Singing the underground wireless blues
According to a survey from the New Cities Foundation, almost 60% of major subway systems around the world provide Internet access for their passengers. Original post
Yearly Archives: 2011
Amtrak to test electronic ticketing for Downeaster
Amtrak announced a pilot test of its eTicketing system on the Downeaster service, which operates daily between Boston (MA) and Portland (ME). Original post
Real-time transit info leads to growth in Bay Area 511 call volume
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (CA) reports a spike in call volume for the San Francisco Bay Area’s 511 customer information system. Original post
Let me tell you a story
She impressed you. She was professional, articulate, quick to answer, but thoughtful and enthused. That’s why you hired her. You parade her around the office, introducing her to her new colleagues, welcoming her as the new addition to the family. It’s a flood of new faces. It’s a touch overwhelming but she’s going through theRead… Read more »
Social reporting through the social silicon valleys
First published at Social Reporters. As we’re preparing for our innovation camp, we’ve been reflecting on how we can stimulate collaboration between entrepreneurs, students andcommunities. Having just seen the impressive Civicrowd being used in South Holland (to my surprise, it’s in England) developed by @davebriggs and it provoked a couple of thoughts as I wasRead… Read more »
There’s Talk, and There’s Communication
Peter Drucker said ‘60% of all management problems are the result of poor communication.’ Why is this true? Communications break down when losing focus on three areas: clarity of what’s expected accuracy of what’s completed, and timeliness of what’s needed. Clarity of What’s Expected – Projects which do not have clear goals, vision, and missionRead… Read more »
One Trillion Reasons: One Year Later
In October 2010 one of America’s great outlets of technology leadership thought published an important paper meant to inform government action towards reducing costs. The organization is the Technology CEO Council, which strives to be the information technology industry’s number one public policy advocacy organization. It is comprised of Chief Executive Officers from America’s leadingRead… Read more »
A Day in the Life of a Civil Engineer – Day 66
Day 66 Culvert Lining Project It looks like our issue with the culvert lining project has been resolved. We gave the structural drawings from our consultant to the contractor. Theh contractor ended up getting a couple prices from other concrete contractors which were lower than the original subcontractor’s price. So it looks like we willRead… Read more »
“How did I hire so many people who have no ideas?”
The above Dilbert strip unfortunately is true of so many places that I have worked for. Time and time again I would see expensive consultants hired to improve operations, when employees themselves had many great ideas that were ignored. As reported in the Wall Street Journal research by Alan G. Robinson, a professor at theRead… Read more »
Banks: The Disruption Begins?
I wrote a few weeks ago about how banks were setting themselves up to be disrupted by introducing all sorts of extra fees for their customers and basing their business on services people didn’t need. Now, just a few weeks later, 35,000 people have closed their accounts with major banks and put their money intoRead… Read more »