Bits and bobs for Thursday 29 January 2015

An occasional effort to link to interesting things I have seen. Not convinced about the format yet – let me know what you think. One of my current obsessions is around mobile messaging apps. This interview with the CEO of…

The soul of a new iPhone

So I got my new iPhone 6 on Friday – don’t judge me, I was due an upgrade anyway – and have been using it all weekend. Here are some early thoughts. 1. The size – it’s a bit too…

Link roundup

I find this stuff so you don’t have to: An Open Letter to Software Suppliers – 13 Ways to Help the Public Sector to the Cloud – @copley_rich Why the obsession with “coding” misses the point – from @jjn1 “Whatsapp…

Link roundup

I find this stuff so you don’t have to: Building an Open Source Laptop | MAKE Moving to GOV.UK – the MHRA experience so far How many people does it take to tame the Digital Dragon? (digital skills for all!)…

Link roundup

I find this stuff so you don’t have to: ongoing by Tim Bray · Software in 2014 Joho the Blog » What blogging was – *sniff* Is Local GDS a good idea? « @demsoc Let’s Replace Council Websites with Local.Gov.Uk…

Drag and drop app development from Mozilla

One of the things we get asked about all the time, whether from artists, community groups or bigger organisations is how to develop apps for mobile. Usually the answer has to be ‘pay someone to do it’ – even though…

Link roundup

I find this stuff so you don’t have to: Social media record keeping for government – is it necessary? | Digital democracy, news, thinking, tips & tricks Google Reader Died Because No One Would Run It 10 Visual Steps To…

Link roundup

I find this stuff so you don’t have to: Lockdown – Marco.org (thoughts on RSS etc) Doug Engelbart, visionary David Wilcox » Realising the knowledge assets of research for the rest of us – how about a set of recipe…

Dumb Store

Apparently, not everyone has a smartphone! News to me. Anyway, the Dumb Store is potentially very exciting, I think. Apps for ‘dumb’ phones – ie those that have limited ability to access the internet and the web. They can be…

What might mobile democracy look like?

I've often said that the problem with participation in local democracy is that it just isn't convenient enough. Meetings? Pah! I'm too busy trying to earn a living, quite frankly.

So mobile offers a really interesting opportunity. After all, the smartphones that sit in the pockets of an ever-growing number of people have a level of ubiquity that could make it work. You could also bring in some other recent developments (don't say buzzwords) like gamification to further boost engagement levels.

Link roundup

I find this stuff so you don’t have to: Enyo JavaScript Application Framework – "Use the same framework to develop apps for the web and for all major platforms, desktop and mobile." Features | Re-usable Drupal recipes for government websites…

What I’ve been reading

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to. SOCIAL PLAN: 11 Golden Rules for Social Media in an Organisation – Some nice tips from Dan. OGP Take Aways : Tim’s Blog – "In an attempt to use reflective…

Galaxy Nexus

So, a couple of weeks ago I had an accident* and my iPhone broke for good. I needed a replacement, which gave me a good opportunity to assess the options. It came down to the iPhone 4S and the Galaxy…

What I’ve been reading

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to. cpsrenewal.ca by Nick Charney: Mapping Internal Policy to the Hype Cycle – "I've been thinking a lot this week about how organizations issue policies to govern the use of new…

What I’ve been reading

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to. Tales of the city: the rise of the local blog – "In its daily blogposts, Spitalfields Life aims to portray the full colour of life in London's East End. But…

What I’ve been reading

I find this stuff so that you don’t have to. Generating QR codes using PHP and the Goo.gl API – Lovely little guide from Stuart Harrison (@pezholio). Numberhood – Interesting looking local open data app. Online Government Services and the…

Playing with QR codes

I’ve been looking into QR codes recently – yes, I know, I’m somewhat behind the times – as part of some research I’m doing into how digital engagement can help in planning. For the uninitiated, QR codes are square barcode-esque…