Tag Archives: Open source

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 →

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 →

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 →

Crowdsourced reports save emergency services overwhelmed by Hurricane Sandy

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The 9-1-1 system is overwhelmed with real emergencies during weather events like Hurricane Sandy, so if you want to report a downed tree, power outage, or clogged storm drain, you need another way to do so—SeeClickFix provides that forum.

Of all the media surrounding Hurricane Sandy, aka Frankenstorm, one email caught my attention. The subject was: “Use SeeClickFix to Help Your Community During Hurricane Sandy.” What a great idea. The whole point of SeeClickFix is to report non-emergency issues to local authorities in a transparent forum so that other citizens can view the reported issues. Continue reading →

A Partial Solution to the Wake County Bus Problem

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Dear Superintendent Tata,

The school bus my child rides, route 7, has been late three out of four days this week. The first day of school was a nightmare. I freaked out and drove my child to Dillard Drive so they wouldn’t be late on the first day. The greeters at the school were very nonchalant about the whole thing. “Oh, it’s just the first day of school, the buses are always late.” What?!?

Today, we waited over 30 minutes for the bus. It didn’t arrive until after 9:00am and school starts at 9:15am. Which is kind of late if you ask me. I could have driven my child to school and been back home in less time. It caused me to be late for my first meeting of the day. We need a solution. The tardiness doesn’t just impact the kids, it impacts the parents as well. And while I don’t understand the entire problem, I have a partial solution that can help parents save time and be more efficient. Continue reading →

City Council Has Perfect Attendance at CityCamp Raleigh

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Originally posted on opensource.com and licensed under Creative Commons BY-SA.

What started with a unanimous vote to adopt an open source resolution eventually became a long-term commitment to the open source way. How many of you have had an elected official attend a citizen-lead event? Probably some of you. But how many of you have had your entire city or town council attend an unconference?

At a recent open government unconference, all city council members—including the mayor of Raleigh, North Carolina—attended some or all of the event. Their attendance wasn’t a requirement—and it wasn’t a political drive-by. It was genuine, natural. And some of them got knee-deep in the “code,” competing in the civic hackathon. Continue reading →

Ten Teams Compete for CityCamp Raleigh $5000 Prize

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The unconference at CityCamp Raleigh on June 2 was amazing. The ideas. The passion. The people. For those of you unfamiliar with the unconference format, we gathered at 9:00 am  on Saturday. The coffee was a little late, so we didn’t start until 9:15 am. We explained the process for the day…which went something like this: Continue reading →