This document summarizes a town hall meeting between Stan Freck from Microsoft and Evan Burfield from Synteractive discussing how technology can help citizens engage with their local governments. They describe how changing demographics and ubiquitous connectivity are increasing demands for online citizen engagement. They promote Microsoft TownHall and Synteractive's Citizen services/open dataSocialRally platform as tools that can connect and empower citizens through moderated forums, analytics, and customization options. Examples of organizations using these tools include NASA, Colombian presidential candidates, and the House Republican forum.
TechSoup Global and Guardian Seminar: Transforming your charity by bringing your data to life seminar. Presentation by Nathaniel Manning, Director of Business Development and Strategy at Ushahidi illustrated how they use crowdsourcing, big data and the opensource tools they have developed to help with disaster relief, political accountability and other development issues. Mobile phones were identified as one of the key ways that data is provided and collected in developing countries.
TechSoup Global and Guardian seminar: Transforming your charity by bringing your data to life: Presentation by Marnie Webb, Co-CEO and Paul van Haver, Director of Global Data Services of TechSoup Global highlighted the need for charities to help transform the way they engage with and service their community through the use of data. Presentation: We are “Big Data” (and so can you!)
After 4 years of researching, designing, developing and deploying solutions “in the wild” and completing his PhD in “Community Participation in Mobile Entertainment Services #CPiMES”, Mark now focuses his research around ‘gameful design’ solutions focused to enhance the user experience. Mark’s role as a Creative Technologist in the Media Innovation Studio, is to look at ways in which creative experiences, gameful design and technology can be used to generate data, encourage participation and educate. In his talk, Mark will review past projects released “in the wild” and present insights into ongoing work of relevance focusing on determining the role technology plays in inspiring social innovation.
TechSoup Global and Guardian Seminar: Transforming your charity by bringing your data to life seminar. Presentation by Nathaniel Manning, Director of Business Development and Strategy at Ushahidi illustrated how they use crowdsourcing, big data and the opensource tools they have developed to help with disaster relief, political accountability and other development issues. Mobile phones were identified as one of the key ways that data is provided and collected in developing countries.
TechSoup Global and Guardian seminar: Transforming your charity by bringing your data to life: Presentation by Marnie Webb, Co-CEO and Paul van Haver, Director of Global Data Services of TechSoup Global highlighted the need for charities to help transform the way they engage with and service their community through the use of data. Presentation: We are “Big Data” (and so can you!)
After 4 years of researching, designing, developing and deploying solutions “in the wild” and completing his PhD in “Community Participation in Mobile Entertainment Services #CPiMES”, Mark now focuses his research around ‘gameful design’ solutions focused to enhance the user experience. Mark’s role as a Creative Technologist in the Media Innovation Studio, is to look at ways in which creative experiences, gameful design and technology can be used to generate data, encourage participation and educate. In his talk, Mark will review past projects released “in the wild” and present insights into ongoing work of relevance focusing on determining the role technology plays in inspiring social innovation.
When citizens get involved : the power of online communities and crowdsourcingJorieke Vyncke
Thanks to our growing connectivity, it is now easier than ever for citizens to collectively contribute to a project or cause. From microtasking, over collective intelligence, to implicit crowdsourcing; the now widely available technologies and worldwide social networks have allowed for individuals to contribute their own knowledge and skills to a larger whole. But what is crowdsourcing exactly? What drives people to do it? And how is this collaboration exactly coordinated? During this talk all these points will be addressed, a lot of examples will be given, and of course we’ll discuss possible ways that crowdsourcing can be used in development and humanitarian aid.
Video of the talk : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joVNmGC30as
We come across dozens of design breakthroughs and technological innovations daily--so many that it's easy to miss important trends emerging in the chaos all around us and not connect the dots to see the BIG picture.
Here at The Institute for Customer Experience (ICE), we understand the business and design value of capturing the right trend insights at the right moment. We observe and analyse trends in design, technology, and business, and keep our fingers on the pulse of the global zeitgeist. In this series of trendbriefs, we bring you alerts on what's trending in our world and their possible impact on our future.
Subscription to ICE Breakers - http://eepurl.com/S1ZFL
View Archived ICE Breakers - http://ice.humanfactors.com/ice_breakers.html
How Social Networking is Changing How We Collaborate and Share InformationLynn Reyes
The "social" factor in the way things really work and how we might think about it from discovery, strategic planning and design, execution, measurement and management.
