Attended a great webinar this morning hosted by FSG Social Impact Advisors. They are a non-profit consultancy focusing on social impact measures. The webinar talked about some of the research they have done in the sector. One of the fundamental challenges for non-profits and funders is that funders naturally want to see the results of … Continue reading Shared Measurement Systems for Non-Profits
BC Apps for Climate Action contest for developers coming soon
I'm very excited about SAP sponsorship for an upcoming developer contest by the Province of BC. The province is working with nine sponsors to develop an apps contest for climate action software applications. The contest asks participants to design fun, dynamic and innovative applications for both the Internet and mobile devices using government data. Like … Continue reading BC Apps for Climate Action contest for developers coming soon
Open Gov West – Seattle Mar 26-27
Open Gov West is a very cool conference coming up in Seattle at the end of the month. Bringing together technologists, civic engagement organizations and governments, the conference is designed to "facilitate regional collaboration and share best practices across open government initiatives". The concepts of open government have been very prevalent lately in forums such … Continue reading Open Gov West – Seattle Mar 26-27
Stimulus Reporting with SAP BusinessObjects Solution
Last year, SAP released an application to enable management and reporting of American Recovery and Reinvestment (ARRA aka stimulus package) Funds. The Act specifically mandates that government agencies provide transparent reporting to citizens showing monies spent and impacts made - financial, jobs and more. What's really interesting about this application is how it was developed. … Continue reading Stimulus Reporting with SAP BusinessObjects Solution
Open the Doors to Data in Vancouver
Vancouver is one of a small group of leading cities in North America that are opening up data to citizens. While most government decision making, processes and data (at all levels) are closed to the public, Vancouver has taken the unique step of publishing a Council resolution supporting Open Data, Open Standards and Open Source. … Continue reading Open the Doors to Data in Vancouver
Tale of two views: Public and Private stimulus spending tracking sites
The New York Times has a profile on the "Big Man" tasked with monitoring spending for the US recovery bill. The article talks about both recovery.gov (a government run site) and Stimulus Watch (a private site). As you can see from the images below, the difference in level of detail and speed of posting is staggering. … Continue reading Tale of two views: Public and Private stimulus spending tracking sites
Opening MP Voting Records: how?
Interesting article on opening MP voting records "soon" but how effective will this be? While not as interesting as the US given our more traditional party-disciplined voting, one can imagine some interesting data mashups. For example one could create a map linking voting records with government spending projects, financial contributions and media coverage by riding. … Continue reading Opening MP Voting Records: how?
Constructive Public Engagement 