Science Library Pad

Ottawa Transit Data Day - June 2, 2012

2012-05-25T09:42:41-04:00

Having liberated Ottawa's real-time bus location data, the city is now moving to the next step of bringing developers and OC Transpo together to make (even more) amazing things.

Ottawa Transit Data Day is June 2, 2012 at Ottawa City Hall

Find more information about the available data in the Open Data Ottawa blog

Follow @opendataottawa

Suggest datasets at DataOtt

Ask questions in the GPS API mailing list

Provide feedback directly about OC Transpo open data: OCOpenData@ottawa.ca

Event hashtag will probably be #yowdata

So many communications channels. Whew.

US Digital Government Strategy - launched with energetic video

2012-05-24T16:03:17-04:00

US CIO Steven VanRoekel and US CTO Todd Park launched the US Digital Government Strategy at TechCrunch Disrupt NY on May 23, 2012. They both stood in the centre of the stage and presented without notes, using only a few slides (a style many government presenters should learn). Todd Park in particular is full of energy and uses enthusiastic, informal language - a good match for the TechCrunch audience.

Note this is much more a technology innovation strategy than an open government or transparency strategy.

There was also a "backstage" interview with Todd Park after the main presentation.
(Thanks to David Yun of SnappyTV for tweeting the direct links to these videos.)

VanRoekel and Park announced two major initiatives: a Digital Government Strategy and White House Innovation Fellows.

Addressing the latter first: Innovation Fellows is an initiative to partner entrepreneurs and experts directly with the government. The language the site uses is "pair top innovators from the private sector, non-profits, or academia with federal government employees to collaborate on game-changing solutions". At wh.gov/innovationfellows the five projects are listed

MyGov - radically simplify and reorganise the government web presence to serve the needs of citizens, not simply reflect bureaucratic structures - "a streamlined and intuitive system for presenting information and accepting feedback". On Twitter: @ProjectMyGov
Open Data Initiatives - "scale the Health Data Initiative and roll out new open data initiatives in the energy, education, public safety, and nonprofit sectors" (see verticals: health.data.gov , energy.data.gov , education.data.gov , safety.data.gov ). On Twitter: @ProjectOpenData
Blue Button for America - enable all citizens to download their own health records
RFP-EZ - make it easier for small businesses to submit to government RFPs
The 20% Campaign - for a second I thought this would be "Google Time" for the government, but it's about moving from cash to electronic payments particularly for things like foreign assistance payments

The second piece is the strategy - Digital Government: Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People. The document is available in PDF but they are also "walking the walk" and providing it in HTML5 (using the Bootstrap framework). The strategy was accompanied by a Presidential Memorandum - Building a 21st Century Digital Government.

There's a lot in the digital government strategy, but a few key elements are:

Make Open Data, Content, and Web APIs the New Default
Make Existing High-Value Data and Content Available through Web APIs
- agencies will be required to: Identify at least two major customer-facing systems that contain high-value data and content; Expose this information through web APIs to the appropriate audiences; Apply metadata tags in compliance with the new federal guidelines; and Publish a plan to transition additional systems as practical.
Establish a Digital Services Innovation Center and Advisory Group
- develop government-wide BYOD [Bring Your Own Device] guidance leveraging their findings
Deliver Better Digital Services Using Modern Tools and Technologies
- Best practices for standards-compliant, next-generation web development, including use of content delivery networks; content management systems; common code libraries, frameworks, and tools; and responsive web design (e.g. using HTML5 and CSS3 to provide a mobile-tailored experience);
- Standards for structuring and tagging content and data to be machine-readable;

On May 24, 2012 VanRoekel & Park spoke at an ACT-IAC event. The stream was at http://onlinevideoservice.com/clients/ACT-IAC/ ; I don't know if will be available afterwards.

These are clear directions for an agile, intelligent government. It is also interesting to hear CTO Todd Park say clearly that he finds the innovation within the government - there are lots of people who have great ideas. The Innovation Fellows project is just to give them some outside support to help things happen even faster. Both the CIO & CTO describe their initiative as giving people permission to act, to take risks, to collaborate and be innovative.

Related to data specifically Todd Park talked about mechanisms like hackathons, meetups and "datapaloozas". The next datapalooza will be about health information: Health Data Initiative Forum III - Health Datapalooza, June 5-6, 2012.

Twitter:

US CIO @StevevDC
US CTO @Todd_Park
Hashtags: #digitalgov and #tcdisrupt (the TechCrunch Disrupt conference)

Here's a Storify of some of my notes from these presentations

let's all sing a song of code

2012-05-22T15:28:24-04:00

To develop is to be in the physical world, with all its rich social connections (and all its frustrating constraints) and yet to be able to tap into the invisible virtual world, to craft new things out of thin air.

This touches on the whole "should X be coders" debate. I'm inclined to agree with Rushcoff's Program or Be Programmed - we have to not just use the tools, we have to understand at least some of the underpinnings and be empowered to hack away to change things.

