Year-End Blog Review
Filed under: Alberta, Arts, Calgary, Marketing, Politics, Technology
As 2009 comes to a close I wanted to take a look back. It was a good year for me personally and I think this blog shows some of the highlights that come to my mind when I reminisce about the last year of the decade. I could simply select my favourite posts, but I decided why not not just let the readers “select” by highlighting the most popular posts on this blog for 2009.
So without further ado, the most popular djkelly.ca Blog posts of 2009:
14. What kind of bridge will $25 million get us?
May 22, 2009
This was my first blog post about the soon to be built Calatrava bridge. I decdided I would take a look at the design limitations given to Calatrava and try to predict what the bridge might look like. While, I was right about it not being white with soaring cables, I wasn’t even close to the guessing the Chinese finger trap design, which is much more ornate than I was expecting.
13. Conversing with Alberta politicians on Twitter
June 4, 2009
A useful post that should probably be updated given how many more Alberta politicians have joined since June!
12. New Ward Boundaries Demystified
February 21, 2009
A simple post created by laying the old ward boundary map with the new map that was being proposed by the chief electoral officer. (Showing off my Photoshop skills.) It turned out to be a post that proved it was sorely needed.
11. Loving or hating Calgary’s new bridge is not as easy as it sounds
July 29, 2009
This is probably one of my favourite posts of the year, as I went through what I observed to be each of the areas of complaint about the proposed Calatrava bridge and outlined which were fair game and which were not. It was my attempt at adding clarity to an issue extremely misunderstood by Calgarians. While it landed at number 11 on the most popular posts, I don’t think I was overly successful because people still complain about the price with little understanding of “why”. If you’re one of those folks, it might be worth a re-read.
10. Calgary City Council saves face by embarrassing themselves: ward boundaries solved!
July 14, 2009
The last blog post on the old blog template! It holds a special place for me for that reason, but most people probably just appreciated it for what it talked about – as outlined in the post title. This is the most proud I was of our council this year. They painted themselves into a terrible corner, but admitted their mistake and righted their wrong. I wish they would have done this more times during 2009.
9. Vanessa Porteous, ATP Artistic Director Designate
January 14, 2009
I am shocked an arts related post ranked so high on this list! (And it’s not even the highest one!) Is it because of the lack of local entertainment reporting resources? I think it might be, because non-Hollywood entertainment news tends to take a couple days to make it into the papers. Maybe I should take up Metro Calgary on their offer to blog about Calgary arts for them… It could prove to be a very successful blog that maybe long overdue.
8. Doug Elniski: how to do it right
June 24, 2009
This post – along with number 5, which I wrote a day earlier – simply outlined where things went wrong in MLA Doug Elniski’s mini-Twitter scandal. This particular post provided follow-up and greater context to comments I made in several media interviews on the subject. (You can say SO much more on a blog than in a media interview!)
7. University of Calgary cutting 200 jobs
July 14, 2009
Out of all the posts in this list I think this is the closet to “regretting” one as I come. Unlike all the other posts (save the honourable mention) this post was “breaking” news instead of my usual commentary on the news. I didn’t mean for it to be however! Here’s what happened: the UofC sent an email to all staff saying they were cutting 200 jobs. I heard about this and asked the individual if it was okay I mentioned it on Twitter. They said yes, because it was sent to all staff and thus obviously public info now. The problem was, UofC never sent a press release. So when I posted it on Twitter I was inundated with media requests for more information. The result was I had another source send me the text of the email and I posted it on this blog. That night the television and radio news lead with the story and it was front page news in the papers the next morning. I’m not sure if the lesson here is about the power of Twitter, or to always keep your communications department in the loop when making major announcements. Maybe both.
6. Progress and respect
November 30, 2009
In the aftermath of the first Reboot Alberta conference I summarize my thoughts on the participants themselves.
