I’ve never felt so close to being funded for doing what I think should be done. Normally I have to explain how creating open source geo-referenced syndicated calendars will create local jobs (or some such). Which is tricky. So this is very exciting.

Also, Kevin Page is my main man.

Best wishes to you.

How civil society can (and already does) use open data

This session aims to educate members of civil society about the new practices of open data and to encourage them to explore the potential uses of open data to further the missions of their organisations. Over the last five years, the open data movement has gone from being an issue known only by policy wonks interested in technology to an essential strategy embraced by all major Western national governments and major cities. At all levels, governments are making their information available to the public in standard formats and under open licences allowing for re-use. Opening up non-personal government data is transforming the relationship between governments and citizens.

Although most people who think of open data think of mobile uses and iPhone applications, there is a tremendous need and opportunity for civil society to take advantage of this new movement. The possibilities range from environmental monitoring to increasing public dialogue on urban projects. The participants on this panel are experts from various areas of the public, private, academic and non-profit arenas, all of whom possess significant expertise in the area of open data.

Présentateurs:
Ajouter vos coordonnées et les informations vous concernant si vous allez faire une présentation lors de votre activité. Merci de prendre note que des modérateurs professionnels seront attribués à chaque activité pour les animer, à moins que vous ne souhaitiez spécifiquement la modérer vous-mêmes.

Panel:
Michael Lenczner, CEO, Ajah, Canada
Jean-Noé Landry, Co-fondateur MontrealOuvert, Canada
Catherine Roy, Organiser, Montréal Accessible, Canada
Tracey Lauriault, Post doctorate, Carleton, Canada

Technology Innovation Management Review – From Stories to Evidence: How Mining Data Can Promote Innovation in the Nonprofit Sector – 2012 – July

Abstract:

Being a director at a nonprofit organization often means making guesses instead of properly informed decisions. One source of the “information fog” is fragmented funding. Nonprofit organizations have multiple types of funders, most of whom are not their direct beneficiaries. Predicting funder behaviour is therefore more of an art than a science. Planning for the future, setting goals, and making decisions all suffer in the nonprofit sector because of a lack of timely and accurate information.

This article examines the opportunities to use newly available digitized information to address this information deficit. It shows how the rich, variegated and fast-changing landscape of information available online can be collected, combined, and repurposed in order to deliver it in actionable forms to decision makers across the nonprofit sector. This information can significantly improve planning decisions and enhance the effectiveness of the sector.

The article concludes that a cultural shift is required in order for the nonprofit sector to exploit the opportunities presented by digital information. Nonprofits and funders are enjoined to increase their numeracy and to find creative ways to use data as part of their evaluation, planning and decision making. Researchers need to be adventurous in their use of quantitative information and specifically should employ linked datasets in order to explore previously unanswerable research and policy questions. The producers of data need to collect and publish their information in ways that facilitate reuse. Finally, funders need to support a variety of projects that seek to exploit these new opportunities.

This was co-authored with Professor Susan Phillips from Carleton. She was the academic with whom I most wanted to work when I was researching the field. I’m trememdously excited that I have the opportunity to collaborate with her. We have another article coming out this fall / winter.

We appreciate the support of the Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Family Foundation and I’m looking forward to the attend the conference (even though I *just* saw RDV Web. Actually, I asked my Montréal Ouvert / Québec Ouvert colleagues if they wouldn’t mind if I fielded this speaking engagement. We receive so many requests to speak and to do interviews that the other guys are exhausted and I felt like I could use this particular opportunity to raise Ajah’s profile because the conference was more mainstream and I wasn’t speaking as part of a panel. I had not given a proper public presentation in years so I was pretty nervous, but apparently I did pretty well. At least I was good enough to be invited back to present at the next conference organized by the same team, but this one is focused on “cause” marketing which is much better for Ajah.

And here are some smart things:

Hacking is a pattern of local, opportunistic manipulation of a non-disposable complex system that causes a lowering of its conceptual integrity, creates systemic debt and moves intelligence from systems into human brains.

from Hacking the Non-Disposable Planet by Venkatesh Rao

Especially interesting because Daniel was just speaking to me about complex systems becoming increasingly complex and therefore somehow unable to address their own problems. He was referring to theories expressed in Currency Wars. I didn’t love the entire post, but I was interested in the idea of addressing problems in complex societies through hacks instead of adding complexity. Not sure if works that way.

