Open source all the cities – Indiegogo crowdfunding launch

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Cover design option 2My book, The foundation for an open source city, is in the final stages of completion. I’m very excited. I know many of you have been eager to read the book and get your hands on a copy. And lucky for you, I’ve got a great way to reserve your copy before I release it to the general public.

I decided to launch an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign (think Kickstarter, but cooler, and much more inline with the open source philosophy). My goal is to raise $3000 to get the first 500 copies of my book printed. I plan on self-publishing through Lulu.com, Raleigh’s goto open source publisher! Continue reading →

Help select my open source city book cover

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I’m making great progress on my book. Pam Chestek has completed the first round of editing and I’ve gone through all those edits and made additions, updates, and corrections where needed. Now it’s going through a second round of editing thanks to Jen Wike from Go To Writer.

Update: I’ve launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the book. Show your support today! Read more about the campaign.

Last week I shared the introduction to The Foundation for an Open Source City. So far, excellent feedback and lots of excitement. As I prepare to self-publish, it’s time to think about the cover for my book. Continue reading →

Book introduction: The foundation for an open source city

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As a preview to the book I’m working on, currently in editing, I wanted to share the introduction to my book and get some feedback from some of my potential readers. Please let me know what you think. Good, bad, what you were expecting, way off the mark. You won’t hurt my feelings.

Update: I’ve launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the book. Show your support today! Read more about the campaign.

Here goes… Continue reading →

Interview with Drupal and open source evangelist, Jeffrey A. “Jam” McGuire

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I remember first meeting Jeffrey A. “Jam” McGuire in person at DrupalCon Denver. We talked about communities, music, and shared ways to show why open source is a better way. Even before meeting him, I could tell from my first interaction with him that he was passionate about Drupal and open source. He’s becoming an in-demand Keynote speaker and presenter at Drupal and other business and software events around the world. He’s already a staple for the Intro to DrupalCon session and always seems to incorporate music and singing as part of the performance. Continue reading →

Predicting future trends with Triangle Interactive Marketing Association

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It was great to participate in the Triangle Interactive Marketing Association (TIMA) 4th Annual “Futurist’s Panel” held at the great new space co-working space at HUB Raleigh on January 9, 2013. We made predictions, talked about trends, and things we want to see our business accomplish in 2013. Continue reading →

Taking a daily email vacation

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I am declaring a vacation from my email. Since I can’t quite get to #noemail yet, I think this is the next best thing. Let me explain.

First, I need to say thanks to Tom Cochran. He used to run digital technology for Whitehouse.gov and I got to meet him at Drupalcon Denver last year. Tom shared a link to an HBR article on Twitter and I luckily saw it go by on my stream. I read the post Continue reading →

Writing a book about Raleigh being an open source city

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It’s about time to come out of hibernation mode and come out swinging for 2013. I’ve been quiet the last two weeks. Red Hat had their annual holiday shut down from December 24 to January 1 and I decided to extend that until January 3. I head back to the office this Friday.

Over the last two weeks, I spent some time with the family, did a lot of running (I made my goal of running 1,000 miles in 2012), and I played a little too much Skylanders Giants.

Before the break, I was contemplating writing a book about the open government movement in Raleigh with a focus on the characteristics of an open source city. I jotted down a few title ideas and drafted an outline in early December one Saturday morning. And I sat on that for a week or two. Letting the idea marinate. Continue reading →

2012 Garden Results and Notes

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The garden this year started in mid April with a variety of tomatoes and peppers. I kept track of the incoming crop, took notes along the way, and tallied up the totals.

I planted a bunch of different tomatoes: Early Girl, Patio, Large Red Cherry, Better Boy, Big Boy, Roma, and Super Fantastic. I also planted seven different kinds of peppers: Big Bertha, Camelot, Golden Yellow, Orange, Red, Jalapeño, and Serrano.

The results are in. Here is what I brought in this season: Continue reading →

Could open source software save New York City’s bike share program?

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A bike share program that was supposed to be launched last summer in New York City has come to a halt due to software related issues. I can’t help but think that if the software was open source, these problems would have been easily resolved, eliminating worrisome delays.

This past August, Mayor Bloomburg said “The software doesn’t work,” responding to questions about why the bike-share program is on hold. Now, according to a post in the New York Times, flooding and damage from Hurricane Sandy has caused further setbacks. Continue reading →