5. Doug Elniski: now just another walled off politician?
June 23, 2009
(See number 8 first.) This is the blog post that started it all. I’m not sure why no one else was talking about Doug Elniski’s comments in context of his use of social media. It still baffles me that people think social media is some sort of special entity instead of what it actually is: just another way to talk to people. It’s nothing special, but is highly effective. This post was also was popular enough to result in me being invited to talk about his comments on CBC Calgary’s The Calgary Eyeopener, CBC Edmonton’s Edmonton AM and for a feature article in the National Post.
4. The #AskEd Accountablity Window ends tomorrow
December 3, 2009
Just like number 5 this was me talking about Alberta politicians and their failures with social media tools – although this time Mastermaq got the press coverage a week later 
3. How to fix Ed’s communications problems
December 14, 2009
After number 4 I felt like I had to address the Premier’s communications problems appropriately. It’s bizarre how he’s lost the media and the public so thoroughly by a simple failure to communicate. He’s our premier and I want to see him, and thus us, succeed. This is my attempt to throw the premier a bone. We’ll see if he and his team take my advice or if they continue to fumble their way through 2010.
2. Look out Alberta, you’re about to get “rebooted”: First Impressions
November 28, 2009
I honestly think the Reboot Alberta movement – along with the Wildrose Alliance’s rise – is the single most important thing to happen in Alberta politics since the creation of the Progressive Conservative party. This post outlines my initial thoughts after the first day of the conference. The fact so many people read it gives me hope that Reboot Alberta is on the right track in their discussions. You can expect more thoughts from me on this movement in the very near future.
1. Jeffrey Spalding, CEO of the Glenbow and cultural rockstar, unexpectedly steps down
January 9, 2009
Yes, an arts story made it to number one on the list! And for such a short blog post?! The people spoke.
Honourable Mention: “Open Government” coming to Calgary?
July 21, 2009
Usually you expect to see an honourable mention at the bottom of the list, but I think this one deserves to be at the top of the list. July 21 had more people visit my website that any other day in it’s history. By a LONG SHOT – almost twice as many as any other day. There was only one post written around that period of time, and it was written on that very day. I think what happened was the main URL of this site was circulated and shared rather than the actual URL of this paticular post. Therefore I don’t have accurate numbers on exactly how many people visited this particular story, but the numbers are just so overwhelming I had to include it.
I wrote this post during the morning hours in a business centre of a hotel in Portland, Oregon. I had been given permission from Ald. Pincott and Ald. Ceci to announce the open data notice of motion the day before it became public when the council agenda was released. People from all over North American immediately sat up and took notice and did so by reading this post. Amazing. Look for a lot more on outcome of this notice of motion in early 2010.
Calgary open data report delayed
I heard about this a couple weeks ago but didn’t get a chance to look into it any further until recently.
It looks like the City of Calgary’s Open Data report from Administration to Council originally scheduled for December has been delayed. Apparently it has taken a lot more work to put the report together than originally anticipated. I hear from the City’s eGoverment section of IT (who knew they had such a thing?!) that the plan is now to have the report come to the February 10 meeting of the Standing Policy Committee on Finance and Corporate Services. So mark your calendars.
This shouldn’t be too surprising given the way the open data suggestion came to the City of Calgary. (I suggested it to two Alderman.) I imagine there was a steep learning curve that resulted in a delay in the ball really getting rolling. I think of this like the Ironman: it doesn’t matter if you win the race so long as you cross the finish line it’s a victory.
One good thing to come of this is I have a meeting scheduled with the City’s IT department. It may not seem like much, but the fact they reached out to me is unusual for the City of Calgary’s Administration, in my opinion. Admin’s modus operandi in many areas is in strong contrast to what we’ve seen from the City of Edmonton’s IT department in regards to open data, who, being heavily involved in the Edmonton’s tech community, were the ones to bring forward the open data initiative there.
In fact, thanks to the Open Data Workshop put on by volunteers from the City of Edmonton’s IT department on November 21, I can officially say I’ve met more of their IT department than I can even name in Calgary. Hopefully my coffee meeting is a sign of a changing way of the City interacting with citizens. No pressure, right?