The trend today seems to be to teach JavaScript and I think that's fine. HTML and JavaScript will get you a long way. (If you protest that JavaScript is too far away from proper programming to give people a good start, remember that many of the people who are now professional programmers got their start writing in BASIC in the 1980s on various small computers.) I do think for people who want to do more, there's a whole set of sysadmin skills that are very useful as well. The important thing is there is a whole range of skills - just in the same way that everyone is expected to read and write but only a few people will have a PhD in English Literature, we should expect (and provide the opportunity for) some basic computer science skills, without everyone needing to do a full degree in CS.

In the UK there's quite a bit of discussion about moving the computer curriculum from teaching how to use Microsoft Office (I shudder to think this is actually considered "computer training") to covering more foundational concepts and teaching how to code.

A story arrived in my Twitter stream that illustrates just how fundamental this set of skills can be - with painful honesty Shawn Graham tells a tale of failure and lessons learned - a community that succeeded on the front end, but fell apart (no documentation, taken over by spammers, no backups) on the back end: How I Lost the Crowd: A Tale of Sorrow and Hope.

We need to get to a place where people can have great ideas and know how to implement them, either themselves or by knowing the right resources to draw upon. To some extent the new outsiders are the people who don't know how to code. In professions that once seemed perhaps distant from technology such as journalism and the humanities, coding is becoming a core competency. Fortunately there are great initiatives like Girl Develop It, Young Rewired State and Mozilla Webmaker (the source of the video I embedded above). No matter where you are it's almost certain there's a meetup or three for beginning coders. Let's get coding.

Previously:
July 24, 2007 software development, staffing and new library technology
December 7, 2005 librarians 2.0 don't need to be coders 2.0

NRC job: Senior Project Manager

2012-05-19T19:19:36-04:00

National Research Council (NRC) Canada.

Apply using the link on the job posting.

Your Challenge

Reporting to the Manager, Partnership Development, the Senior Project Manager Leads the Project Portfolio Management Group, and manages the portfolio of Knowledge Management projects including inter-project coordination, resource allocation, preparation of project proposals, as well as scheduling, risk analysis, and project prioritization. Develops and improves, on a continuous basis, project management processes and practices at Knowledge Management in alignment with the NRC project management framework.

Directly manages high-value strategic projects.

Communicates project status and prepares and recommends new proposals for approval.

Responsible for project management web pages as a valued source of current information on resources, tools and processes.

Acts as a knowledgeable resource to Knowledge Management project managers and provides support, guidance, mentoring and training in initiating, planning, managing and executing projects.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in science, computer science, or a relevant field from a recognized university.

Professional qualifications in Project Management would be a definite asset.

Language Requirements

Bilingual imperative BBB/BBB

Closing Date

June 1, 2012

Apply using the link on the job posting.

Government of Quebec open data and open government - the Gautrin Report

2012-05-02T15:36:07-04:00

The government of the province of Quebec today released the Gautrin Report, which covers Web 2.0 and government transformation related to technology. It includes ideas such as a provincial open data site and improved internal collaboration for government employees. In the press conference I also heard mention of a dashboard for government IT projects (with reference to the dashboard created by the US CIO).

The report (in French) is available: Gouverner ensemble : Comment le Web 2.0 améliorera-t-il les services aux citoyens? (PDF, 207 pages, 3,55 Mo)

You can also find two appendices and the complete text of responses to the government's online consultation about the topic at http://www.mce.gouv.qc.ca/publications/publications.htm

There was a brief press conference introducing the major elements of the report.

Also launched was a new Twitter account @GouvOuvertQc ("Open Government Quebec") and the open data site is live, albeit as a placeholder (I gather the real site will go live next month, June 2012): http://donnees.gouv.qc.ca/

There is a website for the entire initiative (also a placeholder at the moment): http://ouvert.gouv.qc.ca/

And a short press release: M. Henri-François Gautrin dévoile les principales recommandations de son rapport : Gouverner ensemble.

UPDATE 2012-05-03: The placeholder sites have been updated with more information, including a longer press release - Le gouvernement du Québec s'engage sur la voie du gouvernement ouvert. It lists two actions for June: the open data portal and the IT projects dashboard

Le portail www.données.gouv.qc.ca sera mis en place dès juin et les données y seront publiées progressivement.

En juin, un tableau de bord sur l'état de santé des projets informatiques sera diffusé dans le portail des données ouvertes.

A mockup of what the IT projects dashbard will look like is available (PDF). (And yes, both the accented and unaccented version of the open data portal URL will work.)

It also lists 14 actions that will be completed by December 2012. (I am not going to translate them all.) They include planning, governance, and website launches.

There will be a website specifically for public feedback.

La mise en ligne d'un site Web www.défis.gouv.qc.ca qui permettra de solliciter les réactions du public et de renforcer sa participation à l'élaboration, au suivi et à l'évaluation des services publics;

For the moment, you can provide your feedback to the report on the consultation site.

ENDUPDATE

The report's recommendations are (my translations):

Essentially this recommendation is a call for an open data site, with machine-readable datasets.
Encourage citizen participation in the evaluation of the government's actions and policies.
This is an interesting, internal and external facing recommendation
"Que le gouvernement s’engage à utiliser le potentiel du Web 2.0 pour stimuler et faciliter la collaboration des employés au sein et entre les différents ministères et organismes gouvernementaux."
The government should take advantage of the potential of Web 2.0 to enable employee collaboration within departments and between different departments and government organisations.
The Premier of Quebec should declare he will follow the path of Web 2.0 and have an open government.
Basically says the Government 2.0 project should put in place step-by-step and be well managed.
Basically just restates the need for an open data portal and says it should start with data that is already covered for release under existing laws.
Says that the l’Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ) should be the depository for all government statistical data.
That all non-statistical data should be held by the National Library & Archives of Quebec (Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec) and that the library should be responsible for verifying the quality of the data.
Basically says the data should be machine-readable and discoverable by search engines, and that a specific data search engine should be developed.
Says data put on the open data portal should be under an open license (specifically one like the Open Government License).
Along with the open data site there should be a site where citizens and companies can provide feedback.
Says that the use of the open data should be encouraged (there should be incentives to encourage its use). "Que soient développés des incitatifs pour encourager une utilisation innovatrice et créatrice des données gouvernementales."
In all communication plans, social media should be included as a means to gather citizen feedback and stimulate dialogue.
The government should do social media monitoring in order to respond to feedback provided in those channels.
Departments should use social media to create discussion spaces for citizens to provide feedback about big projects.
Have a way to measure citizen feedback and demonstrate that it is being used.
Have a citizen forum (online) for discussions.
LA COLLABORATION
Un réseau social interne
"Que soit amélioré l’intranet gouvernemental pour y inclure un outil de collaboration du type réseau social, qui permet des fonctionnalités comme le partage de documents, la stimulation du brassage d’idées, la bonification de l’information et les interactions entre les employés de la fonction publique."
The government intranet should be improved to include a social network for collaboration and document sharing.
Develop a vision of how to use Web 2.0 for improving service quality.
Change the government's organisational culture to encourage the sharing of information, co-creation of new knowledge, and greater responsibilities for employees.
The government should provide the support necessary to help its employees maximise their use of Web 2.0, while respecting their ethical responsibilities.
Trust government employees, give them the ability to be innovative in using Web 2.0.
The governance of this open government project should be under the direct authority of the Premier.
There should be a governance committee (with various specific members listed).
Basically the purpose of the governance committee is to monitor and guide the various phases of the project.
More details about the governance committee.
Take security measures, try to ensure only correct information is sent over social media.
Take particular care with the security around private information.
Broadband Internet for all Quebec.
Accessible websites.
Keep the cost of Internet access and technology tools reasonable.
Provide training to citizens to help them use new technologies.

NOTE: I am not a professional translator. This is just my best quick effort at translating these. Feel free to correct my interpretations. Apologies for anything that's incorrect.

Twitter:

The account for the consultation (which presumably will now go silent) is @GautrinWeb2 and the accompanying hashtag is #GautrinWeb2
The @GouvOuvertQc account has been using the hashtag #gouvouvert as opposed to the Government of Canada consultation which used #gouvert (well more specifically #parlonsgouvert)

Previously

August 5, 2011 Québec - Consultation publique Web 2.0

what open data services should a public library provide?

2012-04-27T16:15:34-04:00

Rob Giggey, the lead on Open Data for the City of Ottawa, asks about open data for libraries

quick... if you know good examples of libraries utilizing #opendata (including APIs) please send them my way..c/ @opendataottawa @scilib
— Robert Giggey (@rob_giggey) April 27, 2012

I said I thought there were three main things that a public library can do, plus one done mostly by academic libraries

Libraries providing APIs, usually to their catalogue (central book index) – this has been going on for years
Libraries providing open data, typically of their catalogue holdings (the database that underlies their catalogue). Catalogue holdings info is basically what used to show up on the old card catalogue – it’s metadata about the books, authors, but NOT the full text of the book itself.
Libraries providing linked data (semantic web), again of their catalogue holdings
Libraries providing repositories of full text (typically academic libraries providing open access institutional repositories) with associated APIs

In the context of the Ottawa Public Library (OPL) this would suggest

* Opening of their catalogue layer API to developers (OPL uses BiblioCommons, which has a good API and developer site)

* Their catalogue metadata available through the City of Ottawa Open Data site (as the Brooklyn Public Library's is available through NYC Open Data)

While Linked Data is now widely being shared by national libraries (e.g. US Library of Congress, British Library, French National Library, German National Library, German National Science Library, Spanish National Library) I don't have a good sense of how many public libraries are doing this or to what extent LOD would be used by the public library developer community.

