Research Infosource published a report titled “Canada’s Top 50 Research Universities List 2009 Analysis“.
Ottawa University came in #8… unfortunately Carleton University didn’t make the list.
Ottawa University #8 in Research Income in 2008
Published November 10, 2009 Canada , Creative Class , Economy , Ecosystems , General Interest , Government , Government Policy , Innovation , Ottawa , Regional Economic Development , Technology , Trends , Universities Leave a CommentTags: Canada, carleton university, ottawa university, research income, Trends
Pharmaceuticals to Replace Telecom as Canada’s Top R&D Spenders?
Published November 10, 2009 Business , Canada , Canadian Politics , Creative Class , Economy , Entreprenuerism , General Interest , Government , Government Policy , Information Technology , Innovation , Ontario , Ottawa , Regional Economic Development , Trends Leave a CommentTags: bell, magna, Nortel, pharmaceutical, R&D spenders, telecommunications, Trends
RESEARCH Infosource released a report last week titled “Canada’s Top 100 Corporate R&D Spenders List 2009 Analysis“
Canada’s communications/telecom sector was the number one R&D spend – with 2008 research spending on associated products and services representing 40% of total industrial R&D. Of the top 100 R&D performers, 15 were from the communications/telecom sector.
In 2008, Nortel was the number one R&D spender. Nortel spent more on R&D than number 2 Bell and number 3 Magna combined.
Next year’s report will likely see the pharmaceutical sector replace communications/telecom products as the leading performer of R&D in Canada. According to RESEARCH Infosource -
The full effect of the deteriorating world economy will be reflected in next year’s Fiscal 2009 corporate R&D spending results. It is hard to envisage better overall performance than in 2008. For one thing, it appears that Canada’s perpetual R&D spending leader (Nortel Networks) will be absent from the list in 2009. In consequence, total corporate R&D spending will undoubtedly be affected – in a downward direction.
The full report from RE$EARCH Infosource is available here and is worth reading.
Ottawa-Gatineau #9 in Small Business Growth
Published November 9, 2009 Business , Canada , Economy , Entreprenuerism , General Interest , Microbusiness , Ottawa , Ottawa Start-ups , Regional Economic Development , Trends , Unemployment Leave a CommentTags: Economic Trends, Small Business, sme, ottawa-gatineau, BMO, CMA, growth
Ottawa-Gatineau is #9 in small business growth among Canadian CMA’s (Census Metropolitan Areas):
Some Interesting Statistics
- Small businesses employed roughly five million people in 2008, comprising nearly half of the private-sector labour force.
- Between 1998 and 2008, small businesses created more than one-third of all new private sector jobs. In 2008, they created roughly 70,000 jobs, almost 70% of the Canadian total.
- About 25% of small businesses operate in the goods-producing sector and the remaining 75% are in service industries.
- 64% of businesses in Canada have 6 or less employees:
- Small businesses are highly represented in the following industries:
- Construction
- Non-institutional health care
- Professional services
- Retail
- Accommodation & food services
- Truck transportation
- Forestry
U.S. Imports from Canada down 50%
Published November 8, 2009 Business , Canada , Economy , General Interest , Government , US , United States , depression 2.0 Leave a CommentTags: Canada, Economic Trends, imports, US
Import declines seem to have hit bottom and are now on the way up.
Key Economic Indicators
Published November 7, 2009 Business , Canada , Economy , Europe , General Interest , Government , Government Policy , Trends , US , United States Leave a CommentTags: BMO, Canada, cibc, economic indicators, Economic Trends, The Economist, United States
CIBC publishes two documents that provide a good summary of key economic indicators for US and Canada:
The Economist publishes weekly indicators.
BMO publishes three reports:
Venture Capital Statistics
Published November 7, 2009 Business , Ecosystems , Entreprenuerism , Ottawa Start-ups , Technology , Trends , US , United States , Venture Capital Leave a CommentTags: Canada, Statistics, Trends, United States, Venture Capital
United States
VC Investments Q3 2009 – MoneyTree – National Data
VC Investments Q3 2009 – MoneyTree – Regional Data
VC Investments Q3 2009 – MoneyTree – Top Deals
VC Investments Q3 2009 – MoneyTree – Charts
VC Investments Q3 2009 – MoneyTree – Press Release
Corporate Venture Capital Group Investment Analysis 1995 to Q1 2009
Economic Impact of Venture Capital
Canada
Q2 2009 VC Industry Overview
Q2 2009 PE Industry Overview
Québec’s Venture Capital Market in Q2 2009
The Impact of Venture Capital in Canada on Economy, Jobs and Innovation
US at 17.5% Unemployed and Underemployed
Published November 7, 2009 Business , Economy , General Interest , Government , Government Policy , Jobs , Trends , US , US Politics , Unemployment , United States , depression 2.0 Leave a CommentTags: Economic Trends, U.S., underemployment, unemployed, United States
The New York Times published an article on November 6th that talked to the point that the “broader measure of unemployment stands at 17.5%“.
The 17.5% rate includes the officially unemployed, who have looked for work in the last four weeks. It also includes discouraged workers, who have looked in the past year, as well as millions of part-time workers who want to be working full time.
The actual rate of underemployment may be even higher since the official government definitions and measures of unemployment miss other underemployment cases.
According to wikipedia, in economics, the term underemployment has three different distinct meanings and applications. All meanings involve a situation in which a person is working, unlike unemployment, where a person who is searching for work cannot find a job. Underemployment can mean:
- The employment of workers with high skill levels in low-wage jobs that do not require such abilities, for example a trained medical doctor who works as a taxi driver.
- “Involuntary part-time” workers — workers who could (and would like to) be working for a full work-week but can only find part-time work. By extension, the term is also used in regional planning to describe regions where economic activity rates are unusually low, due to a lack of job opportunities, training opportunities, or due to a lack of services such as childcare and public transportation.
- “Overstaffing” or “hidden unemployment”, the practice in which businesses or entire economies employ workers who are not fully occupied—for example, workers currently not being used to produce goods or services due to legal or social restrictions or because the work is highly seasonal.
H1N1 Useful Links
Published November 6, 2009 Canada , General Interest , Government , Ottawa , Public Health , Trends , US , United States Leave a CommentTags: Canada, CDC, H1N1, H1N1 deaths, Ottawa, Public Health Canada, US, vaccination clinics
Latest Employment Stats for October
Published November 6, 2009 Business , Canada , Economy , General Interest , Jobs , Ottawa , Stats Canada , Trends , US , Unemployment , United States , depression 2.0 Leave a CommentTags: Canada, Jobs, Ontario, Ottawa, Trends, U.S., unemployment rate, US
| Region | Unemployment Rate |
|---|---|
| Ottawa | 5.2% |
| Gatineau | 5.9% |
| Ontario | 9.3% |
| Canada | 8.6% |
| U.S. | 10.2% (26 year high) / 17.5% (including underemployed) |
The Globe and Mail has this interactive webpage that gives numbers by city and province:
BMO publishes employment reports for the US and Canada.
