Datadoodle

You are here: Home / Archives for smart cities

smart cities

How one San Francisco-area city found its own “cool”:: What does it take to make a dull city smart? Longtime San Francisco-area chief innovation officer has answers

by

This post was originally published on Datadoodle on September 6, 2019

Imagine the moment your boss makes it clear why he hired you, and it’s not the reason he once gave you. You’re three months into your new job as chief innovation officer in a decidedly uncool suburban city near San Francisco. You’d been told the job was all about a new fiber-optic loop. Now, you hear, it’s all about making the place “cool.”

The moment comes at a city council meeting. The mayor bangs his fist on the dais and says to council members and staff, “Look, I just want this city to be cool.… Read the rest “How one San Francisco-area city found its own “cool”:: What does it take to make a dull city smart? Longtime San Francisco-area chief innovation officer has answers”

“Dean of Big Data” Bill Schmarzo: “smart” takes a community :: Cash-strapped cities get help from volunteer coders (Reposted and updated)

by

“I love civic tech,” says the data industry’s “Dean of Big Data” Bill Schmarzo, renowned data science and data monetization strategic advisor. He loves it, and he has ideas about how to make it work. It takes more than love to bear fruit.

Civic tech is possibly the most exciting aspect of “smart cities” today. Think of it: Cities want the technology to make them work better, but they have no money. What’s slightly more plentiful are talented young and not so young coders willing to help. Many of them are millennials, and they see a world that needs fixing.… Read the rest ““Dean of Big Data” Bill Schmarzo: “smart” takes a community :: Cash-strapped cities get help from volunteer coders (Reposted and updated)”

Big Smart, Small Smart, smartest

by

No sooner had I posted the story in 2017 about Steve Pepple’s real-time visualization of a San Francisco parade’s data than a reader lodged an objection. “Building displays that show where the parties are,” wrote that reader, “could also show a gunman what sites to shoot up.”

True, Pepple’s LCD display, hanging in a neighborhood art project’s entryway for any passerby to see, posed that familiar risk. But let’s not all run away screaming in terror just yet. Pepple’s project — a bit player in the “smart cities” super-genre — deserves a long look at what it and others on the same scale may offer.… Read the rest “Big Smart, Small Smart, smartest”