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  • PHOTOS: Dan Sinker is @MayorEmanuel

    Here’s some photos I took today that got some wide pickup nationally, including an exclusive article in The Atlantic. Here’s a snip from my personal blog, Derivative Works: Dan Sinker is @MayorEmanuel. Never let it be said that Daniel X. O’Neil cannot keep a secret. This morning I went to Sinker’s house to take some…

  • SPEAKING: Civic Data Chit-Chat at School of the Art Institute

    Today I spoke at George Aye’s “Living In A Smart City” classroom at the AIADO department of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Here’s the premise of the course: Our premise:When a city can gather data on every aspect of it’s citizens activities, what should we do with it? What products, services and…

  • REF: Reed in A.V. Club

    My good friend and frequent collaborator Harper Reed was interviewed in A.V. Club today, and they reffed some of the work we’ve done together: After leaving Threadless, Reed focused on his own startup work and hacks, including an unofficial API for the CTA’s bus tracker program that provided web developers with the tools to include…

  • POLICY: Rahm Emanuel @ EveryBlock

    Today Chicago Mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel visited the EveryBlock offices in the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago. This was the result of months of advance work with the Emanuel campaign, and it resulted in a large number of media placements for EveryBlock.Here’s the post on the Emanuel campaign Web site: Rahm visits EveryBlock, discusses plan to…

  • CTA Train Tracker Beta Test + Review

    I’ve been helping test the Train Tracker system for the Chicago Transit Authority over the last few weeks and today (launch day) I wrote an extensive, first-look review over here on CTA Tattler. Here’s a snip: In my experience, the system works great and it is a very positive addition to the overall CTA communications regime.…

  • LAUNCH: AldermanicWebsites.com

    Today I launched a politics/ design/ technology/ humor site called AldermanicWebsites.Here’s the launch post (Comparing Aldermanic Hopefuls Online) and two snippets: Here’s something I worked on over Christmas vacation: AldermanicWebsites. It is a fun/ manic little Web site that “contains links to and reviews of the Web sites, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and other Web…

  • REF: Post About Goofy Contract / CityPayments

    Here’s a nice post from Chicago Muckrakers, acting on a contract I flagged as goofy over on CityPayments: Company accused of stealing millions from NYC and hurricane victims gets money from Chicago. The City of Chicago has given over $7 million to Spherion, a company whose employees were targeted by federal prosecutors last week for…

  • PRESENTATION: Gov 2.0 Talk at Obtiva

    Here’s a tech talk I participated in today at the Obtiva offices. Open Gov. Discussion at Obtiva Geekfest from Obtiva on Vimeo.

  • PHOTO: Rahm Emanuel Announcing His Candidacy for Chicago Mayor

    I took a relatively widely used photo of Rahm Emanuel today. The image is licensed under Creative Commons and was used widely by publications covering Emanuel’s successful campaign for Mayor. Here are some examples:

  • WORKSHOP: Philadelphia Connect Project for Code for America

    Today I participated in a workshop in Philadelphia focused on brainstorming for one of the inaugural projects of the exciting new CodeForAmerica project. Really great stuff they’re working on.