Stats Canada Labour Force Survey Nov 6, 2009 provides some insights in the job types and associated impacts:
| September 2009 | October 2009 | September to October 2009 | October 2008 to October 2009 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seasonally adjusted | ||||||
| thousands | % change | |||||
| Class of worker | ||||||
| Employees | 14,110.5 | 14,039.8 | -0.5 | -3.5 | ||
| Self-employed | 2,727.5 | 2,755.0 | 1.0 | 3.9 | ||
| Public/private sector employees | ||||||
| Public | 3,433.0 | 3,407.4 | -0.7 | -1.6 | ||
| Private | 10,677.5 | 10,632.3 | -0.4 | -4.1 | ||
| All industries | 16,838.0 | 16,794.8 | -0.3 | -2.3 | ||
| Goods-producing sector | 3,714.6 | 3,708.3 | -0.2 | -8.2 | ||
| Agriculture | 319.5 | 321.9 | 0.8 | -1.3 | ||
| Natural resources | 313.0 | 301.7 | -3.6 | -11.0 | ||
| Utilities | 150.3 | 149.9 | -0.3 | 0.9 | ||
| Construction | 1,166.8 | 1,178.0 | 1.0 | -5.8 | ||
| Manufacturing | 1,765.0 | 1,756.8 | -0.5 | -11.0 | ||
| Services-producing sector | 13,123.4 | 13,086.4 | -0.3 | -0.5 | ||
| Trade | 2,662.9 | 2,632.1 | -1.2 | -1.7 | ||
| Transportation and warehousing | 797.7 | 819.9 | 2.8 | -5.8 | ||
| Finance, insurance, real estate and leasing | 1,121.1 | 1,118.0 | -0.3 | 4.4 | ||
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 1,199.8 | 1,196.9 | -0.2 | -0.6 | ||
| Business, building and other support services | 645.8 | 639.0 | -1.1 | -4.6 | ||
| Educational services | 1,188.4 | 1,196.5 | 0.7 | -1.0 | ||
| Health care and social assistance | 1,946.8 | 1,955.1 | 0.4 | 1.7 | ||
| Information, culture and recreation | 791.5 | 785.1 | -0.8 | 4.8 | ||
| Accommodation and food services | 1,032.0 | 1,034.5 | 0.2 | -2.9 | ||
| Other services | 805.4 | 785.5 | -2.5 | 2.5 | ||
| Public administration | 932.0 | 923.8 | -0.9 | -3.1 | ||
Automated Testing Tools for iPhone
Published November 6, 2009 Best practices , Creative Class , Ecosystems , Entreprenuerism , General Interest , Information Technology , Innovation , Open Source , Trends Leave a CommentTags: iphone, gui, testing, cucumber, UIspec, Google Toolbox for Mac, deviceanywhere, automation
I recently asked some friends for their insights into automated testing tools for iPhone. Based on the feedback (special thanks to Kevin Burr!) and some research, it turns out there are a few expensive commercial services/tools and some emerging and very interesting open source applications, including:
DeviceAnywhere (commercial)
Cucumber (open source)
A good overview of integrating Cucumber with the iPhone -
Here is a video of Cucumber driving an iPhone application -
Google Toolbox for Mac (open source)
UIspec (open source)
Some good blogs with current information on iPhone GUI testing include:
GUI Mock Up Tools for iPhone
Published November 6, 2009 Best practices , Computing , Creative Class , Ecosystems , Entreprenuerism , General Interest , Information Technology , Innovation , Local Start-ups , New Media , Ottawa , Ottawa Start-ups , Silicon Valley , Technology , Trends , US Leave a CommentTags: apple, balsamiq, collaboration, development, dropbox.com, file sharing, gui, mock ups, prototyping, requirements analysis, teams, testing, user interface, workflow
I posted some information back in August about GUI mock-up tools. Since then, I have tried a variety of tools, including the hosted Protoshare and the multi-platform desktop application Balsamiq Mockups. In the end I selected Balsamiq Mockups as the preferred tool to use.
The following shows an example of the type of prototyping that Balsamiq Mockups can deliver. It also provides the ability to automate the navigation to more easily show the flow and intended behavior of the application.
The following video provides a good overview of the tool and its features:
The reasons for selecting Balsamiq Mockups:
- fast creation of mock-ups
- intuitive and easy to use
- inexpensive
- free user-contributed extensions
- easy to extend with new media assets
- active community
- regular application updates
To make it easy to share the mock-up files within the team, we also decided to use dropbox.com. Dropbox allows seamless sharing of files with a team, provides backups of the files, allows multiple computer access…
Social Networking + Mobile = Next Killer App
Published October 26, 2009 Best practices , Business , Canada , Computing , Convergence , Creative Class , Economy , Ecosystems , Entreprenuerism , General Interest , Government , Government Policy , Information Technology , Innovation , Opportunities , Ottawa , Technology , Trends , US , United States , Venture Capital , Web 2.0 Leave a CommentTags: apple, mobile, morgan stanley, social networking, Trends
Morgan Stanley recently published data on key economy and internet trends. The presentation is available online at various locations, including SlideShare below:
Some key highlights:
- Mobile internet usage will be bigger than most think
- Apple Mobile share should suprise on upside near-term
- Next generation platforms (social networking + mobile) driving unprecedented change in communications + commerce
Social “Things” and E-democracy
Published October 26, 2009 Best practices , Canada , Canadian Politics , General Interest , Government , Government Policy , Information Technology , Innovation , US Politics , Universities , Web 2.0 Leave a CommentTags: advocacy, democracy, e-democracy, federal, internet, mobile, municipal, participatory democracy, political, provincial, social bookmarking, social media, social networking, state, voting
Social networks and services offer interesting possibilities for the future of e-democracy.
