Creating a citizen movement for open government

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CC-BY-SA opensource.com

How do you get techies, govies, and citizens to identify, collaborate, and start creating solutions for your local government? Host a CityCamp.

It’s easier than you think. The first CityCamp Raleigh started as a conversation about citizen engagement, but we realized that we could do more than just talk about it. A dozen people came together over 12 weeks to make CityCamp Raleigh a reality. Over 225 people attended three days of collaboration, sharing, and encouraging openness–focusing on improving access to data and solutions for local government.

Three themes emerged over the weekend, all twists on open government: Continue reading →

Fireworks from Nags Head

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I love spending the Fourth of July on the Outer Banks. Yesterday, we were on the beach all day in Nags Head. The kids played, I caught a few waves on the surfboard, and we had a great day at the beach.

At 9:15pm, we watched the fireworks in Nags Head. The fireworks were shot off from Nags Head fishing pier. I love how the length of the pier was used to create a unique show. Enjoy the video of the finale: Continue reading →

Drupal Meetup with Views and Theming on July 13

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Source: http://groups.drupal.org/files/bluebeach_logo.png

On July 13th, I’ll be hosting a Triangle Drupal User Group (TriDUG) meeting at Red Hat from 6:30-9pm. The topics will include Introduction to Views & Introduction to Theming. You’ll get to meet some great folks from the local Drupal community and learn about more about Drupal, an open source content management system powering website like whitehouse.gov and opensource.com. Continue reading →

A Cool Breeze from Chi-town

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Willis Tower, ChicagoRemember we went to Chicago this past March? Some of you probably saw our Facebook updates and perhaps a few pictures that we posted. Now, you can relive the entire trip. Yep, we just got around to posting the pictures.

Looking back at the photos while it’s 90° here in North Carolina brings a hint of coolness—like a cool ocean breeze. We weren’t well prepared for the cold weather that Chicago had for us back in March but we’d take a cool morning any day now. Continue reading →

Update on our Outdoor Living Space

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Deck and patio projectYou may remember that we started exploring creating more outdoor living space here at Ramsgate Manor. The project is well underway and taking a bit longer than we had expected.

Construction started in early May. We were planning on being out of town for about 3 weeks—which presented the perfect opportunity to get most of the project complete (in our eyes). When we returned from our trip to San Francisco and Honolulu, the deck had been framed and the planks installed. Unfortunately, the railing was not installed and the patio was an after thought. Continue reading →

Shibby’s Samplings | June 24 edition

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Here are some posts from other places that I write, including opensource.com, southwestraleigh.com (Raleigh’s Creative District), and CityCamp Raleigh. It was an exciting few weeks that included an awesome CityCamp Raleigh event on June 3, 4, and 5th. Also, a key initiative for an economic development proposal was in front of City Council for Southwest Raleigh related to the efforts happening on southwestraleigh.com. It passed on June 21 by a 7-1 vote.

See what else I’ve been saying around the web over the last few weeks. Continue reading →

First Early Girls of the Season

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Early girlsThe garden is doing well. Despite being away for most of the month of May, my neighbors helped out and kept things watered and growing. Late last week, the first of green tomatoes started to turn a yellowish-orange. I had a suspiscion that by mid-June, the Early Girls would be ripe.

I could have picked the first of the tomatoes on Sunday, but thought it would be better to let them get a bit more vine ripe for the first batch. Continue reading →

DrupalCamp SC Session Notes: Making Drupal Admin Easier

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Roger Soper presented Making Drupal Admin Easier at DrupalCamp SC here at SouthEast LinuxFest in Spartanburg, SC. The purpose of the talk is to make our lives as Drupal Admins a little easier. At the same time, the modules that he presented also create a better user experience for people who enter content. Ultimately, it makes it a more pleasant experience for the users, saving time for admins and users.

Here are my notes from the session: Continue reading →

SouthEast LinuxFest 2011

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opensource.com at SELFI’m here at the SouthEast LinuxFest in Spartanburg, SC. I arrived late Thursday night, technically Friday morning, and spent most of Friday setting up the Red Hat / opensource.com table and networking with folks. Last night, opensource.com sponsored the SELF pre-party at Marriott 299 Sports Bar. We made a lot of great friends.

The conference kicked off today with a keynote by Continue reading →

Open source letter to Raleigh City Council

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Over on citycampral.org, I recently added a post asking to support Raleigh’s Open Source Directive. Here is the letter I sent to City Council today. By posting it here, I’ve essentially open sourced it. Feel free to cut/paste, re-use, re-purpose, or whatever. (Don’t forget to add your name.)

To: citycouncilors@raleighnc.gov

Subject: Please support the proposed open source resolution Continue reading →