Phillip Smith - Bringing the bits together

Tomorrow: Open City Workshop. In Edmonton, and online.

Great looking workshop for #opencities enthusiasts across Canada:

If you are in Edmonton check it out otherwise you can join by webcast! 

Open City Workshop: Building Community through Open Information

Date: Saturday March 6, 2010 
Time: 9:30am to 4pm 
Location: Art Gallery of Alberta

Join community leaders, academics, students, technology enthusiasts, public servants and elected officials to consider the possibilities and advance the role of open information in Edmonton and the surrounding region.

This workshop will build on the good work done at the City's Open Data Workshop in November 2009. The consultation and feedback received at that event led to the City's introduction of an Open Data Catalogue in January 2010.

Now, we want to hear how you and others think available data can be used in our city, province and country. The workshop will explore how technology might facilitate the principles of open government, increased transparency, collaboration between public sector bodies and residents, and participatory democracy.

Whether you have a great idea for an application, want to request a specific data set, or just want to learn what Gov 2.0 is, this workshop is for you.

For more information about this event, please visit the Open Data section on edmonton.ca. To register, go to the Open City Workshop's Eventbrite page or call 780-423-3443. 

Job with purpose: Awesomely Rad Web Developer. Washington, DC.

Another great opportunity for the socially conscious geek...

Allyson Kapin from Rad Campaign -- a Web design, development, online Marketing and strategy firm that helps "organizations that want to change the world" -- writes that Rad Campaign is seeking an "Awesomely Rad Web Developer" for their DC-based office:

We're hiring a web developer. Know any good ones? Send them my way. Job description below.

Rad Campaign, one of the coolest online communications firms you will ever tech out with, is hiring an Awesomely Rad Web Developer based in Washington, DC. Rad Campaign is deeply committed to organizations that want to change the world and socially responsible businesses that want to claim their corner of it. We fight to conserve America's national forests and wildlife. We educate the public about becoming conscious consumers and why purchasing green, socially responsible products are better for the planet and our health. We fight for human rights throughout the world. We mobilize people across the US to fight for labor reform and real health care reform.

The full post is online here. This is a half-time position.

Gig with purpose: Brave New Films needs a Web Developer

Another great opportunity. This time with Brave New Films, a pioneer in socially progressive documentaries and viral videos that was founded by filmmaker Robert Greenwald. Quick summary of the position is:

Wanted: a full-time Web Developer for Brave New Films (location: Anywhere, USA) to guide and implement our online tech efforts. Build HTML websites with light PHP code. Be on top of developments in social media and technologies to guide and inform our distribution strategy. We care less about writing perfect code and more about executing the clever idea that'll wreak havoc on the establishment. More info and apply at: http://bit.ly/djya2Y

Politics moves fast. We have some pretty intense deadlines, so we're pragmatic. Think startup meets non-profit political rabble rousers. We also get along well with people that have an excellent work ethic, juggle multiple tasks under tight deadlines, and realize this is not a 9-5 job.

Looks like a great opportunity to work with an innovative organization working for social change. Apply here.

Canadian Democracy Geeks: Free MP Postal Code Lookup service now available

Cross-posted from COMMUNITY BANDWIDTH - For clients, For colleagues, For Canada, Announcements, Miscellaneous, Daily churn

Exciting to (finally) see a freely available Web service for looking up Member of Parliament in Canada based on a postal code.

Historically, the various licensing costs and restrictions on the data required to support this service made it hard to provide as a "free as in free beer" service to organizations that wanted to make use of the data in advocacy applications and so on.

It seems those barriers have been lowered, as Cory Horner from the How'd They Vote team announces the service and speaks to the licensing questions:

I am pleased to present, at long last, a Postal Code to Member of Parliament web service:

http://howdtheyvote.ca/news.php?i=free-postal-code-lookup-service

Sadly the raw data cannot be shared, but fortunately the terms of the licence dictate that its use in a web service is permitted.

Russell McOrmond, a pioneer in this area, pressed Cory about lookups based on geolocation, i.e., enabling an end-user to click on a map and receive information on their Member of Parliament (made difficult by the nature of riding boundaries). And it appears that Cory has added that functionality to the API also, so that latitude and longitude can be used instead of postal code in the API query.

The geeky among you might want to also know that the service using PostGIS as the spatial database.

Exciting times in Canada, as geeks start to put the Web services in place to enable more democracy-enabling technology.

(Thanks to Civic Access for the info.)

Feel free to comment here or on the original post

Weekend reading: How publishers are charging for online content

Cross-posted from COMMUNITY BANDWIDTH - For clients, For colleagues, For Canada, Announcements, Miscellaneous, Daily churn

Many of the publishers I work with are (still) grappling with questions about charging for content: if, why, how, and so on. These questions can become almost paralyzing when taken to their extreme, and in this situation I've often advocated to "give it away or don’t: pick one," i.e., choose a direction, stick with it for a while, and then re-assess. Nonetheless, there will be those that want to fret over the decision endlessly and to carefully consider every angle -- and those folks will want to have a look at Alastair Bruce's recent presentation about "Charging for content."

Bruce's presentation is a thorough examination of the current state of affairs in the online publishing world. He offers a comparison chart the explores the different models used by major newspapers, local news, and specialist publications. He delves into the specifics of many of the models -- micro-payments, metering, freemiums, etc. -- and leaves us with a nice snapshot of the landscape that's current to February 2010.

It will be a great addition to your weekend reading list, I promise. I particularly liked the exploration of how publishers are pulling social media, search advertising, and other models (membership, etc.) into their revenue mix. Great stuff and hope to see more like this from Mr. Bruce.

(Thanks to Mark Coddington's weekly roundup at Neiman Journalism Lab for the pointer)

Feel free to comment here or on the original post

March 6: Free video workshop for Toronto social change orgs.

This just in from Celina Agaton of Films that Move via the Social Tech Training network:

Films That Move presents a free video workshop with TV Reporter, Kris Reyes for non-profit and social enterprise employees and volunteers.

When: Saturday, March 6, 2010 10am to Noon 

Where: University of Toronto, Room TBD

What makes for a good story? How can you use the tools of today to help you create your own media? How do we make sure human interest stories don't get lost in the mix?

In this workshop, CityTV reporter Kris Reyes will try to help you answer those questions. She will also talk about the elements of a good story, how to shoot your own interviews, and share some ideas for creating and distributing your own media.

No agenda for the morning, but looks like an interesting opportunity for organizations that have an interest in exploring video and a Saturday morning to invest. Go register, it's free!

Canada: 10 years of policy neglect reflected in digital rankings

The usual sharp analysis from Michael Geist in today's Star article:

Canada's sliding global ranking reflects 10 years of policy neglect. Other countries gave priority to digital issues while leaders from all parties here have been content to rest on the laurels of the late 1990s, only to wake up to a new, less-competitive reality in 2010.

Geist goes on to suggest an open data approach similar to those seen in the US and UK:

Beyond new legislation, government can use the next 100 days to lead by example. A new data.gc.ca website, with open government data sets like those found in the U.S. and U.K. should be easy to achieve. The government also could follow the Australian approach to solve the crown copyright problem that restricts use of government documents by adopting open licences that grant permission to use documents without formal approval (or the need for a new law).