Presentation made at the Convurge Conference in June 2007.
Are Communities Empowering People or Reinforcing Dominations ?Louis-David Benyayer
As OuiShare Fest teaser puts it: "communities are transforming cities, organizations and civic action everywhere in the world". As this transformations prove to grow bigger every day, questions about their consequences arise. What are their meaning and direction? What relationships between individuals and corporations do communities allow for? Who governs them and how is value created allocated? More widely, we should now seriously question the new balances being established between empowerment and exploitation.
When citizens get involved : the power of online communities and crowdsourcingJorieke Vyncke
Thanks to our growing connectivity, it is now easier than ever for citizens to collectively contribute to a project or cause. From microtasking, over collective intelligence, to implicit crowdsourcing; the now widely available technologies and worldwide social networks have allowed for individuals to contribute their own knowledge and skills to a larger whole. But what is crowdsourcing exactly? What drives people to do it? And how is this collaboration exactly coordinated? During this talk all these points will be addressed, a lot of examples will be given, and of course we’ll discuss possible ways that crowdsourcing can be used in development and humanitarian aid.
Video of the talk : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joVNmGC30as
We come across dozens of design breakthroughs and technological innovations daily--so many that it's easy to miss important trends emerging in the chaos all around us and not connect the dots to see the BIG picture.
Here at The Institute for Customer Experience (ICE), we understand the business and design value of capturing the right trend insights at the right moment. We observe and analyse trends in design, technology, and business, and keep our fingers on the pulse of the global zeitgeist. In this series of trendbriefs, we bring you alerts on what's trending in our world and their possible impact on our future.
Subscription to ICE Breakers - http://eepurl.com/S1ZFL
View Archived ICE Breakers - http://ice.humanfactors.com/ice_breakers.html
How Social Networking is Changing How We Collaborate and Share InformationLynn Reyes
The "social" factor in the way things really work and how we might think about it from discovery, strategic planning and design, execution, measurement and management.
Presentation made at the Convurge Conference in June 2007.
Are Communities Empowering People or Reinforcing Dominations ?Louis-David Benyayer
As OuiShare Fest teaser puts it: "communities are transforming cities, organizations and civic action everywhere in the world". As this transformations prove to grow bigger every day, questions about their consequences arise. What are their meaning and direction? What relationships between individuals and corporations do communities allow for? Who governs them and how is value created allocated? More widely, we should now seriously question the new balances being established between empowerment and exploitation.
We provide a platform that reduces your emails and meetings and create a platform where your entire online community to communicate, share ideas, and provide input so that you can make better decisions through the power of WE instead of ME.
civ.works: The Comprehensive Platform for Participatory Democracy and Budgeting.Civic Works
A single sign on social platform catalyzing citizen engagement in participatory democracy, participatory budgeting and citizen-led legislation and policy.
Slides from lecture by Paul DiGangi in the Strategy module in the 2011 Media Management Course at Stockholm School of Economics and the Royal Institute of Technology. Here is more information on the course: http://nordicworlds.net/2011/01/21/strategy-course-focuses-on-virtual-worlds-and-gaming-industries/.
Social Technology
by Marti A. Hearst
We are in the midst of extraordinary
change in how people interact with one
another and with information. A
combination of advances in technology
and change in people's expectations is
altering the way products are sold,
scientific problems are solved, software
is written, elections are conducted, and
government is run.
People are social animals, and as Shirky
notes, we now have tools that are
flexible enough to match our in-built
social capabilities. Things can get
done that weren't possible before
because the right expertise, the missing
information, or a large enough group of
people can now be gathered together at
low cost.
These developments open a number of
interesting questions for NSF and CISE.
What are the key research problems? How
should these developments change how
research is conducted? How can the
intersection of social science and
technology research be aided or
improved? And how should this effect
how NSF researchers get involved with
relevant government efforts, including
transparent government, emergency
response, and citizen science?
In this talk I attempt to summarize
and put some structure around some of
these developments.
Online Social Networks to Support Community Collaboration WorkshopConnie White
Introduction
Social Networks
Virtual Organizations
Communities of Practice
Technology Acceptance Model
Social Media for Emergency Management
What does the future hold?