E-democracy is a combination of the words “electronic” and democracy.” E-democracy represents the use of information and communication technologies and strategies by democratic actors within political and governance processes of local communities, nations and on the international stage. Democratic actors/sectors include governments, elected officials, the media, political organizations, and citizen/voters.
To many, e-democracy suggests greater and more active citizen participation enabled by the Internet, mobile communications, and other technologies in today’s representative democracy as well as through more participatory or direct forms of citizen involvement in addressing public challenges.
E-democracy is a relatively new concept, which has surfaced out of the popularity of the internet and the need to reinvigorate interest in the democratic process. Access is the key to creating interest in the democratic process. Citizens are more willing to use Web sites to support their candidates and their campaign drives. In the United States just over half of the population vote, and in the United Kingdom only 69% of English citizens do so.
The goal of e-democracy is to reverse the cynicism citizens have about their government institutions. A key element of moving towards e-democracy is increasing the ability of citizens to engage their representatives to share their suggestions and opinions in a dynamic manner.
E-democracy is the first step in moving towards participatory democracy.
Participatory democracy, is a process emphasizing the broad participation of constituents in the direction and operation of political systems. Participatory democracy strives to create opportunities for all members of a political group to make meaningful contributions to decision-making, and seeks to broaden the range of people who have access to such opportunities. Because so much information must be gathered for the overall decision-making process to succeed, technology may provide important forces leading to the type of empowerment needed for participatory models, especially those technological tools that enable community narratives and correspond to the accretion of knowledge.
Both e-democracy and participatory democracy will evolve in steps. Each day we see government organizations providing more and more information and services online. We also see politicians’ increasingly reaching out to their constituents with new and emerging tools such as Twitter and Facebook to share information and solicit opinions.
New technologies will be a major factor in helping us collectively move towards e-democracy and participatory democracy — for example the widespread use and increasing adoption of online tools such as social bookmarking, social networks, social media are increasingly popula – and point to future possibilities for e-democracy.
I believe the evolution, adoption and proliferation of these new e-democracy and participatory democracy technologies will be driven by a new breed of politicians.
Political candidates looking to unseat incumbents will increasingly look towards e-democracy and participatory democracy as a means to reach out and engage disenfranchised voters and constituents. Using new technologies will allow these candidates to talk directly to what is important, to hear both the “silent majority”, as well as the “vocal minority”. Incumbent politicians, stuck in the old ways of engaging constituents and votes may well find themselves swept away by more progressive and innovative candidates. The beginning of meaningful e-democracy and participatory democracy will start at the polls in the coming elections.
—-
refs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-democracy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_democracy
Social “Things”
Published October 26, 2009 Best practices , Computing , Ecosystems , General Interest , Web 2.0 1 CommentTags: delicio, digg, facebook, flikr, picasa, social bookmarking, social media, social network services, social networking, Statistics, Trends, youtube
There is a lot of interest these days regarding social “things” and their potential to change how people communicate. There are currently three main categories of social “things” on the internet today:
- Social Bookmarking is a method for Internet users to share, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web resources. Unlike file sharing, the resources themselves aren’t shared, merely bookmarks that reference them. Digg, Delicio are current examples of widely used social bookmarking services.
- Social Network Services focus on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services. Social Networking has encouraged new ways to communicate and share information. Social networking services such as Facebook and Linkedin are being used regularly by millions of people.
