca: DataBC Hackathon this Saturday – inviting the public.
This Saturday, August 27, 2011 the Province of British Columbia is partnering with the Mozilla Foundation and OpenDataBC to host a open data hackathon. The hackathon will be taking place at Mozilla Labs Vancouver. Their address is: 163 West Hastings Street, suite-200 Vancouver, BC V6B 1H5 (in the very beautiful Flack Building) So three things: […]
Continue readingPoliTeching: Patent That Becomes a Tool for Obstructing Innovation Needs to Go
Software patents have become an unnecessary obstruction to innovation. Company that used to oppose software patent are spending billions to acquire them (including Google). Small time developers (which could include open source and Smart-phones/Tablets Apps developer) are now being targeted. Software patent produces opposite effect of what patents are designed
Continue readingeaves.ca: Edmonton Heads for the Cloud
I’m confident that somewhere in Canada, some resource strapped innovative small town has abandoned desktop software and uses a cloud based service but so far no city of any real size has even publicly said they were considering the possibility. That is, until today. Looks like Edmonton’s IT group – which is not just one […]
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Game That Protects Nature
A new FAcebook game has been launched that allows you to help the planet while you play. It’s called MyConservationPark and it’s made by Good World Games.
MyConservationPark is a socially conscious Facebook game that places you in charge of building and managing a protected wildlife reserve. Create and sustain a livable habitat for your […]
The Skwib: We have technology backwards
I’m not sure HOW we got this totally backwards, but we have. Technology should serve humanity, not the other way around.
Alltop is an aggregator we all like to work for. Another great one by XKCD.
Continue readingPoliTeching: News Roundup: Patent Circus; Android’s Security Flaw
In a demonstration of the ridiculousness of our current patent law, Apple is using patent to stifle competition and innovation. In Apple’s claim against one of Android tablet maker Motorola, it does not even have anything to do with hardware or software but only with the aesthetic effect. Apple managed
Continue readingsomecanuckchick dot com: Nymwars
I have deleted my Google+ account, as well as my Google profile — in protest and with extreme prejudice. Based on its real name only policy, I cannot in good conscience continue to be a part of Google+. What is Google+? What are the Nymwars? Should Google+ reverse its real
Continue readingeaves.ca: Why Social Media behind the Government Firewall Matters
This comment, posted four months ago to my blog by Jesse G. in response to this post on GCPEDIA, remains one of the favorite comments posted to my blog ever. This is a public servant who understands the future and is trying to live it. I’ve literally had this comment sitting in my inbox because […]
Continue readingeaves.ca: Shared IT Services across the Canadian Government – three opportunities
Earlier this week the Canadian Federal Government announced it will be creating Shared Services Canada which will absorb the resources and functions associated with the delivery of email, data centres and network services from 44 departments. These types of shared services projects are always fraught with danger. While they sometimes are successfully, they are often […]
Continue readingeaves.ca: Open Source Data Journalism – Happening now at Buzz Data
(there is a section on this topic focused on governments below) A hint of how social data could change journalism Anyone who’s heard me speak in the last 6 months knows I’m excited about BuzzData. This week, while still in limited access beta, the site is showing hints its potential – and it still has […]
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