Novel Times, Novel Measures

The virtual home of Lawrence S. Grodeska

July 9, 2011 • 1:11 pm 6

Through A Google+, Darkly

It’s Saturday morning. I’m sitting in a coffeeshop in San Francisco waiting for clean laundry, including a new-to-me jacket I bought yesterday. A jacket to dispel the summer cold that has once again descended upon San Francisco. While I wait, I’m finally starting to play around with Google+, with high hopes that it will likewise dispel a similar cold that has fallen across the internet of late…the cold, bleak specter that is Facebook. I will spare you my usual rant here, except to say I am more than concerned that our social fabric is being re-woven by a gaggle of white, privileged, twenty-somethings more preoccupied with profit than the privacy (or security) of their user base. Frankly, this is a political issue that must be addressed, and soon–an argument that Carne Ross so eloquently makes in her recent post on Alternet.org. (Also, please consult Danah Boyd’s required reading on privacy in the age of social media straightaway.)

Of course, as Ross points out, putting all of my hopes in Google is quite naive…believe me, I’m aware of the irony. But still, I can’t escape all of the benefit that Google has delivered in it’s quest to index the world’s information. A noble goal if there ever were one. “Don’t be evil,” remember? For me, Google+ shines as a glimmer of hope for the regained control of online identities we have so diligently created and readily handed off to corporate caretakers. And today, I hold that glimmer of hope in my lap, staring at it intensely, waiting for it to illuminate a new, just path for online identity and the social web.

Alas, I look through a Google+, darkly. As a Google Apps user–I have managed noveltimes.com through Google Apps since 2007–I am a second class Google+ user. You see, Google Profiles are not available to Apps Users, and Google+ is keyed to Profiles. The lack of Profiles support for Apps is an issue well documented in the Google support forums. And Google tells us that Profiles for Apps is coming soon, but “soon” can be an eternity in the era of social media.

Despite this hurdle, I have found my way on to Google+ through the Gmail account associated with my Google Profile. However, since much of the power of Google+ results from building a social experience on top of the wide assortment of Google services employed by the average user (think Gmail, Gcal, Picasa, Blogger, Maps, +1, etc., etc., etc.), this new social network will indeed seem dark. For the time being, I’ll play along at home, gingerly, so as not to invest too much time, effort and content in what may turn out to be a temporary Google+ profile. Here’s my profile if you want to say hello, but don’t get too attached, I may not be around very long. And I guess that’s the whole point. With the present state of social media, you can never guarantee control over your online identity. Let’s hope that Google+ comes a step closer.

Filed under: Technology, , , , , , , ,

April 21, 2011 • 2:14 pm 0

Google’s Got the Geo-Location Goods, Part I: Basics and Brand New Tools

[This post originally appeared on the OpenSF blog.]

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending a two-day training entitled “Mapping Environmental Scenarios & Solutions with Google Technology” hosted by the Google Earth Outreach team. “Pleasure” might be something of an understatement — not only was the training very well executed by the capable and knowledgeable Earth Outreach crew, but the sheer volume of free tools and web services that they dropped on us was mindboggling. In the hopes of sharing the wealth, especially for those of us in the public sector who need all the free resources we can marshall, I’m writing this post to tell you about what I learned, in two parts. In this first post, I’ll cover the basics of the Google Maps & Earth services, as well as introduce you to some brand new tools: Fusion Tables, for managing and visualizing data, and Open Data Kit (ODK), for collecting and aggregating data. In Part II, I’ll show all the power users out there whay they can do with the Maps and Earth APIs, and finish up with some amazing odds and ends tucked away on the Google shelves.

Maps & Earth 

At this point, in April of 2011, I’m assuming most of you reading this are very aware of Google Maps and Google Earth. I won’t spend much time explaining them other than to say that both have revolutionized the geospatial world, in both two and three dimensions.

I, for one, would hard-pressed to imagine life without Google Maps. Yes, there are other mapping services available, but Google Maps has always seemed to me the cleanest and tightest. Or, to borrow a phrase from Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell of SNL, Google Maps is the best, true that, Double True! But what really makes Maps stand out from the crowd is the ease with which new maps can be created and shared. At SF Environment, we use an increasing number of Google Maps to share information with a geo-location component, such as this, this, and this.