In other Calgary open data news, I think it’s time to get the Calgary tech community on board! The data won’t be very interesting if there aren’t coders out there willing to work with the data. To that end, I’ve enquired about presenting on Open Data, what other jurisdictions have done, and what kinds of apps we could build for Calgary at the next Demo Camp. I’m not sure when the next one is, but it’d be great to have some community support heading into February.
All-in-all, things are heading in the direction. Slow and steady. Stay tuned for more.
The #AskEd Accountablity Window ends tomorrow
During a question and answer session the Progressive Party AGM on November 7, 2009 Premier Stelmach – reeling from recent bad press over everything from the oil and gas royalty framework, to Bill 44, to Bill 50, to H1N1 vaccinations – announced to Alberta what “the biggest challenge we’re facing as a government” is. The answer? The media. Specifically he said, “I really do feel that the policies we have are the right ones for Alberta, but it’s difficult to get it through the present media that’s available to us.”
Yes, I laughed too when I heard it. Surely the biggest challenge could not possibly be that mistakes were being made on each of these issues, but instead it must be that the media was pointing them out.
But let’s put that aside and just say for a moment, that the Premier is right. If this is so, how the heck do you get around the media to give your message directly to the people? This is something many different companies are trying to figure out so they can reach consumers of their product too. Just like the Government is lamenting they’d like to do.
A few decades – even a few years – ago this might have been a problem, but with the advancement and building popularity of social media tools such as Facebook, a portal directly to the people now exists. And Premier Stelmach could rightfully take his message to the streets by using this grand new tool and bypass the mainstream media’s web 1.0 model entirely.
Yes! Now they’re starting to get it. The tools DO exist for you to actually have a conversation with citizens directly. All you have to do is open up and start doing it. The solution is so simple, but would be a groundbreaking change to the people of Alberta! A Premier who actually talks with the people instead of at us! It would be a revolution if undertaken properly.
So I waited.
I would have thought the first step in a process like this would have been the Premier taking over his Twitter account himself and starting to use it to actually interact with citizens, instead of allowing staffers to push out nothing more than 20th century-style public relations talking points and boring photos of him shaking hands with people I don’t know at uber-structured press announcements. (Seriously, how am I supposed to identify with a man that is only presented in such a way? No wonder people think he’s boring.)
But instead I was saddened by the reaction simply being a ramp up in the Premier’s online presence. His Facebook page and Twitter account increased the volume of craptastic PR available to the public, while he started a new e-newsletter. And nothing actually changed.
However a little over a week ago, the Premier’s office announced something new: a program called AskEd. The concept is so simple, but long over due: citizens can ask the Premier questions via Twitter or YouTube and the Premier will respond. It’s foolproof!
Well, it looks like the fools are running the program.
For those that don’t know, here is how Twitter works:
- You say something via Twitter.
- When I’m online, I respond via Twitter.
Here’s how the fools have decided the AskEd program on Twitter will work:
- You ask the Premier a question – but only before December 4 – via Twitter.
- A third party will vet the questions and decide which ones might be answered.
- In about two weeks time check our website and see if he responded.
Wow. I’m going to go out on a limb and say maybe Premier Stelmach should stick with mainstream media, he’ll probably have better luck with it because it sure doesn’t look like he gets social media.
So I’ve done what any responsible citizen could do. I conformed. I’ve asked three questions via the AskEd program. They may look tongue in cheek but I’ve asked them in all seriousness. We’ll see if I ‘make the cut’.
The questions are:
Ask @premierstemach a Q on Twitter & in 2 weeks he’ll answer on his website. #askEd: Do you understand why that is a social media #fail?
#askEd Can I still ask @premierstelmach Qs after Dec 4 or is that the end of the accountability period?
.@premierstelmach Why is #askEd not an ongoing thing instead of a short term marketing campaign? Can openness & transparency be the default?
Please feel free to re-tweet my questions (here and here and here) and to ask your own questions too. You have until tomorrow, after that, it looks like you can keep your questions to yourself.
PechaKucha Calgary #2 is tomorrow!
