In my last post, I shared some thoughts about “civic tech,” a new(ish) sector focused expressly on the public good. This definition opens countless roads for exploration, and yet many are not currently taken. Radical innovation hasn’t disrupted voting, political…
Here in the Second Great Internet Bubble, we’ve come to accept Marc Andreessen’s maxim that “software is eating the world.” The evidence is outstanding for sectors like retail, social, finance and entertainment. And as you read this, software is quickly…
I didn’t make it to SXSW this year, but I would never miss Bruce Sterling’s time-honored closing remarks from the Interactive festival because Bruce Sterling is paying attention. This year’s riff is the Internet of Things and the future of…
Last Friday marked my third anniversary at Change.org. In that time, Change.org has grown from 6 million users to well over 75 million, and I’ve held on tight to many different hats–managing global social media on the comms team; growth hacking on…
It’s Sunday, and I’m still thinking of the incredible burst of talent and passion and purpose that was the life of Aaron Swartz. On Friday in NYC, under the pressure of an intense lawsuit against him at the hands of…
It’s Saturday morning. I’m sitting in a coffeeshop in San Francisco waiting for clean laundry, including a new-to-me jacket I bought yesterday. A jacket to dispel the summer cold that has once again descended upon San Francisco. While I wait,…
[This post originally appeared on the OpenSF blog.] A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending a two-day training entitled “Mapping Environmental Scenarios & Solutions with Google Technology” hosted by the Google Earth Outreach team. “Pleasure” might be something…
The EcoFinder web service provides local recycling, reuse and disposal information for residents and businesses. Data is available via a web form, and iPhone app and an XML data feed. EcoFinder home page: www.sfenvironment.org/EcoFinder EcoFinder XML Feed Documentation EcoFinder iPhone app…
EcoFinder iPhone App post written for Mayor Gavin Newsom
One of the work projects at SF Environment that I am most excited about is an update of our EcoFinder tool in collaboration with other local waste agencies. This project has come to be known as the Regional Recycling Database…