I think there are probably APIs and data for services and content beyond just the catalogue that might be useful to open up. Beyond that I'm not sure that there are many public libraries using institutional repositories or similar technologies (e.g. OAI-PMH for metadata harvesting).

The Ottawa Public Library has a good handle on consumer-facing technology and interaction including a Library Apps page and an active Twitter feed @opl_bpo

What open data approaches would you recommend for a public library?

UK national real-time train and bus open data

2012-04-27T15:30:15-04:00

The good news is that it is coming.

However I can't actually find the real-time open data or API for trains. I am more than happy to be pointed in the right direction.

What I could find:

UK Cabinet Office - Further Detail on Open Data Measures in the Autumn Statement 2011 (PDF)

There is a text extract of the train and bus section available at http://travelinedata.org.uk/opendata.htm

Here are some highlights:

Train and bus data - The Government will work with the transport industry to make available by April 2012 timetable and real-time train and bus information to support the development of innovative applications to improve passenger journeys.

o Real-time running data from Network Rail

...

DfT will also work with Traveline to release the following data relating to buses:

o Traveline National Dataset on a weekly basis (Great Britain buses); and

o Next Buses API of planned and real-time information at 350,000 GB bus stops (April 2012).

There is the Traveline National Data Set http://travelinedata.org.uk/tnds/index.htm

However all I could find in terms of real-time data or APIs is this section from the NextBus Stakeholders site:

App developers who wish to access NextBuses API — please use the 'contact us' feature at www.traveline.info ... and select the 'NextBuses and txt' option

There's also this information from ATOC but I don't understand how it relates (if at all) to the information promised in the Autumn Statement: http://data.atoc.org/

It would be nice if there was one site with "here's all the transportation data promised in the Autumn Statement, with links, status, license, and developer information". That doesn't seem to exist.

VIA Rail real-time train data

2012-04-25T11:38:29-04:00

VIA Rail has been upgrading many parts of its infrastructure. On April 19, 2012 it posted about its upcoming TSI+ system

What do you get when you combine trains with GPS technology? One of the most accurate up-to-the-minute Train Status Information Plus (TSI+) systems, that’s what!

Thanks to the existing WiFi system, which is the platform needed to support the GPS tracking, trains running within the Quebec City – Windsor corridor can now be followed through an online near real-time mapping system developed by VIA Rail.

...

The expected date for roll-out to the public is this fall: travellers will be able to check their train’s departure time, estimated time of arrival to destination and consult an en route live map.

TSI+: We Have The Technology, Part 1

There is no statement about whether this information will be available as raw, machine-readable data (open data), in addition to being shown on the TSI+ website.

VIA Rail is a Crown Corporation (or if you speak the obscure language of the bureaucracy, a Financial Administration Act - FAA - Schedule III Part 1 organisation; it is not part of the public service and Treasury Board is not the employer). Nevertheless, one would hope the principles of open government apply generally to all national government entities. In Canada's Open Government Action Plan it states that there will be an Open Government Directive and an Open Government License

The clear goal of this Directive is to make Open Government and open information the 'default' approach.

The purpose of the new Open Government License will be to promote the re-use of federal information as widely as possible.

Therefore it seems reasonable to ask VIA to make the TSI+ real-time data as well as the static schedule data available in standard open formats with an open license.

This is an opportunity to align with or exceed the current international best practices.

The French national train service is in the midst of its open data consultations at http://data.sncf.com/

In the UK, the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) provides schedule data at http://data.atoc.org/

UPDATE 2012-04-27: The UK government announced in Autumn 2011 that national real-time rail and bus information would be made available as open data in 2012. ENDUPDATE

There is a discussion group for open transportation data at http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-transport

VIA Rail has a sophisticated and responsive social media presence; this posting was inspired by a recent tweet from @VIA_Rail:

Have any technology questions for us? Send them to transformation@viarail.ca then check viarail.ca/transformingVIA soon! #VIARail #CIP
— VIA_Rail (@VIA_Rail) April 25, 2012

If you're interested in VIA Rail open data I suggest you contact them. If you want a hashtag I suggest #viaopendata

2012 Update on Canadian Digital Economy Strategy

2012-04-24T15:38:37-04:00

Industry Minister Christian Paradis (@christianparad) has provided an update

we are committed to delivering a Canadian digital economy strategy:

One that is based on my conversations with you;

One that challenges our innovators;

One that drives new technology; and

One that, through technology, benefits our entire economy.

Addressing the challenges we face with regard to access to capital and a literate workforce as well as adoption and productivity is also part of this strategy's framework.

This is the foundation upon which we will build a clear strategy for the sector and the economy as a whole.

But, later this year, when we put that strategy forward, it will only succeed if industry as well as federal, provincial and territorial governments work together.

Canada 3.0 Digital Media Forum - Speaking Points - April 24, 2012

The government consultations on the Digital Economy Strategy were launched two years ago, May 10, 2010 - Government of Canada Launches National Consultations on a Digital Economy Strategy - and closed in July 2010.