- Social Media are media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media supports the human need for social interaction, using Internet- and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many). It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers. YouTube, Picasa, Flickr are examples of widely used social media services.
Some social networking statistics from 2009 are available here.
Favorite OSX, Windows, Linux, Hosted Free Software
Published October 25, 2009 Best practices , Computing , General Interest , Open Source , Technology Leave a CommentTags: apple, freeware, mac, open source software, windows
Windows
- CCleaner – system optimization and cleanup
- WinDirStat -disk space usage maps
- StM - start-up program manager
- 7-Zip – file compression/decompression
- ImgBurn - CD/DVD image creator and burner
- Skype
- Firefox – web browser
- Crome – web browser
- Safari – web browser
- uTorrent - P2P
- Bonjour – resource discovery (i.e. printers)
- Revo Uninstaller – application uninstaller
- VLC Media Player – video media player
- PuTTY - SSH client
- WinRAR - RAR file compression/uncompression
- FileZilla - FTP client
- PDF Creator - PDF file creation, merging
- FreeMind - mind mapping
- TweetDeck - twitter client
- Picasa - photos processing and management
- Gimp - graphics design
- MWSnap - screen snapshots
Mac OSX
- FreeMind - mind-mapping
- Cyberduck - FTP/WebDAV/SFTP client
- SnapnDrag - screen snapshots
- Smultron - text/code file editor
- TweetDeck - twitter client
- The UnArchiver - file compression/uncompression
- Skype
- Transmission - P2P client
- Perian - quicktime format support extensions
- Burn - DVD burning
- Growl - system notifications
- Safari – web browsing
- Firefox – web browsing
- Handbrake - DVD ripping
- Gimp - graphics design
- Picasa - photos processing and management
- GrandPerspective - disk space usage maps
- iStatMenus – resource usage monitors
- MacFUSE - support for windows filesystems
- VLC Media Player – video media player
OS Independent
- Memtest86 – x86 system memory tester
Hosted Applications
- Google Apps – email and office productivity software
- Ninite – creates install package for user-selected free software (windows only)
Linux Server Applications
- PHPList - email list management
- Joomla CMS – website development
- SugarCRM CE – customer/client relationship management
- LimeSurvey - email/web surveys
Lead to Win – November Session Accepting Applications!
Published October 8, 2009 Best practices , Business , Canada , Commercialization , Creative Class , Economy , Ecosystems , Entreprenuerism , General Interest , Innovation , Innovation Hub , Opportunities , Ottawa , Regional Economic Development , Talent First Network , Technology , The Code Factory , Trends , Unemployment , Universities , Venture Capital , Web 2.0 , business incubators Leave a CommentTags: entre, Entrepreneurism, lead to win, Ottawa, start, start-ups
The Lead to Win program is accepting applications for the November session.
If you are interested in creating your own company – check out the program at http://www.leadtowin.ca.
Spaces are limited and the program has been over subscribed for every session held so if you are interested do not delay getting your application submitted.
Check out some of the companies that have successfully made it to Phase III of Lead to Win.
The Entrepreneurial Effect
Published October 7, 2009 Best practices , Business , Canada , General Interest , How To's , Innovation , Local Start-ups , Microbusiness , Networking , Ontario , Open Source , Opportunities , Ottawa , Ottawa Start-ups , Regional Economic Development , Sales , The Code Factory , Trends , Universities , Venture Capital Leave a CommentTags: book, Canada, Entrepreneurism, Ontario, Ottawa
I am involved in a new book that is now out. Members of the local Ottawa tech community have gotten together to produce a new book called “the Entrepreneurial Effect” with the foreword by Terry Matthews. It is a collection of practical lessons learned.
The book is meant to be a knowledge source for those decisions we face as we start and grow our companies, for example, the real story behind risk and investment, how to pick resellers, selling in China, and the only reasons to consider M&As.
It is also worth noting that all the authors have donated their knowledge.
All proceeds of the book will go to support student technology entrepreneurship!
Get implementable advice and support a great cause.