LATE BREAKING UPDATE: Google has just launched Map Maker that lets users directly edit places in Google Maps, from buildings to businesses.

The general internet public is probably less familiar with Google Earth. With Earth, Google has created their own 3-D model of the globe, complete with rendered satellite imagery and even line models of parcels and buildings. The result is a truly immersive and very powerful tool for storytelling. I still remember being awed by Rebecca Moore’s 2006 “Logging Flyover” of the Santa Cruz Mountains that single-handedly changed public opinion about a dispute over logging rights at the time. Creating custom tours or “fly-overs” with text, links, embedded video and even audio narration does take some time but is remarkably simple. Check out a few great examples here and here.

Fusion Tables & ODK

One of the most exciting tools we covered at the training was Google’s new Fusion Tables which just may herald the dawn of web-based GIS. Born in Google Labs as an experiment in cloud data management, Fusion Tables is an attempt to combine data management and collaboration to enable “merging multiple data sources, discussion of the data, querying, visualization, and Web publishing.” Pretty cool stuff, and sorely needed.

At first glance, Fusion Tables looks like a beta version of Google Spreadsheets. The service is very new and still a little rough around the edges, but I don’t doubt that it will soon shine as do more mature Google offerings. Data can be entered directly or imported via a text file, but that’s where the similarity with Spreadsheets ends. Once your data is in, simply hit a button and you’ve got a map. Publishing to Maps is super easy, as is collaboration — all you or you collaborators need is a google account and you are good to go. If you have multiple data sources that reference the same entities, you can easily “fuse” those sources through creating “joins” without knowing how to write out SQL queries. Have a question for your collaborators about some of that fused data? Fusion Tables has built-in discussion tools.

Clearly Google is getting into the GIS game. If Fusion Tables wasn’t enough of an indicator, Google has even begun to post Fusion Tables of public data sets upon which you can build your own mapping project. My favorite? State and County boundary tablesobtained from the U.S. Census Bureau and imported by the Fusion Tables team. Sweet! Google is offering an incredible service with Fusion Tables, and it looks like people are already adopting, as evidenced by some State of California data sets being stored as Fusion Tables.

What if  the data you want to visualize needs to be first be collected? Open Data Kitpromises to integrate these geo-location tools directly into the fieldwork so often necessary to generate data. Open Data Kit is actually a project of the University of Washington’s Change Group that is supported by Google and hosted on Google Code. This set of free and open source tools allows developers to build data collection forms for Android mobile devices. You can take the term “developer” lightly here — in one of the breakout sessions during the Earth Outreach training, we built a data collection form in a matter of minutes. Once published, users can download the ODK Collect app, call up your form, and start logging data that is immediately aggregated on a server with ODK Aggregate, ready for extraction.

Pulling all of these tools together, one possible work flow for data collection and presentation could look like this:

collect with ODK Collect >> aggregate with ODK Aggregate >> extract to Fusion Tables >> publish to Google Maps/Earth

We ran a simple exercise cataloging and mapping plants using Android phones and, while there were a few bumps, it was clear that this is an amazing way to empower your team with a full set of geo-location tools, from data collection all the way through to visualization. After the workshop, my mind was reeling with the possibilities for deploying this suite of tools. Now, if I could only find the time…

Which brings us to the end of Part I of this Google love fest. Check back soon for a deeper dive into the possibilities of Google APIs, along with a few other exciting odds and ends.

Filed under: At Work, Technology, The Globe

February 16, 2011 • 2:17 pm 1

Reduce, Reuse, Reboot: Teaming Up to Build A Regional Recycling Database

One of the work projects at SF Environment that I am most excited about is an update of our EcoFinder tool in collaboration with other local waste agencies. This project has come to be known as the Regional Recycling Database and it’s going to be very cool when it’s done. It’s a lot of work, though, especially coordinating with staff from 4 other cities and counties.

I was interviewed about this project by Anna Bloom, one of the first round of Fellows at the newly minted Code For America. This article was actually posted on Civic Commons in December right before I left for Ecuador, so here it is, better late than never.

Here’s an excerpt to whet your whistle:

Lawrence Grodeska, Internet Communications Coordinator at San Francisco Department of the Environment, is steering a diverse group of local agencies to create something greater than the sum of their parts: a centralized database for residents to find businesses that offer recycling, reuse and hazardous waste disposal services in the Bay Area. Enter your location and your waste item — a soda can, batteries or unused medication — and the proposed application will deliver your options for local hazardous waste disposal businesses and other resources — a depot for creative reuse for artists, perhaps, or a residential pickup program.

