Nicolas T. sent me a cool link to Fairspin, a website where readers rate the bias of news articles. This is the type of site that works better the more people who use it – the larger the readership the more likely the bias measurement will reflect that of the population’s. Indeed this is the [...]
Entries from June 2009
Using a media bias tool to calculate our political “drift”
How Open Data even makes Garbage collection sexier, easier and cheaper
So presently the City of Vancouver only shares its garbage schedule (which it divides into north and south) as a PDF file. This is a pity as it means that no one can build any apps around it. Imagine a website or Iphone app that mashed up google maps with a constantly up to date [...]
When good companies go bad – How Nokia Siemens helped Iran monitor its citizens
Last week my friend Diederik wrote a blog titled “Twittering to End Dictatorship: Ensuring the Future of Web-based Social Movements” in which he expressed his concern that (Western) corporations might facilitate oppressive regimes in wiretapping and spying on their citizens. Now it appears that his concerns have turned out to be true. As he points [...]
The Rat Pack of Public Service Sector Renewal
As many of you know I spend a lot of time thinking about public service sector renewal – that’s a wonkish term for renewing the public service. I do it because I think the public service is one of the most important institutions in the country since it affects everything we do, pretty much every [...]
Feeding the next economy – Give us a stimulus that stimulates, not placates
Last December – as the debates over the stimulus packages were just beginning, I wrote a piece on why the wrong stimulus today could fail us tomorrow. Well, today has become tomorrow, and we are failing. A stimulus package should be an investment. It should create new industries and markets, it should find help create [...]
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