Check it out at: www.entrepreneurialeffect.com
Stay tuned for information on the book launch date which will be on an upcoming evening. It will be an evening worth going to.
Cellphone Use Linked to Brain Cancer
Published August 26, 2009 General Interest , Trends Leave a CommentTags: brain tumors, cancer, cellphone, mobile phone, wireless
A new report Cellphone and Brain Tumors – 15 Reasons for Concern states that:
Studies, independent of industry, consistently show there is a “significant” risk of brain tumors from cellphone use.
Some of the findings published in the report include:
- For every 100 hours of cellphone use, the risk of brain cancer increases by 5%
- For every year of cellphone use, the risk of brain cancer increases by 8%
- After 10 or more years of digital cellphone use, there was a 280% increased risk of brain cancer
- For digital cellphone users who were teenagers or younger when they first starting using a cellphone, there was a 420% increased risk of brain cancer.
The full report is available online here.
US States With More then 10% Unemployment
Published August 22, 2009 Economy , General Interest , Jobs , Obama , Trends , US , Unemployment , United States , depression 2.0 Leave a CommentTags: Unemployment, United States
| Michigan | 15.20% |
| Rhode Island | 12.40% |
| Oregon | 12.20% |
| South Carolina | 12.10% |
| Nevada | 12% |
| California | 11.60% |
| Ohio | 11.10% |
| North Carolina | 11% |
| District of Columbia | 10.90% |
| Kentucky | 10.90% |
| Tennessee | 10.80% |
| Indiana | 10.70% |
| Florida | 10.60% |
| Illinois | 10.30% |
| Alabama | 10.10% |
| Georgia | 10.10% |
Carleton and Ottawa University Publish World Leading Research on Zombie Plagues
Published August 18, 2009 Canada , General Interest , Government , Government Policy , Ottawa , Universities Leave a CommentTags: government funded research, z-plague, zombie
A recently published research paper from professors at Carleton and Ottawa University has determined that
A zombie outbreak is likely to lead to the collapse of civilisation, unless it is dealt with quickly. While aggressive quarantine may contain the epidemic, or a cure may lead to coexistence of humans and zombies, the most effective way to contain the rise of the undead is to hit hard and hit often. As seen in the movies, it is imperative that zombies are dealt with quickly, or else we are all in a great deal of trouble.
The research is said to have possible real-life applications to modeling allegiance to political parties.
The full text of this world leading research is available online – When Zombies Attack
For those looking for more practical advice:
JobNob – Linking Unemployed and Startups?
Published August 15, 2009 Best practices , Creative Class , Economy , Entreprenuerism , General Interest , Innovation , Jobs , Local Start-ups , Opportunities , Ottawa , Ottawa Start-ups , Regional Economic Development , Silicon Valley , Technology , Trends , Unemployment , depression 2.0 Leave a CommentTags: jobnob, Jobs, startups, unemployed
I like watching what is going on in Silicon Valley in general. There are always good tech and trend insights. But there are also some very innovative ideas related to social innovation.
For instance there is the “JobNob” events being held in the valley. JobNob links unemployed people with start-ups looking for volunteers to give a win-win to both. The JobNob pitch is below:
Come “Jobnob” with cool new startups and other job seekers at this informal networking happy hour where unemployed people who want to keep their skills sharp are matched up with startups that could use their help.
- Bummed Out Job Seekers – are you willing to volunteer at least 5 hours a week for a startup? Help out a startup and you’ll get a leg up on the competition, keep your skills sharp and have some good experience to put on your resume. And when the giant gears of the economy start churning again, you could well be one of the first ones back on the payroll.
- Cash Strapped Startups – are you willing to buy a smart, talented, unemployed person a drink? Come with one or two specific projects that you need accomplished and we’ll help you find the perfect person to get the job done. And if you get funded you can always hire them!
They have run three JobNob events so far and have two more scheduled for August and September.
Related information and press coverage is available here.
This would be a great program to have running in Ottawa. Organizations such as Lead to Win, OCRI, The Ottawa Network, CATA or Ottawa Talent Initiative would be good sponsor organizations to make this happen locally.