The former consultation site now is "The Digital Economy in Canada" http://digitaleconomy.gc.ca/ with the consultation relocated as a subitem.

Previously

June 1, 2011 open data statement in Canadian Digital Economy Strategy update

bêta 2 of France's open data site data.gouv.fr

2012-04-18T15:04:02-04:00

France's open data site, launched on 5 December 2011, has now released a second version four months later. It adds an essential element, public community features (this is in addition to the private developer community DataConnexions that they already launched).

The new community features of data.gouv.fr include a discussion forum, an ideas market, and highlights of open data reports from elsewhere on the web. Top contributors to the discussions are highlighted.

Find the new features at

http://www.data.gouv.fr/Communaute

SIDEBAR: Canada's open data site data.gc.ca was launched in pilot mode on March 17, 2011 and envisions a second version in three years (2014).

During Year 1 of our Action Plan, we will continue to expand on the number of datasets made available through the existing portal, and we will complete our requirements for the next generation platform. In Years 2 and 3, we will design and initiate implementation of the new data.gc.ca portal, as well as further improve the level of standardization of data published by departments. The Government will make use of crowdsourcing, particularly among Canada's open data community, to make sure that this new open data portal meets the needs and expectations of those who will use it most, and provides the best possible opportunity to support entrepreneurs eager to make use of Government of Canada data.

from Canada's Action Plan on Open Government, Activity Stream 2 - Open Data.

END SIDEBAR

Previously:
February 20, 2012 France launches open data community Dataconnexions
July 6, 2011 update on open data in France

Canada and US at Open Government Partnership Brasilia Conference

2012-04-18T07:14:33-04:00

Minister Tony Clement @TonyClementCPC and Erik Waddell @ErikWaddell of Treasury Board Secretariat are part of the Canadian delegation for the Open Government Partnership Conference.

The US delegation is headed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, her remarks at the conference opening are available (text and video).

UPDATE: Minister Clement's speech text is available - Speech by Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board and Minister Responsible for FedNor, Presenting the Government of Canada's Action Plan on Open Government. ENDUPDATE

Here's a brief Storify of Canadian-related #ogp2012 tweets for April 17, 2012 (I will update it if there are more):

Previously:

See previous posts in category opengovca

Canadian Open Government Action Plan

2012-04-11T21:42:34-04:00

President of the Treasury Board Tony Clement announced Canada's Open Government Action Plan in Regina (April 11, 2012).

@TonyclementCPC Announces Open Gov Action Plan for Canada and applauds @CityofRegina for #opendata launch. #yqr
— Alyssa Daku (@AlyssaDaku) April 11, 2012

The plan can be found on the Canadian Open Government site open.gc.ca: Canada's Action Plan on Open Government. It outlines three years of progressive commitments to improving and strengthening Canada's three pillars: open information, open data and open dialogue. Delivering the action plan now was part of the requirements for Canada's membership in the Open Government Partnership (and should eventually be posted at http://www.opengovpartnership.org/countries/canada ). Minister Clement will be at the OGP meeting in Brasilia this month.

The plan has two foundational committments: an Open Government Directive and and Open Government License.

Open Government Directive

In Year 1 of our Action Plan, we will confirm our policy direction for Open Government by issuing a new Directive on Open Government. The Directive will provide guidance to 106 federal departments and agencies on what they must do to maximize the availability of online information and data, identify the nature of information to be published, as well as the timing, formats, and standards that departments will be required to adopt. ...

The clear goal of this Directive is to make Open Government and open information the 'default' approach.

Open Government License

... we will issue a new universal Open Government License in Year 1 of our Action Plan with the goal of removing restrictions on the reuse of published Government of Canada information (data, info, websites, publications) and aligning with international best practices. ...

The purpose of the new Open Government License will be to promote the re-use of federal information as widely as possible.

These are two clear actions that have great potential.

I won't list all the other details, just a bit from the open data activity stream, which indicates an updated portal in years 2-3 of the Action Plan:

During Year 1 of our Action Plan, we will continue to expand on the number of datasets made available through the existing portal, and we will complete our requirements for the next generation platform. In Years 2 and 3, we will design and initiate implementation of the new data.gc.ca portal, as well as further improve the level of standardization of data published by departments. The Government will make use of crowdsourcing, particularly among Canada's open data community, to make sure that this new open data portal meets the needs and expectations of those who will use it most

I think the government would be wise to look at the agile iterative approach demonstrated by the UK Government Digital Service as an model for revising the portal to meet user needs.