Do you know what PechaKucha Night is? If you do, I know you’ll be at the second Calgary PechaKucha tomorrow (Thursday) at 7pm at the Uptown. If you don’t, trust me, you have to come and check it out. You won’t regret it.
You won’t regret it because of the format. Each presenter is given 20 slides and 20 seconds per slide. Meaning they have 6 minutes and 40 seconds to tell you everything you could ever want to know about their topic. (Or at least enough to whet your appetite.) Generally this is enough time to only give you the really cool highlights of their project. No fluff. And beside, if it’s not a topic you happen to be interested in, just wait a couple minutes – there will be something more suiting to you along shortly!
The first Calgary PechaKucha Night was held on September 14 at The Grand Theatre. There wasn’t really a “theme” per se, but all the speakers were talking about great public spaces and how they were designed. Many of the speakers were from Calgary and a few were brought in from out of town. The list included:
- Tim Jones, CEO, Artscape
- Andrew Mosker, Executive Director, Cantos
- Bill Chomik, Principal Architect, Kasian
- Scott McTavish, Executive Director, Pumphouse Theatre
- Joe Lobko, DTAH, Lead Architect, Don Valley Brick Works Project Toronto
- David Scott, Associate, Peter Cardew Architects
- Billie Bridgman, President, Bridgman Associates
- Paul Dornian, Director, The Conservatory, Mount Royal College
- Jane Pendergast, Pendergast Collaborative Architecture
- Jeremy Sturgess, Principal, Sturgess Architecture
- Erik Olson, Artist and Spacemaker
- Mark Lawes, Executive Artistic Director, Theatre Junction Grand
Tomorrow night’s theme is “How We Live Together”. The speakers are architects, planners, artists and other great minds talking about exploring how cities become truly livable places and how the decisions we make today affect the future of our environmental, social and economic landscape. The speaker list includes:
- Eric Moschopedis, Interdisciplinary Artist
- Gian-Carlo Carra, Senior Urban Designer, T6
- John Frosst, Arbour Lake Sghool
- Tom Keenan Associate Dean Academic and Professor, EVDS, UofC
- David Plouffe, Acting Executive Assistant for the Director of Land Use Planning and Policy
- Xstine Cook, Artistic Director, Calgary Animated Objects Society
- Naheed Nenshi, Associate Professor, Bissett School of Business, Mount Royal University
- Lothar Wiwjorra, Senior Urban Designer City of Calgary
- Susan Veres, Communications Director, Calgary Municipal Land Corporation
- Jerrod Bitango, Pastor, Central United Church
- Quinton Rafuse, Partner, CoworkYYC
- Bernie Amell, Landscape Architect, Prairie Sky Co-Housing
While we’ve already started talking about what the theme for the next PechaKucha Night should be (I’m honoured to have been asked to sit on the Advisory Committee) – and it sounds pretty cool so far – I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. So, go get your tickets for this Thursday’s even now. They are just $10 and can be purchased here. And I’ll make you a deal, if you absolutely hate the event you can buy you a beer afterward and make as many suggestions as you like on how we can improve it. Sound good?
Hope to see you there!
My tweet was in the paper! Wait… am I okay with that?
On Tuesday I was informed that one of my tweets from the previous day had been published in the Calgary edition of Metro Daily.
“That’s cool,” I thought. And it escaped my mind for the rest of the day.
On my way home I started thinking about some of the conversations I’ve had with Metro editor Darren Krause over the past year, as I pondered “Why that tweet?”. And slowly I began thinking about Canadian copyright law.
I’m a big proponent of the Open Data movement, but I’ve never really jumped on the ‘net neutrality’ bandwagon or the participated in discussions earlier this year and last about the proposed changes to the Canadian copyright laws. The concept never really ignited a passion in me as other technology issues have. But here I was wondering to myself if someone just stole my work.
It’s important that I note I’m not upset Metro reprinted my tweet. I probably wouldn’t be opposed to them doing it again. (Hopefully something less innocuous.) But hear me out as I chart my own journey into the world of the internet and copyright.