Special thanks to Anna for all of her time and effort learning about this project, and for her patience while waiting for me to answer her questions!

Filed under: At Work, Technology

February 8, 2011 • 12:58 am 0

Can BetterMeans Mean Better Government?

[This post originally appeared on the OpenSF blog.]

Working in the public sector can be challenging, especially during those times when the strict hierarchy of government dictates priorities, timelines and tasks. Unfortunately, without rejiggering the machinations of government, this top down approach will not change anytime soon. Of course, that hasn’t stopped all of us in the Government 2.0 movement from hoping and dreaming that we can begin to change the lumbering institutions at the local level all the way up to the federal. As this blog can attest, that change has begun, but incrementally. So maybe we do need to think beyond web technologies and open data to question the social structures which make change in government so difficult.

Look no further than BetterMeans, a radical open enterprise governance model masquerading as a slick new project management tool.

Now that’s change we can believe in.

The software itself is a neat mix of project management and social capital platform that opens up the doors to the decision-making process for a given project or set of projects. Users contribute ideas to the projects which hold their interest in an open and transparent way. Users themselves are ranked by others that have worked with them on previous projects so that everyone is kept accountable. This collaborative approach then helps the group rank options for how to proceed based on the experience and insight of the entire group instead of relying solely on direction from management. Definitely check out the video above, you’ll see how well thought out this platform really is.

So, getting back to government. What is our tolerance for really incorporating the ideas of every member of a team? What would happen if our departments were more democratic in sourcing ideas and setting priorities? Or what if our elected officials were required to balance their agendas alongside those of rank and file public employees, or the general public at large? It might be pie in the sky, but I’m guessing that we’d garner more than a few great ideas, while engaging and inspiring a whole swath of disinterested civil servants. Just a thought.

Filed under: At Work, Real Writing, Technology

March 24, 2010 • 6:51 pm 0

Final Thoughts on the Whole Shebang

Today, I am back in Bay and in my work clothes — some different pants, shirt tucked in, and on this occasion, a blazer to set the tone. This means, of course, I am no longer in Austin, TX, and the annual event known as South By Southwest has wrapped.

Though woefully non-descript, I use the noun “event” because I’m not quite sure what word best encapsulates SXSW. “Conference” could work, considering all of the amazing sessions by thought leaders and industry bigs, but SXSW is more than just a conference. I’ve tried “festival” on for size, but that seems somewhat too flippant, and gives no credence to the serious work and ideas being shared. In the end I think the word I settled on was “shebang”. As in, “Yep, I’m here for the whole shebang.” Okay, maybe no more descript than “event,” and certainly flippant in its own way, but at least now you understand the dilemma. Words are imperfect, after all.

The whole shebang was quite a run. 10 days, pretty evenly split amongst geeks and rockers. In looking back, I must admit that I found the Interactive portion to be more engaging than Music. Don’t get me wrong, I fully enjoyed the opportunity to take in that much music, but day after night of consuming — be it others’ music or food, alcohol, caffeine, etc. — was not nearly as stimulating as the ideas that flowed prior. In fact, SXSWm began to feel like more of a job than an enjoyment. MUST. GO. SEE. BANDS. In the end, while I saw some amazing performances with some incredible peeps, I really just ended up missing my guitar.

Interactive, on the other hand, was truly wonderful. Not that every session was great, or that those 5 days weren’t overwhelming and tiresome in and of themselves. But on the whole, the tenor of Interactive felt much more broad and transformative. And my suspicions about a stronger community at Interactive turned out to be true. During Music, I never felt that I could turn to the stranger at my side and make an obscure comment or topical joke that would resonate. I met some great folks during the music portion, but what can I say? The geeks get community right.

I’ve heard the rumblings that this was the year that Interactive “jumped the shark,” but I found the quality of the sessions on the whole to be very high, and I came away with a lot to think about and much to inform my work. In the end, I’m a jaded musician, but not a jaded technologist. At least not yet. Perhaps when the bloom is of the digital rose I will feel the same way about Interactive that I did about Music. Until that time, thank you SXSW. I think you will be seeing me again.

Filed under: Music, SXSW, Technology

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