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Smart cities sounds magical, but civic tech gets it done

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Louisville, Kentucky’s chief technology manager works with civic-tech innovators every day. That sounds to me like a good way to make a city smart. But that’s only the beginning.

First comes openness, and not just open data. Ed Blayney welcomes the innovators. He stands in stark contrast with the cold eyes and stiff silos some of them face when they come to offer a city helpful, usually free new technology.

It’s not easy for city administrators, says Blayney. “They have their nose down in their day-to-day work and you’re asking them to change the way they do their jobs. It’s not easy changing people’s minds.”… Read the rest “Smart cities sounds magical, but civic tech gets it done”

“Good enough” data analysis will lead to good data analysis

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Someone on Quora asks, “What are the most promising disruptive innovations for the next decade (2011-2020)?”

The always incisive Venkatesh Rao offered a long list. At least one of his predictions brings to mind the decision support industry’s many do-it-yourself tools.

Deprofessionalization/democratization: if you thought blogging taking down professional writing, and amateur photography threatening professional photography were big, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Tons of problems that previously required professional expertise to solve can now be re-engineered so that amateurs can solve them. Movies and education are next.

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Look around. If the tools don’t exist, but the high-margin professionals and eager amateurs do, try and invent them. 

… Read the rest ““Good enough” data analysis will lead to good data analysis”

Impress your colleagues with year-end predictions!

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Why should the smart people have all the fun with year-end predictions? You can issue your own! At this time of year, even hopeless nitwits can seem smart.

Once you set up a blog — any free service will do — all you have to do is throw together your trends. Keep these easy-to-use techniques in mind.

• Re-use last year’s trends. Does anyone really believe that 2010’s trends sat down in December for a cosmo and never stood up again? You can safely predict that this year’s trends will be next year’s, too.

• Search in Google for your industry’s name and “trends.”… Read the rest “Impress your colleagues with year-end predictions!”