Reduce Stormwater Runoff, Enhance the Urban Environment

Green City, Clean Waters Promo from GreenTreks Network on Vimeo. Philadelphia just took a big step forward in its plans to green the city. The City of Philadelphia Water Department and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection have signed an agreement (PDF) to invest “$2 billion over the next 25 years to use primarily greenRead… Read more »

Research and Best practices eNewsletter

Research Minorities Fuel Twitter Growth (01/01/2011) – Thirteen percent of U.S. adults online use Twitter, according to a study from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Minorities are likely to play an increasingly important role in the service’s expansion, as 25% of online African Americans tweet, compared with 9% of non-Hispanic whiteRead… Read more »

Weiner needs to resign

Weiner’s decision to drag his problem out is now causing a problem for President Obama and the Democratic party. From a high after a win in a Republican held Congressional level to low ratings in yesterday’s poll, the Democrats don’t need another PROBLEM. He needs to resign and stay off twitter

The Open Kent API

If you are a web developer, please feel free to use our API (Application Programming Interface). This pulls data from our datastore and is updated approximately every 10 minutes. Please see the information and links below. Please note that the “host: port” for Open Kent is “open.kent.gov.uk”. For example, the reference in the documentation ofRead… Read more »

Thursday’s political law links

GETTING THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE OFF THE BOOKS. The Hill. “The [FCC] stopped enforcing the rule in 1987 after concluding it was unconstitutional, but in recent years some Democrats have suggested reviving the policy in response to the increasingly partisan nature of cable news.” EARMARKS AND 2012. The Post. “Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich has used op-edRead… Read more »

A round-up of reactions to Google’s real-time info

As announced yesterday, Google Maps has added real-time transit updates for six systems. Here’s a round-up of local stories: The Boston Globe on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority “The announcement is a clear sign of the T’s dramatic shift in its approach to the tech community since 2008, when the MBTA guarded data so carefullyRead… Read more »

VTA launches mobile app contest

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (CA) invites developers to create a mobile application that enhances the VTA travel experience. “Whether they help you find the best donut shop in town or get you to the latest flash mob on time, these mobile apps are sure to be a big hit with our riders,” saidRead… Read more »

Telling stories with data

Yesterday, I did a bit of social reporting at my good friends Claremont‘s ‘Data is Power’ event, hearing about the impact data visualisation has been having on PR and journalism. We heard from the Alzheimers Society about how they raised awareness of the postcode lottery in dementia diagnosis through smart data visualisation. It’s a reallyRead… Read more »