On Twitter

Tony Clement - @TonyClementCPC
Treasury Board Secretariat - @TBS_Canada
Open Government Partnership - @opengovpart
Brasilia conference hashtag now changed to #ogp2012
UK Government Digital Service - @govuk
UK Open Public Data - @datagovuk

Open Government Partnership Canadian contact

The contact for all matters related to Canada's participation in the Open Government Partnership is

Stephen Walker,

Chief Information Officer Branch, Treasury Board Secretariat

stephen.walker@tbs-sct.gc.ca

UPDATE 2012-04-18: TBS Press Releases - Minister Clement Releases Open Government Action Plan and Minister Clement Attends International Open Government Partnership. Minister Clement's speech announcing the Action Plan - Speech by Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board of Canada, to Regina and District Chamber of Commerce. Minister Clement announces Canada's official membership - Canada Joins International Open Government Partnership.

At the time of this writing the Open Government Partnership conference is underway in Brasilia, there is a webcast available. Minister Clement @TonyClementCPC and Erik Waddell @ErikWaddell are attending, along with others from the government and civil society (see list at bottom of blog post Canadian Open Government Consultation Final Report).

ENDUPDATE

Previously

You can see previous items related to this topic in category opengovca

Desperately Seeking Updates: An Unplanned Dopamine Experiment

2012-04-11T13:46:55-04:00

Like drugs of abuse, exposure to novel stimuli releases a rush of dopamine in reward areas of the brain. And, high-sensation seekers often develop a sort of tolerance to high-risk activities—boredom sets in, and they are compelled to add new twists that recreate the initial charge.

Desperately Seeking Sensation: Fear, Reward, and the Human Need for Novelty

I'm sure that the mechanisms of dopamine are a lot more complex than novelty-click-dopamine but nevertheless it's interesting to speculate. We have developed wonderful engines for novel stimulation: email, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, SMS - there's always a new message, a new tweet, a new status, a new photo, a new text that might be coming, that might be wonderful. Does this possibility lead to the pattern of endlessly checking for updates? Are we engaged in a multi-million person experiment that is creating neophiles, endless craving the new?

I don't know if it's actually the case, but it certainly seems to me that if we had set out to do it intentionally, we couldn't have done better than the unpredictable bursts of the new that we got we with the systems we built. I guess it's ultimately a question of whether the novelty-seeking, whether it's waiting for the Blackberry to buzz, refreshing Twitter, clicking through the TV channels or following web links (prurient or otherwise) interferes with the ability to read and think in longer-form, less jittery ways.

I do find that interacting with Twitter through TweetDeck or EchoFon has much more of a tendency for me to be about discovering interesting content than actually consuming it; my pinboard is full of bookmarked but not read links. I also found the rapid feedback and perception-of-activity that come with Twitter drained a lot of the energy away that I used to devote to blogging.

That being said I'm not convinced about any "Internet is making us stupid" or "Internet is making us addicts" arguments. I think one thing it does point to is the sheer lack of complex filtering tools - at least I'm not aware of good ones. Right now I consume EchoFon and TweetDeck as raw streams of tweets from people I follow - without any ranking, recommendations or analysis.

As I read Too Big To Know (and having read similar books) I'm struck by how much of the discussion is about how the way to deal with lots of information is good filters, yet how few of our tools provide sophisticated filters (anything more than keyword filters) by default.

Pouring an activity stream directly into the brain is not a particularly useful allocation of time; I'd be interested hear about any tools that people are using to filter Twitter and other information streams.

Facebook and Instagram unseriously explained

2012-04-11T11:48:24-04:00

How do you turn photos in to billions of dollars? Here's a handy guide:

Facebook

Was: Photo sharing for college / university students
Now: Photo sharing for parents and grandparents

Instagram

Was: Photo sharing for hipsters
Now: Photo sharing for disappointed hipsters

Pinterest

Was: Photo sharing for women
Was briefly: Photo sharing for women and eating disorder enthusiasts
Now: Probably worth a hijillion billion dollars

Tumblr

Photo sharing in impossibly narrow verticals, including many Rule 34 examples

Royal Canadian Mint $50k MintChip application challenge

2012-04-05T15:49:19-04:00

Canada has no central challenge platform like the US Challenge.gov, so I was surprised to see the Canadian Mint announce...

The MintChip Challenge

"The Royal Canadian Mint is challenging software developers to create apps for MintChip, the evolution of currency."

Deadline for submissions is August 1, 2012.

This being the Mint, just for variety the prizes are in gold. There are $50,000 in prizes overall. The grand prize is $17k.

Best Overall Application - Grand Prize $17,000
10 oz of GOLD (1 Gold Wafer, .9999 purity), equal to $17,000

MintChip appears to involve hardware tokens: "you will be provided with a software development kit, two microSD MintChips and access to two remote MintChip accounts".

Contest is open to Canada and the US (see contest rules).

the perils of generational thinking

2012-04-05T15:37:57-04:00

Jian Ghomeshi tweets

Most Gen X-ers know exactly where we were when we heard the news that Kurt Cobain had taken his life 18 years ago today. RIP Kurt.

http://twitter.com/jianghomeshi/status/187872833613987842

There are a few problems:

1) No one can agree what years "Generation X" spans.