Value Creation & the Evolution of Organizational Business ModelsPaul Di Gangi
Presentation by Paul M. Di Gangi on January 31, 2011 at the Stockholm School of Economics in Second Life (SSE Island) for Robin Teigland.
This presentation outlines the key shifts in people, technology, and the economy that have led to the growth of new types of organizational business models and how value can be created.
This presentation is also available here: http://www.slideshare.net/eteigland/lecture-by-paul-digangivalue-creation
Dev Dives: Train smarter, not harder – active learning and UiPath LLMs for do...UiPathCommunity
💥 Speed, accuracy, and scaling – discover the superpowers of GenAI in action with UiPath Document Understanding and Communications Mining™:
See how to accelerate model training and optimize model performance with active learning
Learn about the latest enhancements to out-of-the-box document processing – with little to no training required
Get an exclusive demo of the new family of UiPath LLMs – GenAI models specialized for processing different types of documents and messages
This is a hands-on session specifically designed for automation developers and AI enthusiasts seeking to enhance their knowledge in leveraging the latest intelligent document processing capabilities offered by UiPath.
Speakers:
👨🏫 Andras Palfi, Senior Product Manager, UiPath
👩🏫 Lenka Dulovicova, Product Program Manager, UiPath
Software Delivery At the Speed of AI: Inflectra Invests In AI-Powered QualityInflectra
In this insightful webinar, Inflectra explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming software development and testing. Discover how AI-powered tools are revolutionizing every stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), from design and prototyping to testing, deployment, and monitoring.
Learn about:
• The Future of Testing: How AI is shifting testing towards verification, analysis, and higher-level skills, while reducing repetitive tasks.
• Test Automation: How AI-powered test case generation, optimization, and self-healing tests are making testing more efficient and effective.
• Visual Testing: Explore the emerging capabilities of AI in visual testing and how it's set to revolutionize UI verification.
• Inflectra's AI Solutions: See demonstrations of Inflectra's cutting-edge AI tools like the ChatGPT plugin and Azure Open AI platform, designed to streamline your testing process.
Whether you're a developer, tester, or QA professional, this webinar will give you valuable insights into how AI is shaping the future of software delivery.
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
Neuro-symbolic (NeSy) AI is on the rise. However, simply machine learning on just any symbolic structure is not sufficient to really harvest the gains of NeSy. These will only be gained when the symbolic structures have an actual semantics. I give an operational definition of semantics as “predictable inference”.
All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
GraphRAG is All You need? LLM & Knowledge GraphGuy Korland
Guy Korland, CEO and Co-founder of FalkorDB, will review two articles on the integration of language models with knowledge graphs.
1. Unifying Large Language Models and Knowledge Graphs: A Roadmap.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.08302
2. Microsoft Research's GraphRAG paper and a review paper on various uses of knowledge graphs:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/graphrag-unlocking-llm-discovery-on-narrative-private-data/
Essentials of Automations: Optimizing FME Workflows with ParametersSafe Software
Are you looking to streamline your workflows and boost your projects’ efficiency? Do you find yourself searching for ways to add flexibility and control over your FME workflows? If so, you’re in the right place.
Join us for an insightful dive into the world of FME parameters, a critical element in optimizing workflow efficiency. This webinar marks the beginning of our three-part “Essentials of Automation” series. This first webinar is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills to utilize parameters effectively: enhancing the flexibility, maintainability, and user control of your FME projects.
Here’s what you’ll gain:
- Essentials of FME Parameters: Understand the pivotal role of parameters, including Reader/Writer, Transformer, User, and FME Flow categories. Discover how they are the key to unlocking automation and optimization within your workflows.
- Practical Applications in FME Form: Delve into key user parameter types including choice, connections, and file URLs. Allow users to control how a workflow runs, making your workflows more reusable. Learn to import values and deliver the best user experience for your workflows while enhancing accuracy.
- Optimization Strategies in FME Flow: Explore the creation and strategic deployment of parameters in FME Flow, including the use of deployment and geometry parameters, to maximize workflow efficiency.
- Pro Tips for Success: Gain insights on parameterizing connections and leveraging new features like Conditional Visibility for clarity and simplicity.
We’ll wrap up with a glimpse into future webinars, followed by a Q&A session to address your specific questions surrounding this topic.
Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your FME expertise and drive your projects to new heights of efficiency.