So, the first question I asked myself was: “Did they have a right to re-print my tweet?” I’ve often thought of Twitter as being a way of sharing information – whether it be an important link or something goofy that happened to me – with my ‘followers’. When I thought about Metro re-printing the tweet, I found I had this feeling that a communication between me and my ‘followers’ – a formal, structured relationship that comes with certain understandings – had been violated. Suddenly there are other people paying attention.
But Twitter by nature is a public forum. There is nothing stopping the casual observer from simply going to my Twitter page on a regular basis and reading what I’ve written. In fact, if one were to do this you would see much more content than any official ‘follower’ because of the limitations of Twitter’s @replies introduced a few months back. (A follower will only see an @reply I send to another follower if they themselves are following the other person. It sounds more complicated than it is, but I digress.) So the question begs, “Did Metro really do anything that the average person would not have been able to do by facilitating the stumbling across of my comment?”
I did however post my comment in full knowledge someone might stumble across it online. I also had the knowledge this had a very low likelihood of happening unless the tweet were about something specific that person was searching for. In which case I would probably welcome their attention as completely in context. This is where the idea of ‘permission’ comes in. By posting a tweet I have given my permission for people to read it in any one of these potential situations. But permission was not ‘given’ – expressly or indirectly – to Metro, or Metro readers, to read what I wrote.
This of course leads to the big question: How would someone feel if it wasn’t just a 140 character sentence Metro published? What if it was an entire article used without obtaining the author’s permission first?
Knowing Darren and many others in the print media, this is the kind of thing they would not stand for. It is the single most repugnant and offensive of thoughts to writers and editors. As a group they value their product – their writings – more than you could possibly imagine. What they write is their livelihood and it bears the kinds of protection you would place on your own job. They certainly would not have reprinted, say, a blog post I wrote. It would be sacrilegious. So why is it okay to reprint a tweet?
Do I even own the words I wrote?
I suppose I could turn to the Twitter terms of service to answer the latter question. In the post from Biz Stone, Twitter co-founder, that came with the recent update to the user terms, he says in no uncertain terms, “your tweets belong to you, not to Twitter”. However the terms do say:
By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through the Services, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such Content in any and all media or distribution methods (now known or later developed).
You agree that this license includes the right for Twitter to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals who partner with Twitter for the syndication, broadcast, distribution or publication of such Content on other media and services, subject to our terms and conditions for such Content use.
By my reading that means Twitter, the company, can do most anything with my content, even though I own the thought behind them. But under what terms do I allow others to view or use my tweets/writings/thoughts? This is not part of Twitter’s terms of service as near as I can find.
Twitter is often described as ‘micro-blogging’, so perhaps I can look to how I might tackle a similar issue if the information being reprinted was coming from there instead of Twitter. On my blog I have no confusion in this area at all. I have added a Creative Commons license that appears on every page of the site. If a reader clicks on it it let’s all readers know that they are welcome to share or adapt my work so long as they attribute the work to me.
So does this mean that by Metro highlighting my tweet as by “@djkelly”? Or that the Calgary Herald could reprint a blog post by saying “by DJ Kelly”? I’m not sure.
I found myself eventually wondering if my tweets and blog posts are more like a comment made at a town hall meeting by a politician being reported in the paper the next day. Certainly the politician did not expressly give permission for his words to be reprinted, but there is an understanding that once it is in the public domain it may be repeated and attributed to him or her. Good, bad or otherwise.
As you can tell, I’m just “thinking out loud” here. I don’t have any answers, just as I’m not complaining about Metro re-printing a tweet. What I’m trying to sort out is how I feel about where we are heading as a society as more and more information becomes more and more easily accessible. Who owns my thoughts? What processes should be followed to ensure what we are doing is ‘right’ or ‘moral’?
These are all important questions that need to be answered. But for now I’m going to just think about how cool it is that Metro is printing tweets. Awesome.
Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.
PS – I purposefully did not include the text to the tweet in question because it has little bearing on my thoughts around this issue. However if you are insatiably curious like I am, here is a link to the reprinted tweet.
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