Showing a better way

In 2008 the UK government announced a competition for innovative ideas using (and reusing) public information: Show Us A Better Way (or SUABW, hereafter.) The best of the new ideas would be picked for further development, as would a few…

Where’s my train: update 13 Jan

Funny how the return of the snow brings back interest in this topic. And worrying how easily it gets dropped from view the rest of the time. To recap: wheresmytrain focuses on one particular type of information: the dataset describing…

Britain thinks. Or does it?

You’ll have seen the billboards – they’re rather hard to miss. Share your opinion on education, on football, on anything you choose! Go on, let it all out. Hard to resist, really. A massive poster campaign suddenly appears and we’re…

Where’s my train?

What next? So, a challenge is laid: I assert that train operators know where their assets are: it would be irresponsible if they didn’t. And that this information is held within their internal systems. Wheresmytrain has one objective: making this…

Dark side of the #uksnow clouds

I originally wrote up my view of the #uksnow story back in February. I’ve used it a lot since then to illustrate a few points: – How easy it is to drive an application from Twitter– That if an idea…

Civil liberties are so damn difficult

This morning’s temporary detention and release of Grant Smith called into question the value of the ‘advice’ from Andy Trotter of the Association of Chief Police Officers last Friday. But it also shows up some of the practical problems of…

Why #fixtweetie is important

Firstly, it’s not about fixing one iPhone app. Sure, Tweetie was my favourite iPhone Twitter client. But there are others. And that’s the point of the apps ecosystem: if you don’t like one any more, you go and find another…

London bus lane #fail

Guest post by Richard Leeming, @dickdotcom ———————– On balance, the best way to get round London is on two wheels, either bicycle or motorbike. Sure there are irritations, but they’re outweighed by the bonuses. Especially when an irritation can be…

Tweetbike goes electric

I’m keen on bikes in London – with engines or without. Without raking up every opinion (and there are many) from my two-wheeled brethren, they generally fit well with the city. The normal bike of choice, the tweetbike (Google it…

That Conference in That London (Part 2)

To the day itself – here’s some of the things others said: we could rant in stereo about their spivvy sales tactics and crass treatment of SMEs #digieng> hear hear 🙂 Digital engagement conf #digieng ‘please turn off mobile phones’…