2) "Most"? Really? A generation-defining event?

Jian is 44 (born 1967), according to Wikipedia.

Generation X has been broadly used to cover anyone born from 1961 to 1981. This is an absurdly broad span of time. The idea that people who are 51 have had the same generational experiences as those who are 31 is ridiculous. Culture and technology now move in roughly 5 year windows; just slightly wider perhaps than the 4-year university experience.

Jian, who is in my generation, claims Cobain as a generation-shaping experience. I don't give a f*** about Cobain. I have no idea when he died. It had no impact on me whatsoever. My generational shared experiences are the Challenger Shuttle explosion and 2001-09-11. The only musical experience I found scarring was when CBC took its rich all-classical CBC Radio 2 service with erudite announcers and turned it into some kind of lightweight musical experience / adult music channel, at which point I immediately stopped listening to it, after having it as a daily companion for over a decade. (Their format change in order to chase some imaginary younger radio-listening demographic.)

Jian is at least talking from within his generation, unlike the more typical scenario where members of an older generation speculate about a younger one based on anecdotes.

All of which to say that we need to be very careful with talk of "The Millenials" and their technology expertise. These stereotypes fare poorly in the light of diverse reality. Due to rapid change, true generation cohorts in recent times are only about half a decade wide, with all the inconvenience this creates for sweeping generalisations. True generation cohorts share perhaps some common economic environment and general culture experiences. Even that is blowing apart as we see wide economic divergence and a vast diversity of possible cultural experiences (an absence of a true mass culture). For example rather than the experience of mass TV, we now have a range between the (few) who still watch live TV and those who consume television days, weeks, months or an entire season after it airs (if they watch the show at all).

In terms of technological expertise I think it's folly to conflate keyboarding skills or ability to tap an iPad with any kind of understanding of technology or insights into the underlying principles and infrastructure. Sending an email doesn't make you an expert in SMTP. In fact, the tools available are encouraging a narrow range of multimedia creation (text, audio, photos, video) while making it much more difficult to engage with the technology underpinnings (very few people are writing computer code on their iPads).

Also we need to separate technology innovation from generational change. Just because your kids were born in 2007 and the iPhone was released the same year doesn't mean your 5-year-old is part of some "iPhone generation". Whatever tools they use as they move into adult life a decade or more from now may be quite different. And as Douglas Rushkoff indicates in Program or Be Programmed, simply tapping on an app doesn't mean you have any appreciation whatsoever of the underlying technology tradeoffs and constraints, not to mention truly transformational aspects such as the wholesale ceding of control over private information that many of these technologies bring. (See for example the Washington Post coverage of apps that transmit private information, the ongoing Wall Street Journal What They Know series, and the recent ACLU work showing widespread warrantless use of cellphone information.)

So we need to be a lot better at separating rapid technology change (Google launched in 1998-1999, Facebook launched in 2004, the iPhone as mentioned just in 2007) with generational attributes. Someone in Gen X can use a smartphone. Someone in the Millenial generation may have no skill with the iPad. It's a lot more about individual attitudes and experiences than some vast cultural changes. Almost no one has a computer science background, even as coding abilities rise in importance for journalism and for civil society. We should be thinking about the implications of technology change, and thinking about the kind of work environments we want to create, not assuming a wave of generational change will come in and create some sort of instant collaborative high-tech utopia. We need to plan and create the future we want.

Canadian Open Government Consultation Final Report

2012-04-01T09:40:49-04:00

The Final Report of the Canadian Open Government Consultation has been posted

http://open.gc.ca/consult/results-resultatstb-eng.asp

It's a straightforward summary of the input provided.

There were over 260 submissions to the online consultation.

President of the Treasury Board Tony Clement states

These consultations were also instrumental in developing our Open Government Action Plan which I will present in April 2012 at the Open Government Partnership in Brazil. Each element of the Action Plan is supported by what we heard during the consultation process.

The key messages reported are

Make information and data easier to find by improving the search function on government websites.

Improve the organization of government websites, in general, by creating centralized portal(s) to provide catalogues of Government of Canada information and data in one place.

Make more information and data available in standardized open formats with improved metadata, tagging and indexing.

Promote the availability of open data through better communications and marketing.

Improve consultation tools and websites by making them more user-friendly (e.g., plain language, no acronyms, etc.) and more interactive through the use of social media.

Ensure that Canadians know that consultations are taking place and demonstrate that something is being done with consultation results.

Be more open with Canadians by improving policies and rules so that government data and information is open by default.

The final report itself doesn't provide any specific information about what will be included in the Open Government Action Plan, however the January 2012 update to the Open Government Partnership described some initial possibilities.

UPDATE 2012-04-18: The Open Government Action Plan was released on April 11, 2012. ENDUPDATE

Canada's Action Plan will be posted to is posted at the OGP website

http://www.opengovpartnership.org/countries/canada

The OGP meeting is in Brasilia, April 17-18, 2012. The OGP has posted a preliminary list of attendees (Excel format).

