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…
David Eaves
Some upcoming talks
Sorry for the lack of posts this week – just some calm before gathering storm. April and May are going to be intense. For those interested in these things I’ve…
Citizen Surveillance and the Coming Challenge for Public Institutions
The other day I stumbled over this intriguing article which describes how a group of residents in Vancouver have started to surveille the police as they do their work in…
Data.gc.ca – Data Sets I found that are interesting, and some suggestions
Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the Canadian federal government’s open data portal. Over the past year government officials have been continuously adding to the portal, but as it…
Sharing ideas about data.gc.ca
As some of you may remember, the other week I suggested that on its one year anniversary we hack data.gc.ca – specifically, that people share what data sets they find…
Want to Find Government Innovation? US Military is often leading the way.
When it comes to see what trends will impact government in 20-30 years I’m a big fan of watching the US military. They may do lot of things wrong but,…
Access to Information, Open Data and the Problem with Convergence
In response to my post yesterday one reader sent me a very thoughtful commentary that included this line at the end: “Rather than compare FOI legislation and Open Gov Data…
Calculating the Value of Canada’s Open Data Portal: A Mini-Case Study
Okay, let’s geek out on some open data portal stats from data.gc.ca. I’ve got three parts to this review: First, an assessment on how to assess the value of data.gc.ca.…
Attack of the Drones – How Surveillance May Change our Culture
I’ve been following the rise of do it yourself (DIY) drones for a few years now, ever since Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired magazine, introduced me to the topic…
Let’s Hack data.gc.ca
In just under two weeks data.gc.ca will celebrate its one year anniversary. This will also mark the period that the pilot project is officially supposed to end. Looking at data.gc.ca…
Joining the Canadian Government’s Advisory Panel on Open Government
Some people have already noticed, so wanted to share the news here as well. Yesterday, the Canadian Government announced the Advisory Panel on Open Government to which I was asked…
The Ground War for Control of Public Space
My partner stumbled on the quote below attributed to Banksy (wikipedia), the English street artist who many consider to be one of the great a modern day satirists. It’s an…
Inferring Serial Killers with Data: A Lesson from Vancouver
For those happily not in the know, my home town of Vancouver was afflicted with a serial killer during the 80’s and 90’s who largely targeted marginalized women in the…
Media Watch: The Globe and Mail’s Shifting Headline
Earlier today the Globe and Mail had one of these truly terrible “balanced” articles about the proposed federal crime bill. The headline screamed: Quebec expert backs Tory crime bill amid…
More on Google Transit and how it is Reshaping a Public Service
Some of you know I’ve written a fair bit on Google transit and how it is reshaping public transit – this blog post in particular comes to mind. For more…
The Surveillance State – No Warrant Required
Yesterday a number of police organizations came out in support of bill C-30 – the online online surveillance bill proposed by Minister Vic Toews. You can read the Vancouver Police…
Transparency isn’t a cost – its a cost saver (a note for Governments and Drummond)
Yesterday Don Drummond – a leading economist hired by the Ontario government to review how the province delivers services in the face of declining economic growth and rising deficits –…
Data Wars: A mini-case study of Southwest Airlines vs. TripIt and Orbitz
As a regular flyer, I’m an enormous fan of TripIt. It’s a simple service in which you forward almost any reservation – airline, hotel, car rental, etc… to plans@tripit.com and…
I Stand for My Rights & Privacy: The Coming Online Police State
“He can either stand with us or with the child pornographers.” This was Mr. Toews’s, the Minister of Justice, counterattack to a question in the house regarding concerns of letting…
Next Generation Open Data: Personal Data Access
This post matters. If you’re involved in the healthcare sector or a energy utility, please read. Background This Monday I had the pleasure of being in Mexico City for the…