A Critique and Defense of Civic Participation

A Critique and Defense of Civic Participation

Last week I was at the Digital Cities conference in Buenos Aires, a convening of civil servants in charge of city open data programs and the technologists and NGOs that use the data. One after another government representative claimed that the ultimate goal of their...
Two Maps and 21st Century Exploration

Two Maps and 21st Century Exploration

The following text was written for an art installation at the new Skylink Terminal of Vienna Airport. The title of the installation, Zeitraum, is a German portmanteau combining zeit (time) and raum (place), and roughly translates to “period of time.”...
Niños Incomodos and Video for Advocacy in Mexico

Niños Incomodos and Video for Advocacy in Mexico

Last month I caught an interesting tweet from Alejandro Ramírez, the CEO of the 4th largest cinema chain in the entire world: Ramírez was celebrating the fact that De Panzazo, an excellent documentary about the state of the country’s education system, was seen...
Helping Politicians Keep Their Promises

Helping Politicians Keep Their Promises

Politicians love to make promises. Here in Mexico, presidential contender Enrique Peña Nieto even spent the morning of the first official day of campaigning at a public notary’s office where he signed his name next to his first three campaign promises. But...
Back to My Printing Press

Back to My Printing Press

I started blogging at el-oso.net in December 2003. I didn’t expect it to last long; mostly I wanted to keep a travel diary for a road trip around Mexico, and I figured, why not keep it on the Internet? Several months later I realized that I still had more to...