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Category: Review

An exciting era of supply and demand apps

I jotted these apps down (plus added a few others) from a recent article in Wired Magazine. The article discussed the rise of hyper-local intermediary apps that aim to capitalize on the surplus time of a service provider by matching them with someone looking for that service at that exact time. Keep in mind that most of these companies merely provide a streamlined process that matches consumer (not business) supply with consumer demand. Caveat Emptor applies as always.  Here are some examples:

My thoughts on the Clerk’s 19th Annual Report to the Prime Minister on the Public Service of Canada

Even as an external consultant, every year I very  much anticipate the Clerk’s Annual Report. It’s usually full of solid guidance quotes and it gives a good sense of some of the challenges faced in the prior year (albeit carefully written).

This year, my favourite excerpts are as follows:

“…the traditional relationship between government and citizens continues to evolve. Enabled by instantaneous communication and collaboration technologies, citizens are demanding a greater role in public policy development and in the design and delivery of services. They want greater access to government data and more openness and transparency from their institutions”.

Social Media and Public Sector Policy Dilemmas

While I rarely like to use my blog as a dumping ground of PDF’s, this one I really wanted to share with you. It was written by Toby Fyfe and Paul Crookall on behalf of The Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC). The title of the report  is “Social Media and Public Sector Policy Dilemmas“. This is by far the most comprehensive and well written report on the subject this year. If you work for the Government, especially the Government of Canada, you need to read this.