Government 2.0
Published August 15, 2009 Best practices , Government , Technology , Trends , United States Leave a CommentTags: government 2.0
Tim O’Reilly spoke at http://www.aifestival.org about Government 2.0. According to People and Places:
He advocated enabling four types of interaction:
- Government to citizen – providing services and information to citizens
- Citizen to government – citizens report on probelms that need government assistance
- Citizen to citizen – not every problem needs to be solved by government
- Government to government – we need better cooperation within government agencies
Tim suggests that there are some lessons from the technology space that could be useful in building Government 2.0
Build open, expandable systems
In open government this might mean open, portable health records, or open data that allows competition by third parties on government contracts.
Build simple systems and let them evolve
Simple systems like the Internet Protocol can act like hourglass models – they run on a diversity of systems, and support a diversity of applications around a simple protocol.
Design for cooperation
The notion of governance via loosely coordinated groups is a Jeffersonian one. And a system like the Internet domain name system looks decidedly Jeffersonian.
Learn from your users
Google was late to the game in mapping. But Google is used by 45% of all mashups online. That’s because when innovators started building mashups of Craigslist and Google Maps data, Google didn’t shut the door, but hired the first guy to build a mashup, and then released an API to make the task easier.
Lower the barriers to experimentation
The government tends to treat projects like the Apollo 11 rocket launch: “Failure is not an option.” It should be. We fail all the time, and we need to learn from it.
Build a culture of measurement
“If it works, do more, if it doesn’t, stop doing it.” We need to watch how our systems succeed and fail, and build systems that respond to user stimuli.
Throw open the doors to partners
Tim celebrates the iPhone ap store, suggesting that it worked vastly better than more controlled models for aplication development on the Blackberry or Nokia phones. Governments need to stop using tools like earmarks, sole source licensing, and no-bid contracts, which lead to a less open ecosystem.
Fixing complex problems requires figuring out what government needs to do, what private entites can do and what coordinated citizens can do. If we build systems that allow all these behaviors, we’ll see a great deal of positive change through Government 2.0
Related materials on Government 2.0:
Levels of Intimacy in Today’s Communications
Published August 15, 2009 Computing , Creative Class , General Interest , Information Technology , Innovation , Networking , New Media , Technology , Traditional Media , Trends , Web 2.0 Leave a CommentTags: communications, technology trends
Emerging Technologies
Published August 15, 2009 Commercialization , Entreprenuerism , Innovation , Open Source , Technology , Web 2.0 Leave a CommentTags: emerging technologies, Trends
The Gartner “Hype Cycle” illustrates the growth, maturity and adoption of technologies. It can be used to determine whether to invest in types of tech – technologies with high user benefit and low time to mainstream acceptance are ripe for investment and implementation, while technologies with minimal user benefit and a long time until mainstream acceptance should be approached with “extreme caution.”
50 most populous metro areas ranked by job postings per capita
Published August 14, 2009 Business , Economy , Jobs , Trends , Unemployment , United States Leave a CommentTags: Jobs, Trends, United States
| Rankings Second Quarter 2009
50 most populous metro areas ranked by job postings per capita. |
||||
| Rank (Last Qtr Rank) | Metropolitian Area | Job Postings Per 1000 People | ||
