The Collaborator’s Dilemma

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about collaboration and Game Theory. More specifically I’ve been examining and re-examining the Prisoner’s Dilemma in hopes of learning more about how transparency affects collaboration, and I think I may be on to something. Primer Game theory attempts to mathematically capture behaviour in strategic situations (games). The prisoner’s dilemmaRead… Read more »

Two Pennies

Many years ago I observed an interaction where an irate customer was telling a government employee that he paid his salary and he demanded he get what he wanted. The government employee listened quietly and then reached into his pocket and pulled out two pennies. He slid the pennies across the counter and told theRead… Read more »

WikiLeak Proof

Originally published on 10 Dec 2010 at ECM Gov Blog. The latest WikiLeaks release and subsequent media storm has caused me to think about the role that ECM plays in content security. When all of our records were on paper, they were easily lost, compromised, copied, and destroyed. However, in the digital age, when weRead… Read more »

The problem with social media: Don’t believe the hype

You’ve got your new website. You’re using Twitter and Facebook to “engage” with residents. Your community has access to all the latest news and information as it happens. The channel shift savings are predicted to be huge…So why isn’t it working? Don’t let the hype surrounding Social Media convince you this is an effective wayRead… Read more »

CB2: BP Saves Christmas?

When I met a friend to share my good news yesterday, she caught me a little off-guard by saying, “You have to hear how BP saved my Christmas.” That’s right, as in the same BP from the Gulf oil spill. Having asked to remain anonymous, we’ll call her Jane. Jane works at a local upscaleRead… Read more »

Wondering if you’re getting, using the same real-time data feeds you’re providing publicly

After far too long, my “Data Dynamite: unleash information to transform our world” book is finally in the editing stages, and should be released as an e-book later this winter. One of the key points is that we need to think holistically about data (especially tagged data), so that there are unified strategies for internallyRead… Read more »

GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 Explained: # 1

This post is the first in a series on the recently-passed GPRA Modernization Act of 2010. The bill is 19 pages long and the media has not provided the level of detail that a performance wonk might find helpful. So I’ll be providing summaries and extracts from law and the Senate committee report over theRead… Read more »