Austin

I just sent the following message to the Mayor and City Council.

I support moving forward with the city web site redesign, and awarding the contract as proposed. (agenda item #38 for the March 26, 2009 regular council meeting)

The job of designing a new information architecture and migrating the current content is enormous, and beyond the capacity of CTM (at current staffing levels). Without expanded headcount, an outside contractor is necessary.

The bid process has identified a highly credible contractor for the project. Cignex Technologies has demonstrated a commitment to open source software, and deep expertise on the content management system (Plone) identified by the city.

The timing is right for this. The current down economy creates opportunities for significant projects such as this. Contractors are hungry. The city could realize better talent and lower costs by moving forward at this time.

An article is currently circulating the blogosphere about an irate Austin middle school teacher. The teacher, first name Karen, is incensed at a student for showing classmates how to get Linux software for free. She's even more angry at the person who provided Linux to the student. She wrote, in a letter of complaint:

At this point, I am not sure what you are doing is legal. No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful. These children look up to adults for guidance and discipline. I will research this as time allows and I want to assure you, if you are doing anything illegal, I will pursue charges as the law allows.

This is all laughably uninformed, except I'm not laughing.

I'm concerned that most people are responding by amping up an even greater level of outrage, and that doesn't seem to be a helpful way to move this forward.

The People-Powered Media [un]Workshop is tomorrow. It's an all day event, for people who create media, as well as people who support community media. It follows the unconference format, in that the organizers don't prepare the sessions in advance. Any attendee can choose to offer a session, and everybody else votes with their feet.

I plan to offer a tutorial session called You Can Blog (Tonight). The idea is to present blogging for people who haven't done it and aren't quite sure where to start.

I suppose conventional wisdom is that blogging is old hat, and everybody knows how to do it. My concern is that once you assume that, stagnation will set in.

A lot of people observe the ebb and flow of blogs and declare that blogging is dying. I disagree: it's a sign of health—just so long as you don't lose that flow part. So I think it's important to continue to make blogging approachable for people who may have something to say.

(This press release was just issued by the City.)

The Austin Community Technology and Telecommunications Commission and the City of Austin's Office of Telecommunications and Regulatory Affairs will present a free community forum on "The Transition to Digital Television" Thursday, Sept. 18 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Dottie Jordan Recreation Center, 2803 Loyola Lane (map).

Members of the community forum and those affected by the technological advancement are invited to learn more about the digital TV transition. This transition affects viewers with televisions that operate with rooftop antennas or "rabbit ears."

Speakers will discuss the basics of DTV and what residents without cable or satellite television will need to do to continue to receive free over-the-air television programming.

Effective Feb. 17, 2009, U.S. Congress has mandated all full-power television stations to broadcast in digital only.  The switch from analog to digital broadcast television is referred to as the digital TV (DTV) transition.

There are some events planned around town over the next several weeks that may be of interest to the geek in your household.

NAB Radio Show
Sept. 17-19
Austin Convention Center
http://nabradioshow.com/

This is a bit of a big deal. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is the primary industry organization for the companies that beam all that fabulous programming into our living rooms. Unless you are in the industry you probably won't be going (it's insanely expensive), but it's cool to know they picked Austin for their annual conference.

Dorkbot
Thu., Sept. 18, 7p.m.
Cafe Mundi
http://dorkbotaustin.org/

If you haven't heard of it already, think of Dorkbot as a science fair with beer. It's fun, and, in spite of the beer, is usually very kid friendly.

I've got video of the ceremony last month where Mayor Wynn declared "GTOPs month" in Austin.

View it here: Mayor Proclaims GTOPs Month in Austin

This afternoon, Mayor Wynn issued a proclamation honoring the Grant for Technology Opportunities program, and declaring August "GTOPs Month" in Austin. You may view the proclamation here (137KB PDF).

I chair the Austin Community Technology and Telecommunications Commission, which oversees the program, so I had an opportunity to make some comments during the ceremony. Here is my statement:

On behalf of the 60 programs and over 15,000 people that have been served by GTOPs, thank you for this honor.

If you are near a TV 5:30pm tomorrow (Thursday, Aug. 21), flip on over to cable channel 6. The Mayor will be issuing a proclamation honoring the Grant for Technology Opportunities (GTOPs) program, and I'll be there to accept.

GTOPs, currently in its eighth year, provides matching fund grants to local organizations that address digital divide issues and that use technology in interesting ways to benefit the community. It's been an effective program, and the honor is well deserved.

Last weekend, I mentioned the press conference to announce the Grant for Technology Opportunities selections for this year. The press conference happened this afternoon, and will be replayed this week on cable channel 6. Here is the statement I gave at the press conference:

Over seven years ago, local leaders had a vision to use technology in novel ways to help people and to strengthen our community. That vision led to the Grant for Technology Opportunities program, or GTOPs.

GTOPs was created in 2001. It was designed by the predecessor of the Austin Community Technology and Telecommunications Commission. The Commission wanted to support digital technology projects that could benefit our community. GTOPs is funded by the city, and is administered through the city's office of Telecommunications and Regulatory Affairs, or TARA.

The goals of GTOPs are to:

On Monday, I'll be participating in a press conference where the City of Austin will be announcing the 2008 selections for the Grant for Technology Opportunities program.

Here is the press release:

Austin City Council Member Brewster McCracken and members of the Austin Community Technology and Telecommunications Commission will present the 2008 Grant for Technology Opportunities Program Awards at an announcement ceremony on Monday, April 21, at Austin City Hall, 301 W. Second St.

Ten winning projects will receive GTOPs funding for connecting citizens with information technology, computers and the Internet.

"GTOPs enables local organizations to leverage technology in novel ways," said Commission Chair Chip Rosenthal. "Its achievements are remarkable, and a tribute to the innovation and community spirit of Austin."