Michael Gurstein wrote something that I really liked, too. I’ve known Michael for 10 years and while I respect him and his work, I don’t always love the critical anti-techno-utopian academic thing. This post I really enjoyed. I was more able to understand his concern and I also heard an alternative, more positive path than I had heard before (admittedly having read only a fraction of his work).

Does “Inclusion” Matter for Open Government?

Neal Stephenson’s religious order in Anatham probably started with works like this:

Thou shalt not commit logical fallacies
This is an amazing resource. URI’s for process. It is the evolution of XKCD’s Citation Needed and LetMeGoogleThatForYou. Shortcuts to use in dialogue which serve pedagogically. I’m impressed with that project. If I had a foundation, that is a project I would have funded.

And Miriam just referred to back when we all used to blog. Back in 2004. About our feelings. And people actually left comments! What a crazy memory. If you don’t read her, you probably should. Although since I don’t put my promote my blog entries through facebook that’s kind of like one deserted town putting up a sign to another deserted town.

————–
Oh yeah – that’s what I forgot. I was interviewed by the the BC Open Data team.

Profile of an Open Data Developer: Ajah Fundtracker’s Michael Lenczner

Last weekend we threw a surprise for my mother’s 65th and this weekend I attended my 5th (6th? 7th?) Passover at my cousins’s. I helped two people join a board that I’m sitting on and I have been arranged to be a co-author of three academic articles, all in peer-reviewed journals. If that ends up happening, I can happily torch my own expectations of one day getting an undergraduate degree by any other means than being awarded an honorary one.

In other news: the city of Montreal is setting up a standing table de concertation on their open data work. Which is fantastic. And solely because of us. I have read fewer than 10 books in the past 2 years, and possibly fewer than 5. I know as much about funding of the non-profit sector in Canada as any person alive, and I truly believe in the benefit of neurological diversity when trying to come up with solutions. The moments of intense fear, almost panic, that I had over the last few years of dying, of the end of our species and of the eventual heat-death of the universe have stopped which strengthens my belief that they were tied to my father’s coronary surgery and subsequent illness. I have taken steps towards joining this organization on a volunteer basis which fulfills a long-standing dream I have had to engage in the field of child abuse.

I’m pretty happy these days, very rarely lonely (unlike my experience of most of my 20′s) and often alone. I believe in my work and I enjoy it. Hopefully the next few years will see me start a family. Until then, I’m enjoying everything I’m learning – especially what I’m learning from my friend, Daniel, about how to reason (engineers are fascinating).

Booyah!

Tracey did tell him that we were talking about getting his autograph, but I did not let him know that I was also thinking about getting a tattoo of his likeness.

Good thing I have a blog so I could announce that.

Hey Mike,

Just an FYI, we’ve switched to WordPress for the development of the next version of the A is B website.

Recent improvements in the language localization plugin we’re looking to use (wpml) have eliminated Drupal’s last clear advantage. Since both I and my primary developer volunteer are more familiar with WordPress, and the user and dev base for WP is so much bigger, it makes sense to make the switch.

If you have questions or concerns about this, just let me know.

Cheers
Pete

–
Peter Meadows
Website and Technology Coordinator :: Coordonnateur du site web et des technologies

I wish this level of technical proficiency was more common among non-profit organizations. Considering the importance of communications for many organizations, it would have a large impact on their ability to fundraise as well as their ability to progress towards their mission.

CBC radio interview and Montreal Gazette

This is my third CBC radio interview – I’m had others in relation to my work at Ile sans fil. It’s also by far my best. Open data is also an important issue for Ajah; we rely on government data in order to offer Fundtracker. Being interested in open data since 2005 was one of the things that helped me see the opportunity to start Ajah.

I really enjoyed working with my co-founders: Jean-Noé, Sébastien Pierre, and Jonathan Brun. We all had different experiences and different ways of going about things, but we worked together very effectively and efficiently for the last 14 months. I also learned a lot about lobbying. We approached different people at the city from different angles: economic development, democracy and transparency, citizen services, etc. The only bummer was that when the city finally went forward with the policy, they tried to erase us from the story. They made no mention of us in their press conference or their press release. I wrote this (slightly whiny) letter to my colleagues on the Chantier sur la démocratie municipale when the news about the creation of a new open data portal went to the list without mentioning us.