Transcript: Selling digital books in 2024: Insights from industry leaders - T...BookNet Canada
The publishing industry has been selling digital audiobooks and ebooks for over a decade and has found its groove. What’s changed? What has stayed the same? Where do we go from here? Join a group of leading sales peers from across the industry for a conversation about the lessons learned since the popularization of digital books, best practices, digital book supply chain management, and more.
Link to video recording: https://bnctechforum.ca/sessions/selling-digital-books-in-2024-insights-from-industry-leaders/
Presented by BookNet Canada on May 28, 2024, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
PHP Frameworks: I want to break free (IPC Berlin 2024)Ralf Eggert
In this presentation, we examine the challenges and limitations of relying too heavily on PHP frameworks in web development. We discuss the history of PHP and its frameworks to understand how this dependence has evolved. The focus will be on providing concrete tips and strategies to reduce reliance on these frameworks, based on real-world examples and practical considerations. The goal is to equip developers with the skills and knowledge to create more flexible and future-proof web applications. We'll explore the importance of maintaining autonomy in a rapidly changing tech landscape and how to make informed decisions in PHP development.
This talk is aimed at encouraging a more independent approach to using PHP frameworks, moving towards a more flexible and future-proof approach to PHP development.
Connector Corner: Automate dynamic content and events by pushing a buttonDianaGray10
Here is something new! In our next Connector Corner webinar, we will demonstrate how you can use a single workflow to:
Create a campaign using Mailchimp with merge tags/fields
Send an interactive Slack channel message (using buttons)
Have the message received by managers and peers along with a test email for review
But there’s more:
In a second workflow supporting the same use case, you’ll see:
Your campaign sent to target colleagues for approval
If the “Approve” button is clicked, a Jira/Zendesk ticket is created for the marketing design team
But—if the “Reject” button is pushed, colleagues will be alerted via Slack message
Join us to learn more about this new, human-in-the-loop capability, brought to you by Integration Service connectors.
And...
Speakers:
Akshay Agnihotri, Product Manager
Charlie Greenberg, Host
Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey 2024 by 91mobiles.pdf91mobiles
91mobiles recently conducted a Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey in which we asked over 3,000 respondents about the TV they own, aspects they look at on a new TV, and their TV buying preferences.
DevOps and Testing slides at DASA ConnectKari Kakkonen
My and Rik Marselis slides at 30.5.2024 DASA Connect conference. We discuss about what is testing, then what is agile testing and finally what is Testing in DevOps. Finally we had lovely workshop with the participants trying to find out different ways to think about quality and testing in different parts of the DevOps infinity loop.
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdfCheryl Hung
Keynote at DIGIT West Expo, Glasgow on 29 May 2024.
Cheryl Hung, ochery.com
Sr Director, Infrastructure Ecosystem, Arm.
The key trends across hardware, cloud and open-source; exploring how these areas are likely to mature and develop over the short and long-term, and then considering how organisations can position themselves to adapt and thrive.
3. Citizens want to engage
On whatever device
they’re using at that
moment
Across a number
of different
mediums
Online and 24X7X365
4. IntegrationHow can you orchestrate all this energy?
Social networks and online engagement
are becoming a primary means of connecting
large diffuse groups with common interests
5. You need …
SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS
THAT CONNECT AND EMPOWER CITIZENS AND ADVOCACY ORGANIZATIONS
BEAKTHROUGH TECHNOLOGIES
THAT CREATE UNIQUE “PLACES” FOR DISCUSSION AND CONNECTION
ACCESSIBLE AND FLEXIBLE TOOLS
THAT GIVE YOU ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS AND MAINTAIN STRONG CONNECTIONS
6. Microsoft TownHall
Microsoft TownHall is a social engagement platform
hosted on the Microsoft cloud (Windows Azure)
and available for organizations to customize and monetize
moderated forums
community forums
ideas site
scalable (cloud hosted)
customizable
engaging (from XBOX Live)
8. Citizen services / open dataSocialRally from Synteractive
A fully featured SaaS offering built on TownHall
Management of multiple forums
Analytics and dashboards
Support and service
Customization and design services (optional)
Easy and secure billing
24. What Accounts for a Robust
Public Life?
Wide range of responses, from:
utopian and lofty … freedom of association, freedom of
assembly, etc.
basic, down-to-earth needs … shared public transit, public
/green space, inclusivity, safety, civic pride, volunteerism, social
responsibility, etc.
