In February 2013, I launched an IndieGogo crowdfunding campaign called Open source all the cities to generate awareness for my book and to help raise money to get the first 500 copies printed. I was overwhelmed by the amount of support. There are still a few days left to contribute if you still want your name in the acknowledgements.
I finished my book today, The foundation for an open source city. As Zander said in the campaign video, “Good job Dad.” Continue reading
With 22 days left to go in the “Open source all the cities” campaign, we’re 94% of the way there with 73 funders. I’m very excited and thankful for all the support. I think we can get to 100 funders before the campaign is over. Can you help me get 27 more funders?
It’s been great to see supportive blog posts from folks like Anthony Pompliano, an entrepreneur in Raleigh interested in improving education, and Luke Fretwell from GovFresh saying, Continue reading
My 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
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
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
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
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
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
One of the latest projects I’m involved with…
Citizens interested in maintaining and monitoring their favorite City of Raleigh bus shelter now have a helping hand: the Adopt-A-Shelter interactive web application. Adopt-A-Shelter instantly displays the adoption status of all city bus shelters. Code for Raleigh, a recently formed Code for America brigade in Raleigh that includes volunteers from CityCamp Raleigh, deployed the application for use in Raleigh.
Code for Raleigh advocates for existing applications and technology created by Code for America, a national non-profit focused on improving government through technology. Code for Raleigh has recently deployed an Adopt-A-Shelter application at adoptashelter.raleighnc.gov highlighting 184 shelters available for adoption in Raleigh. Citizens can easily sign up for a one-year commitment to help keep Raleigh bus shelters clean for Capital Area Transit (CAT) riders. Continue reading
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