Tag: open data

  • Imagining SimNYCity

    Imagining SimNYCity

    I was eight years old when I first encountered a computer game called “SimCity.” The general premise of the game was that you were the mayor of a virtual city, and you would use game money to create a place for communities of “Sims” to live. First you set up basic infrastructure like roads, pipes,…

  • OpEd: Disaster Preparedness Requires a 211 System; New York City Still Doesn’t Have One

    OpEd: Disaster Preparedness Requires a 211 System; New York City Still Doesn’t Have One

    This piece was originally published on Gotham Gazette on October 3, 2017 Over the last few weeks, New Yorkers have watched with great anxiety as Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, among many other places, were pummeled by massive hurricanes. Whenever we see storm destruction, memories of Sandy re-enter our consciousness; as does the question: Is New…

  • Presenting the Open Aid Movement at Open Source Bridge

    Presenting the Open Aid Movement at Open Source Bridge

    “Open source” is a method for putting intellectual property in the public domain, allowing anyone to use it however they see fit. I’m an advocate of the “open source way” because I believe that if more people shared intellectual property of all types – whether its farming techniques, software code, music, etc – then we’ll…

  • When Platform Coops are Seen, What Goes Unseen?

    If you’re involved with the “cooperative community” on social media, you’ve probably heard a lot about platform cooperatives in recent years. The vision is simple: what if Uber or AirBnb were owned by its users, who could share decision-making responsibility and profits among themselves? Instead of being exploited by platforms, users could and should be…