Value
structured opportunity to think about key questions before the
meeting
opportunity to continue the discussion after the meeting should
we choose
25. Lots of great ideas … a few
favorites …
Imagination Station (Dayton, Ohio)
An open hub for interaction and action that
facilitates entrepreneurial, collaborative, community-
building initiatives to address local and regional
needs. Residents are asked to come up declarations
of possibility such as, “Within 10 years, the Dayton
Public Schools will be ranked among the top 5 urban
public school districts in the U.S.”
26. Lots of great ideas … a few
favorites …
MyGRCity Points (Grand Rapids, MI)
A web-based incentive program that encourages
people to volunteer to help build a stronger
community, while earning reward points that can be
redeemed at local businesses for discounts on
products and services. MyGRCity Points links people
to local businesses and to local government.
27. “THE BEST WAY TO PREDICT THE FUTURE IS TO CREATE IT.”
–Peter Drucker
Editor's Notes
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The growing usage of social networks and the emergence of the real-time web are changing the way customers expect to interact with brands. Customers are looking for experiences that are online, social, available to them 24x7x365 and accessible online via their PC, phone, tablet, or other internet connected devices.
Brands want to answer that call and create a deeper engagement with citizens, but need to find creative ways to do this. Ways where they can provide a quality experience while staying within their budget and not overtaxing their IT staff. They must also do this in a way that makes the site accessible to customers with disabilities as well an experience that is safe for younger customers.
I’d like to spend the next 15 minutes talking with you about two technologies we’re working on at Microsoft – technologies that help you engage with citizens online, regardless whether that’s on a laptop, a tablet or a mobile phone.
I’ll start with an overview of Microsoft LookingGlass, which allows you to listen to, participate, and engage with citizens across today’s most popular social networks. I’ll follow that up with an overview of Microsoft TownHall, an online tool that fosters and houses conversations between governments and citizens across a number of devices including the web, windows mobile, iPhone, and Android phones.
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Summarize 1-5 of “Here’s how it works”
<click> … scroll down
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5 Categories set up by CEOs for Cities for this conference:
Robust Public Life
Social Offerings
Openness
Aesthetics
Demonstration Projects
<click> … move into the first category – “Robust Public Offerings”
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Explain questions, voting up/down, filters (Most Interest, Most Recent, Total Votes, Questions with Responses)
<click> … log in
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Explain simple sign-in to gather just critical info or leverage facebook connect
<click> … just remain anonymous and look around
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<click> … scroll down
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Explain categories forming the site sponsor’s taxonomy while tags form a “folksonomy” giving users and site sponsors a different way to view and sort the content generated by the community.
See Most Active User
<click> … go to list of all users
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See users listed screen name or by their reputation – based on point totals/badges as per the XBOX Live online gaming community experience – the largest online gaming community in the world.
People just inherently like to compete, even if the scores are not intrinsically valuable. Points are generally awarded in 10-point increments, and while this site has only been up a short time … other sites, like the Be A Martian site that Stan showed earlier, have been up for 6-9 months and have multiple users that have gained over 2.5 million points just by helping drive discussion and answer questions for their online community of choice.
And, you can use this system to tie online activities and real-world actions – invite the people with the highest point totals to a special event … or award points for desired actions like fundraising or getting signatures on a petition.
<click> … click on one of the tags – “public-spaces” to see how the community segments the discussion
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See all the questions that the community thought of as related to that tag
<click> … go back to the full set of questions
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<click> … scroll down
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See an interesting question, like this one with 4 votes about “robust public life” being a function of ownership. If I think this is an interesting discussion, I can come to these icons here and either tweet it out or post to my facebook and, effectively invite my existing social network into the discussion.
<click> … post to Facebook
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You can see, integrated in, that I can post to my FB and it pre-populates the topic and URL to the conversation I was looking at and thought folks in my network might find interesting, while allowing me to add my own commentary.
<click> … back to the forum
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<click> … switch for a second over to the SocialRally console to look at what I see as the sponsor of the forum
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<click> … switch for a second over to the SocialRally console to look at what I see as the sponsor of the forum
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One respondent argued that a city’s only responsibility is to design at the human scale and provide space for easy meeting. The rest must be nurtured by social capital.
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