Hier c’était un victoire, une victoire qui nous a pris 14 mois de travail.

C’est dommage que la ville n’a pas reconnu que c’est le résultat d’une initiative citoyenne. Il n’y avait aucune discussion à la ville à propos des données ouvertes avant qu’on ne crée le groupe Montréal Ouvert l’été passé. L’adoption de cette nouvelle politique a requise des interventions aux 3 consultations publiques, incluant des dépôts des mémoires, 2 réunions publiques avec plus de 60 personnes présentes à chaque fois, 2 hackathons, 5 applications créées bénévolement par des dévéloppeurs (comme http://www.resto-net.org), des dizaines d’articles dans les journaux, des présentations à plus de 30 conférences, plusieurs réunions avec des fonctionnaires (communications, technologie, Quartier Collective), les groupes qui gravitent autour de la ville (TéchnoMontréal, Montréal 2025), et avec les élus (Applebaum, Dauphin, et autres) pour les informer des enjeux des données ouvertes et pourquoi Montréal, comme toutes les autres grandes villes canadiennes, avait besoin d’adopter une politique sur la chose.

Je vous invite a lire notre communiqué d’hier:

http://montrealouvert.net/2011/10/27/nous-avons-reussi-montreal-devient-une-ville-ouverte/

The other fun thing is that I can definitely count this as my second real success. Ile sans is definitely one in the “win” category. Now Montréal Ouvert and Ajah is on it’s way as a third.

There’s a huge variety of grants management systems, ranging from options for small foundations at only a few thousand dollars a year, specialty options for niches like arts grantmaking or medical research foundations, and robust, completely configurable solutions for large foundations starting at $100,000 or more

Huge variety!? How dope is that? I had no idea.

The Role of Community Organizations in the Transformation of the Social Development Model in Québec – Christian Jetté at UdeM

ABSTRACT
Community organizations have played a major role in the delivery of social services in Québec since the 1970s. Their activities aimed to provide an alternative to the heteronomous, bureaucratic practices of the public sector. But their desire to move away from the public sector did not prevent them from demanding financial support from the state. Historically, these associations’ struggles have led to the establishment
of an original partnership and a funding mode whereby they could retain their organizations’ autonomy. This autonomy was the guarantee of both their specificity and their ability to innovate in terms of social practices. While this state recognition certainly remains in some respects ambivalent, it is nonetheless undeniable that these associations today constitute a significant component of the Québec model of social development.

RÉSUMÉ
Les organismes communautaires jouent un rôle important dans la prestation de services sociaux au Québec depuis les années 1970. Leurs activités se sont développées dans l’optique d’apporter une alternative aux pratiques hétéronomes et bureaucratiques du secteur public. Cette volonté de se distancier du secteur public ne les a toutefois pas empêchés de revendiquer le soutien financier de l’État. Historiquement, les luttes menées par ces associations se sont donc traduites par la mise en place d’un partenariat original et l’établissement d’une mode de financement qui leur permet de préserver l’autonomie de leur organisation. Cette autonomie est le gage de leur spécificité et de leur capacité d’innover sur le plan des pratiques sociales. Certes, cette reconnaissance étatique demeure à certains égards ambiguë. Néanmoins, il est indéniable que ces associations constituent aujourd’hui un élément important du modèle québécois du développement social

Keywords / Mots clés
Community organizations; state; social development model; innovation; funding / Organismes communautaires; État; Modèle de développement social; Innovation; Financement

Read it. True, increased management (the MBA-ing of social service delivery) is going to result in reduced innovation. However, this report is kinda one-sided. There is not sufficient understanding for why that increased management happened and what the results would be if they were removed.

Voluntary Sector Organizations and the State – Building New Relations by Rachel Laforet
Actually, I won’t be reading it since it cost $85. I’ll be reading the first chapter, since it’s available as a sample PDF.

I’ll have to read it before I hear her speak in Toronto. I’ve decided to take a roadtrip to TO for this conference and I’ll add in a few meetings with prospective clients.
The Recession and Beyond: Taking stock of evolving government-nonprofit relations. It’s a one-day conference before an American conference on the non-profit sector also happening in Toronto.

Alright, that’s about it. There’s other stuff that I could share that I’m even more excited about, but I don’t want to give away too many details since it fits into work plans.