Weekly Round-up: May 24, 2013

Gadi Ben-Yehuda This week: Portals. From Governing: “New Portal Boosts Energy Research“ A new site, CrowdCrafting, seeks to be a portal for organizations and people who want to start or participate in crowdsourcing projects that “require human cognition, knowledge or intelligence such as image classification, transcription, geocoding and more.” A portal to real-time health data?Read… Read more »

How in-the-browser software should work

I wrote recently about my growing unease with the addiction we have with ever greater convenience with our computing over the necessity of control. A lot of this is driven by cloud, and software-as-a-service (SaaS). The convenience of SaaS is difficult to argue with. No installing software. No upgrades. Files accessible wherever you want them.Read… Read more »

CfA’s First International Partnerships

Over the past three years, as Code for America has grown, we have had the good fortune and deep pleasure of making friends with countless people from around the world who share our commitment to fostering more innovative government and engaged citizens. Cities like Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Helsinki (Finland) and organizations like the OpenRead… Read more »

Loomio

Loomio looks like a neat tool for groups to discuss a topic and to come to decisions. Often online discussions just go nowhere and don’t result in specific actions. Maybe this is a solution to that problem? Here’s a video. Original post

Portland’s Artisan Economy: Brews to Bikes

ELGL is hosting a lunchtime forum on August 20, 2013 to learn about how the Portland region’s economy is changing. Come eat lunch with us at the Metro Council Chambers as we listen to Dr. Charles Heying, Portland State University Professor of Urban Studies and Planning. Join Dr. Heying at this lunchtime session (sorry, noRead… Read more »

Don’t Mess With Texas: Can State Advertising Save the Environment?

Texas Department of Transportation’s anti-littering campaign celebrates twenty-five years of success We have all heard the phrase “Don’t Mess with Texas,” but very few people outside of Texas know its origins. In 1985, the Texas Department of Transportation introduced the slogan as part of a statewide advertising campaign to reduce littering on Texas roadways. Twenty-fiveRead… Read more »