[Review] Rewire

[Review] Rewire

Ethan has crafted a beautiful, engaging book for all who seek to transcend the cultural, political, and linguistic barriers that history has placed between us. Unfortunately, I fear that those of us who aspire to global citizenship are a small and diminishing...

[Review] Citizenville

If you’re willing to wade through the predictable, tired applause lines of the past few years of TED talks, then Citizenville offers readers an interesting glimpse of some of the obstacles that stand in the way of bringing innovation to government.

On Hackathons and Solutionism

On Hackathons and Solutionism

This post is now available in portuguese thanks to Transparencia Hackday Portugal Este post já está disponível em português por Transparência Hackday Portugal. I spent much more of my weekend than I had expected reviewing the 22 finalist apps from Desarrollando...
Ars Electronica: The Public Square, Squared

Ars Electronica: The Public Square, Squared

The Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria Next month Isaac Mao and I are headed back to Linz, Austria for this year’s symposium, titled “The Public Square, Squared.” I’m thrilled with the list of speakers and can’t wait to learn from...

Two Sides of a Window: Technology and Transparency

What follows is a hyperlinked version of my talk at this year’s re:publica conference in Berlin. For a 30-minute talk it was probably a little dense, a bit abstract, and maybe too close to home for a Berlin audience, but here it is nonetheless. This morning...

No More Opera

In the 20th century we sat silently in the opera house; in the 21st century we find ourselves surrounded by the chaos of the karaoke bar under the pressure to participate. Karaoke bars are a hell of a lot more fun than any opera house. And, while to this day I would...