| 1 (1) | Washington, DC | 133 | ||
| 2 (2) | Baltimore, MD | 90 | ||
| 3 (3) | San Jose, CA | 80 | ||
| 4 (7) | Austin, TX | 56 | ||
| 5 (6) | Hartford, CT | 54 | ||
| 6 (9) | Seattle, WA | 53 | ||
| 7 (8) | Salt Lake City, UT | 52 | ||
| 8 (11) | Denver, CO | 50 | ||
| 9 (5) | Boston, MA | 49 | ||
| 10 (4) | Las Vegas, NV | 49 | ||
| 11 (15) | Charlotte, NC | 49 | ||
| 12 (10) | San Francisco, CA | 47 | ||
| 13 (12) | Milwaukee, WI | 41 | ||
| 14 (30) | Atlanta, GA | 40 | ||
| 15 (13) | Cincinnati, OH | 39 | ||
| 16 (14) | Oklahoma City, OK | 39 | ||
| 17 (22) | Orlando, FL | 37 | ||
| 18 (23) | Richmond, VA | 37 | ||
| 19 (24) | Jacksonville, FL | 36 | ||
| 20 (16) | Dallas, TX | 36 | ||
| 21 (18) | Phoenix, AZ | 36 | ||
| 22 (19) | Columbus, OH | 36 | ||
| 23 (21) | San Antonio, TX | 36 | ||
| 24 (20) | Tampa, FL | 35 | ||
| 25 (31) | Kansas City, MO | 34 | ||
| 26 (34) | Indianapolis, IN | 34 | ||
| 27 (33) | Sacramento, CA | 34 | ||
| 28 (17) | San Diego, CA | 33 | ||
| 29 (27) | Philadelphia, PA | 33 | ||
| 30 (35) | Nashville, TN | 33 | ||
| 31 (29) | St. Paul, MN | 33 | ||
| 32 (26) | Louisville, KY | 33 | ||
| 33 (40) | New Orleans, LA | 32 | ||
| 34 (25) | Houston, TX | 32 | ||
| 35 (28) | Cleveland, OH | 32 | ||
| 36 (37) | Providence, RI | 31 | ||
| 37 (36) | Pittsburgh, PA | 31 | ||
| 38 (38) | Memphis, TN | 30 | ||
| 39 (32) | Virginia Beach, VA | 30 | ||
| 40 (44) | St. Louis, MO | 30 | ||
| 41 (39) | Portland, OR | 30 | ||
| 42 (42) | New York, NY | 28 | ||
| 43 (41) | Birmingham, AL | 28 | ||
| 44 (46) | Chicago, IL | 27 | ||
| 45 (43) | Riverside, CA | 26 | ||
| 46 (45) | Los Angeles, CA | 24 | ||
| 47 (47) | Buffalo, NY | 24 | ||
| 48 (48) | Rochester, NY | 19 | ||
| 49 (49) | Miami, FL | 17 | ||
| 50 (50) | Detroit, MI | 15 | ||
Purple Forge is Hiring
Published August 12, 2009 Business , Canada , Entreprenuerism , General Interest , Information Technology , Innovation , Jobs , Local Start-ups , Opportunities , Ottawa , Ottawa Start-ups , Technology , Trends Leave a CommentTags: hiring, Jobs, purple forge
Purple Forge has two immediate openings:
- iPhone developer (full time)
- Website developer (part time)
Visit http://www.leadtowin.ca/jobs/app/ for more information.
Canadian Venture Capital Investment Down 42%
Published August 12, 2009 Canada , Entreprenuerism , Venture Capital Leave a CommentTags: CVCA, Q2 2009, Trends
The CVCA has released their Q2 2009 Venture Investment data.
- Venture investment down 42% from 2008 - $179M in 2009 compared to $309 at the same point in 2008.
- Average deal size decreased to $1.9M from $2.9M.
COBOL still going strong after more then 50 years?
Published August 11, 2009 Best practices , Business , Computing , General Interest , Information Technology , Technology , Trends Leave a CommentTags: cobol, computer history
I took a COBOL course while in University (not sure why I did at the time, other then I found programming languages interesting (and still do)) and also subsequently took a part-time job as teaching assistant for COBOL courses back in the ’80’s. Unfortunately I never had occasion to use my COBOL programming skills in any meaningful way — although I found the database/records orientation of the language to be useful in other contexts.
I was recently surprised to read that COBOL – one of the industry’s oldest programming languages – still “equates to 80 percent of the world’s actively used code,” according to Stephen Kelley of Micro Focus.
Lab on a Chip
Published August 11, 2009 Business , Commercialization , Computing , Entreprenuerism , Information Technology , Innovation , Technology Leave a CommentTags: advanced technology, health, integrated devices, lab on a chip, science
This is another cool technology – a lab on a chip that does over 1,024 different chemical reactions in parallel.
The technical paper describing the technology is available online.