Canadian representitives listed are

Stephen Walker - Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) - Stephen is the contact for all OGP related matters: stephen.walker@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Tony Clement - President of the Treasury Board - @TonyClementCPC
Erik Waddell - TBS - @ErikWaddell
Michael Gurstein - Centre for Community Informatics Research, Development and Training - @michaelgurstein
Harvey Low - Representative - Canadian Council on Social Development, Community Data Program
Fernando Perini - International Development Research Centre (IDRC) - @fperini
David Eaves - @daeaves - David is also on the Canadian Government Advisory Panel on Open Government
Pierre Boucher - Deputy CIO of Canada

The hashtag is for the event is #OGPBrasilia2012 #ogp2012 and the Twitter ID is @opengovpart

Centre for Community Informatics Research, Development and Training

Code4Lib North - Ottawa pub meetup

2012-03-26T10:00:56-04:00

Wednesday March 28, 2012

5-7pm

Royal Oak (downtown) - 188 Bank, Bank & Gloucester

More information on the Code4Lib wiki: Code4lib North Pub Night Meetup in Ottawa, Ontario

Contact Warren Layton (warren.layton@gmail.com / @warlayton) if you plan to attend.

San Francisco Innovation - A startup called government

2012-02-24T12:07:34-05:00

In organisations like the UK Government Digital Service and France's Etalab we see a drive to bring agile "startup" behaviour into the heart of large, complex organisations.

The Government Digital Service (GDS) must have the agility of a start-up to drive through change across Whitehall, says its director Mike Bracken.

Computer Weekly - Government Digital Service needs agility of a start-up - December 9, 2011

Cette mission est réalisée par une équipe très agile et très mobile à l’organisation « type startup » qui compte seulement sept membres. Elle est très proche du Premier Ministre qui s’intéresse de près à la question de l’ouverture des données comme nous l’ont confirmé les membres d’Etalab.

blog.administration2020.fr - Un entretien avec Etalab plus qu’enrichissant - January 24, 2012

To some extent this is just new terminology to describe an old concept - the skunkworks. The challenge has always been how to take these kinds of coherent, small, agile groups and integrate their work and their culture into the entire organisation - the problem of agility at scale. While we have great solutions for scaling websites from 1000 users to millions, we don't have great solutions for scaling organisations from a dozen employees to thousands while retaining innovation. It's the classic challenge of loft+coffeemachine versus aircraft carrier.

Can there be then a startup called government? San Francisco is trying to make it possible.

On their recently-launched site innovations.sfgov.org they list the thematic areas of their innovation portfolio:

StartupSF - to help businesses launch and connect with the community
EngageSF - using open data, ideas gathering platforms, and targeted hackathons to help citizens build on the city's information
SmartSF - using sensors, other urban technology, and discussions to build a smarter, more responsive city

I think there are common threads that run through these approaches, that help to move beyond the classic skunkworks - building in outreach from the outset, so that the small group is integrated both within the rest of the organisation as well as with the broader community outside.

Common Threads: A small, highly-visible, expert core team. A growing community / ecosystem around that core. Focused projects. Technology-enabled but not technology-dependent.

You can follow the San Francisco initiative on Twitter:

@Jay_Nath - SF Chief Innovation Officer
@ShannonSpanhake - SF Deputy Innovation Officer

Rebooting the public square with open data and open source

2012-02-24T12:06:26-05:00

there are myriad categories of raw data that are locked up inside the boundaries of government. If governments were simply to publish this data, then private companies, civil society organisations, citizens and other government agencies will self-organise to use this data to create public value. This holds the promise of better, cheaper government.

Don Tapscott - 03m43s to 4m06s

The fifth and final episode of CBC's ReCivilization was "Rebooting the Public Square". Ignoring the apocalyptic "this is the end of everything we know" tone at the beginning, it looks at the infrastructure of open sharing online (through discussions with Google and Mozilla), open data (through a discussion with Sir Tim Berners-Lee), and the kinds of activities that are enabled in the government sphere (through a discussion with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy).

I think it's an ok starting point for understanding some of the pieces, although there is a lot more to open government than is covered in the segment. I was disappointed that as a Canadian show there was no mention of Canadian open government initiatives, which include

national - open.gc.ca and participation in the Open Government Partnership
provincial - data.gov.bc.ca
municipal - ottawa.ca/opendata

(More sites are listed on Wikipedia - Open Data in Canada.)

The audio is available as broadcast on the web, there are also extended interviews available. For those interested specifically in open government, the extended interview with Thomas Kalil is the most informative. The series is also available (for free) in iTunes.

Twitter:

Previously:
December 30, 2006 Tapscott: turn your organization inside-out
December 28, 2006 Tapscott on collaboration and Wikinomics in the Globe
June 6, 2005 SLA2005 - live, semi-awake blogging of opening session - Monday 9:30 AM (featuring Tapscott keynote)