(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, [...]
Entries from July 2011
The State of Open Data Licenses in Canada and where to go from here
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 an 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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
It’s the icing, not the cake: key lesson on open data for governments
At the 2010 GTEC conference I did a panel with David Strigel, the Program Manager of the Citywide Data Warehouse (CityDW) at the District of Columbia Government. During the introductory remarks David recounted the history of Washington DC’s journey to open data. Interestingly, that journey began not with open data, but with an internal problem. [...]


