SFOpen 2011: Ask the Candidates about Public Participation

On Thursday, I will attend SFOpen 2011, a forum discussion on Open Government with nine of the candidates currently running for the office of Mayor of San Francisco. The event is sponsored by Change.org, GovFresh, WordPress, and various others. From the event site: SFOpen 2011 brings together the 2011 San Francisco Mayoral candidates for aRead… Read more »

Awesome People Hanging Out Together – A Treasure Trove of Interesting Celebrity Photography

If it wasn’t for the Internet, we would never be able to enjoy interesting little treasures from around the world. Where else can find pictures of people, many legends of our time having dinner, laughing, hanging out, and performing? “Awesome People Hanging Out Together” has well over a hundred photographs (and growing by the day)Read… Read more »

BC Social Media Engagement Learning Centre

I was recently given permission to share a “work in progress” extranet site from the Government of British Columbia. Please note that it is currently a mirror and has not yet been officially launched. So what is it exactly? A collection of guidelines and best-practices surrounding the use of social media for citizen engagement. HowRead… Read more »

You’re such an oxyMORON!!!

When was the last time you heard or saw an oxymoron? In this age of new media, new technology, social media, open government…….the one that sticks out the most for me is “Open Source is Free” Just ask your friendly neighborhood developer 🙂 Can you think of other oxymorons that are now part of ourRead… Read more »

Happy Flag Day!

Today, we celebrate the strands of our history that made us red, white, and blue, Betsy Ross’s iconic work: Old Glory. Today is Flag Day. As it abundantly obvious, we at Code for America are big fans. (Just look at the logo.) Our flag was designed to illustrate how we came together as different statesRead… Read more »

Andrew McLaughlin at Personal Democracy Forum 2011

Last week, Andrew McLaughlin presented at the Personal Democracy Forum — a conference exploring and analyzing technology’s impact on politics and government — why and how we’re building a Civic Commons. Video from Andrew’s talk was posted online; check it out below: Original post

How GitHub Saved OpenSource

For a long time I’ve been thinking about just how much Github has revolutionized open source. Yes, it has made managing the code base significantly easier but its real impact has likely been on the social aspects of managing open source. Github has rebooted how the innovation cycle in open source while simultaneously raising theRead… Read more »

Three Easy Steps to Connection

As I ponder topics for my blog, I often look to issues that are coming up with my clients, family, friends, or those with whom I have recently interacted. I enjoy looking at shared stories and themes, and just like Twitter, my experience has taught me that there are trending topics in life. The oneRead… Read more »