Category: Writing
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Writing: Methods in Self-Publishing
Here’s a collection of posts I published last week showing specifics on how to use simple, inexpensive tools to publish real books: Content Development Process of “The Collected Works of Prince Akbar aka Jus Rhymz “ Tools & Methods for Modern Book Self-Publishing Making Book Covers for Self-Publishers Printing real books from the web How…
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Book Review: Code Swaraj
Today I wrote a review of Code Swaraj: Field Notes from the Standards Satyagraha by Carl Malamud and Sam Pitroda: Here’s a snip: And then there’s Carl and his colleagues, lecturing across India. They just want to publish standards. And they understand solidarity. When a fire in a Russian shopping mall kills 64 people because of safety violations, and the people of Russia…
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Writing: Toward a New Model for Corporate Governance
Today I published an essay called, “Toward a New Model for Corporate Governance” Here’s a snip: Toward a New Model for Corporate Governance
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Writing: Toward Sustainable Community Tech Organizing
Today I published an article in Civicist that lays out the enormous investments made at Smart Chicago in civic tech and questions whether those were the right models. It lays the foundation for a more serious discussion of community technology organizing models we’ve pioneered at Smart Chicago. Here’s a snip: Smart Chicago’s focus is on the…
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New story: Chicago seeking ‘smart-city’ tech solutions to improve city life
Today I was quoted in an article on smart cities: “Chicago seeking ‘smart-city’ tech solutions to improve city life“. (Here’s the complete text). I am currently a skeptic when it comes to believing that smart cities is a path to freedom: “How do we connect these abstract, big-picture, big-data initiatives to the needs of the…
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Report: Chicago Police Accountability Task Force
Today marks the publication of the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force, “Recommendations for Reform: Restoring Trust between the Chicago Police and the Communities they Serve“. I served on the Early Intervention & Personnel Concerns working group, and helped develop this recommendation: publish, on a monthly basis, aggregate data on the following: new and pending complaints by unit,…
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Writing: OpenGov Voices: The Smart Chicago model for community in civic tech
Today I wrote about our unique, comprehensive approach to civic tech. Here’s a snip: What we’ve learned at Smart Chicago is that direct service to regular residents beats any technology that any single developer can make by slogging along alone. We’ve learned that direct action — being in rooms with real people, working together, sharing…
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Writing: Toward a Market Approach for Civic Innovation section of Technology and the Resilience of Metropolitan Regions
Today marks the publication of “Technology and the Resilience of Metropolitan Regions; Digital technologies and the future of cities”. Here’s the book blurb: Can today’s city govern well if its citizens lack modern technology? How important is access to computers for lowering unemployment? What infrastructure does a city have to build in order to attract new…
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Guest Blog Post: Smart Chicago Collaborative helps launch three civic innovation projects
Today I wrote a blog post for the Knight Foundation about the Civic Works project, which is funded by the Knight Foundation and matching funds from The Chicago Community Trust. Here’s a snip: Over the past few months, the Smart Chicago Collaborative has launched (or helped others launch) three new projects as part of our…
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Writing: “Author at the Table” for the Carl Sandburg Literary Awards Dinner
Tonight I was honored to be an “Author at the Table”— a local author chosen to sit with guests at the annual Carl Sandburg Literary Awards Dinner for the Chicago Public Library Foundation. Here’s some pics: And here’s a video of the scene before hitting the stage: Here’s the complete bios of all the authors:…