The Secret Startup That Saved the Worst Website in America-The Atlantic The Atlantic's Robinson Meyer has an excellent piece on Loren Yu, Kevin Wang, Rohan Bhobe and the Marketplace Lite team [MPL], working as a startup within the US Government to "retrieve" the first iteration of a bloated and apparently unfit-for-purpose roll-out of the Healthcare.gov online environment. This is a complimentary…
A timely reminder - The King is subject to the law. 'to no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice’ An affirmation that authority should be subject to law arising from the community itself, Magna Carta is a foundation stone of constitutional and parliamentary government. Let's hope the Foundation for Liberty is correct when…
The Victorian Auditor- General has published the interim report examining strategies for delivering services online via digital devices. Phase one of this audit specifically reviewed the Victorian Government ICT Governance Framework and the delivery of the Victorian Government Digital Strategy (Digital Strategy). Phase two of this audit will be tabled at a later date and will examine service delivery implementation and monitoring and evaluation of service…
Two variations-on-a-theme: The first comes from our own Clarke & Dawe. Corey Doctorow reminded me of this earlier in the week. The debt crisis in 2010 https://youtu.be/I5QwKEwo4Bc The second comes from US Senator Elizabeth Warren [ @SenWarren ] speaking at the Re/code conference this past Tuesday. During a question and answer session, a voter asked why politicians aren't building infrastructure or implementing other policy that…
A stunning photographic essay by Alex S. MacLean from the New York Times. The contrast of decay and hopelessness and the first signs of renewal are both graphic and encouraging. One senses a potential for Detroit to be "the-first-of-the-last" and potentially lead the way to newly configured and sustainable urban landscapes. Certainly not yet, but look closely at MacLean's wonderful…
http://youtu.be/JsXmYHiuJ8s Cape York Indigenous leader Noel Pearson's tribute to former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam
25 years ago today, Colonel Harald Jäger opened the Bornholmer Strasse checkpoint of the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall ceased to exist by accident. Günter Schabowski, the spokesman for the collapsing German regime, announced a liberalization of the travel regime – people would no longer have to give a reason to leave - in a press conference at 6:53pm on November…