Monthly Archives: October 2011

A response to Andrew Rawnsley’s article: the future of the UK economy

Rawnsley piece is on the borderline of demagogic rhetoric and spirited opinion and its good reading. He taps into the mood and in doing so, he displays the same problem as the financial system. He offers a lot of feel … Continue reading

Posted in local government, public sector, republicanism | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on A response to Andrew Rawnsley’s article: the future of the UK economy

Constant connectivity and the search for meaning

The SXSWi Festival made me think about the limits of constant connectivity. http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/03/sxsw2011-4-themes.html  By that I do not mean in a technological sense. Connectivity is creating a gap.  The gap is one of meaning.  By that I mean we are … Continue reading

Posted in good writing, linked data, open data, transparency | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Constant connectivity and the search for meaning

A powerful story of why government good intentions can fail

lawrence serewicz (@lldzne) has shared a Tweet with you:  “TheEconomist: A new film takes a look at why the Pruitt-Igoe housing project in St. Louis failed http://t.co/mlpkVylc” –http://twitter.com/TheEconomist/status/125511829412777985 I recommend this story, but also the academic article it is based … Continue reading

Posted in Government, local government, localism, public housing, public sector | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on A powerful story of why government good intentions can fail

Some tentative thoughts on why the Occupy Wall Street Movement will fail to change America

What has struck me about reading the blogs and the tweets about the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States is thebelief that protests will lead to immediate and lasting political and social change.  I am not sure where … Continue reading

Posted in Government, republicanism, scholarship, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

The end of an era on H-Diplo: Prof. Kaiser signs off

I am sorry to see that Prof. Kaiser is no longer going to post to H-Diplo again. I am heartened to know he continues to publis on his blog. As a participant during that magical period on H-diplo (http://www.h-net.org/~diplo/), I … Continue reading

Posted in Government, public sector, vietnam war | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The end of an era on H-Diplo: Prof. Kaiser signs off

The open data delusion: can we find meaning in the data?

The open data delusion is a phenomenon in which we believe that increasing the amount of data published or accessible will increase the public understanding of the issues. What the financial crisis shows is that the data was out in … Continue reading

Posted in linked data, open data, public sector, republicanism | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments