Disqus - Latest Comments for remarkk

Re: Diesel Wunder: 2013 VW Passat TDI

Mark Kuznicki — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 10:29:56 -0000

Totally agree, a Passat Wagon TDI would be ideal. Great for my dog to jump in on our way to the dog park. :)

Re: The Moment has arrived!

Mark Kuznicki — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 12:45:21 -0000

For sure they will cross. Specifically, we should chat about where innovation and change work meets agile practices.

Re: The Moment has arrived!

Mark Kuznicki — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 20:40:52 -0000

Thanks Ryan! I"m excited to rejoin the world of the entrepreneur and turn the page on my free agent days. It's exciting...kind of like coming out again. :)

Re: The Moment has arrived!

Mark Kuznicki — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 14:22:11 -0000

Hey Wendy! Why wait? There's this awesome thing called Skype! :)

Re: The Moment has arrived!

Mark Kuznicki — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 10:54:55 -0000

Thanks Adam!

Re: Moderizing my television subscription

Mark Kuznicki — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:33:22 -0000

Awesome post David, and great minds think alike: http://posterous.remarkk.co...

I HIGHLY recommend the rooftop antenna I bought for digital over-the-air broadcasts. As I describe in my post, sometimes you just want to channel surf, and downloads and on-demand streaming will never replace that experience. I get 22 digital channels that are better and clearer than what is available on cable. I didn't realize how much compression and noise were in the so-called HD cable signal until I saw the real deal with an antenna.

And - BONUS! - if you get a good antenna pulling in Fox in HDTV, you'll be watching Super Bowl with US commercials!

Re: Wikileaks and the coming conflict between closed and open

Mark Kuznicki — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 22:36:09 -0000

Great post, glad to be able to read your thoughts on this. I'm one of those who has been reading as much analysis on the meaning of Wikileaks that I can, so I appreciate reading yours.

I think Jay Rosen's reading is particularly profound from the point of view of the failure of journalism to hold government to account. This week I read with interest Samara Canada's second report from MP exit interviews which found that few MPs saw that their role included a responsibility to hold government accountable. If these two major institutions - media and Parliament - have failed to uphold this critical function of democracy, then of course new structures will emerge to fill the gap.

I think of Wikileaks as fulfilling a role similar to that of a trader seeking an arbitrage opportunity. It only has power in those places where the gap between truth and public statements is so great as to make the transaction worth the great human costs in terms of risk to the whistleblowers and the leaders of the Wikileaks movement. While Wikileaks may be the "first stateless news organization", the individuals involved are still very much subject to state power and take on the state at great personal risk. And yet, the dynamic this has unleashed, by its example if not by Wikileaks' specific continued existence, seems impossible to reverse. We're past that point.

So here we are - the scary weightless space just beyond the collapse of bedrock institutions most people still believe to exist. We're Wile E Coyote. The question appears to be - can we build new Network Society institutions while in free fall? How will we transition? Will it be peaceful transformation, or violent revolution? As for me, I'm becoming increasingly doubtful of the possibility of reform, but I'm hopeful of being proved wrong.

Re: What is fRed?

Mark Kuznicki — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 21:07:51 -0000

Good post Mark. I think you raise the fundamental question:

Is this a social network for party members to engage each other deeply in a safe space, using the trust of close ties to engage in dialogue in a way they can't on public networks? Or rather, is it an attempt at engaging the vast populace of Ontario who share vaguely centre-left values, and perhaps convert some of them to become party supporters, members, activists and donors?

At this point, it is not clear who this is for. If it is for members, I say keep it closed, enrich the dialogue with real substance and feature it as a benefit of becoming a member.

If it is to engage non-members, then I really question the strategy of a private social network altogether. The party could do much more to improve the quality of engagement on existing networks and on the open web.

In Ontario - a province of 13.2 million people, where 4.4 million voted in the last general election, 1.9 million of whom voted Liberal, where 48% of people are on Facebook - only 1,144 people were motivated enough to hit the "Like" button on the Ontario Liberal Party Facebook Page. The upside of this is that there is a lot of engagement potential on existing platforms without going to the expense of building your own!

A classic mistake is focusing on the technology tools over the content. Real, genuine, human to human interaction is what social networks are for. They are not a channel for press releases. I'd like to see political parties worry less about "staying on message" and controlling the public discourse and worry more about engaging people in genuine dialogue where listening is at least 50% of the job.

Re: RealVote – my simple promise to democracy

Mark Kuznicki — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 11:11:23 -0000

To expand on Denis' thoughts, it really comes down to having an approach to introduce and frame the question. What are the words that you say to your neighbour? What is the question that you would ask? Is it framed as a political question in the context of an election or a community question in the context of civic engagement between elections?

In big urban centres many (most?) people don't know their neighbours (something this effort would help address), so in coming to the door cold you may as well be a pollster, a fundraiser or a campaign worker. How does one quickly establish rapport with the person behind the door so that they can engage in dialogue with a stranger?

Re: RealVote – my simple promise to democracy

Mark Kuznicki — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 14:47:13 -0000

I like the simple Q and A door-to-door format! Experiments like these are great things to try.

This one could probably use some tips on how to engage folks in a dialogue, and could also be enhanced with an offer to join a scheduled community World Cafe-style evening event. After that, some folks might want to do more intensive kinds of engagement like weekend intensive dialogues or Camps or whatnot.

Good idea. I know the ChangeCamp London folks will be interested in it too.

Re: A Wish List for Wicked Projects

Mark Kuznicki — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 22:49:39 -0000

Thanks for the comments Carsten! I think that system dynamics, analysis and design are really key, worthy of several posts among the 52 I am envisioning. Systems thinking and large group dialogue processes seem to be very powerful when put together.

I am reluctant to lean heavily on current business practice for models. Too often I think our public and social sectors places false confidence in modeling themselves on corporate practices that are in dire need of transformation themselves.
That being said, I am definitely interested in things like Agile Project Management practice that seem well-suited to creative work in a context of complexity. http://www.openagile.com/ is a project I'd like to learn more about.

You are right to highlight how our "open creative community" events are great displays of possibility, but fail to tap that creative potential in ways that give those talents an effective outlet. They are high on skill potential, low on commitment. In other gatherings, the opposite is true. How can we connect this potential to solve hard problems? "Social Innovation Camp":http://www.sicamp.org/ is an attempt to build things with impact by creating project teams with a variety of skills around an idea. It results in a weekend of work, but it takes months in preparation and socialization of the participants.

While I disagree with much of Gladwell's hypothesis, the one point he rightly makes is that some types of change require high levels of commitment from a small group of people with strong ties. What I think we need to figure out is how to reconfigure our hierarchies in a way that helps small groups with high commitment leverage the sense-making and collective action power of weak tie networks enabled by social technologies.

Re: Kodak update: when all else fails, sue the iceberg

Mark Kuznicki — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:35:15 -0000

Great post, and thanks for sharing that visualization. I recently had this happen where a client stated they were looking for "disruptive innovation". Well, when it appeared, it was quietly ignored and shoved back in the bottle. At this point, I'm unsure how to confront the client with this fact and the subsequent behaviour it triggered internally. It's an awkward position to be in, so I'm curious to find out how others have handled it.

Re: From Public Servant to Public Insurgent

Mark Kuznicki — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 19:14:39 -0000

Brad, glad you like the idea. I think Chris Moore, CIO at the City of Edmonton, is showing the way with this kind of organizational transformation in a government technology organization. It may be easier to do at the municipal level, perhaps. At the Federal level, I think one can look at the big Canadian banks for models - see Royal Bank and BMO's innovation organizations.

The point is to create a legitimized innovation cell within the organization. To David's initial thought about "public insurgents", imagine collecting these folks all altogether and giving them a mandate that is duly authorized by the most senior management. No long subversive or kept at the margins, they are brought into the centre of organizational strategy and development.

Find them, pull them together, give them a mandate and fund them to realize it. This isn't rocket science or impossible. It's done in very large and change-resistant organizations all the time.

Re: From Public Servant to Public Insurgent

Mark Kuznicki — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 14:44:09 -0000

Nina, to your point and as a way of thinking about this, I wanted to share this post from Saul Kaplan of the Business Innovation Factory: "Innovate Through Connected Adjacencies":http://itssaulconnected.com.... A quote: "Don’t go to war with current models and systems. Too many are in love with them and you will lose."

Public Insurgents are innovators and intrapreneurs. Like intrapreneurs in other industries, they are challenged to develop and introduce the new when much of the existing structure is designed around the old. They should above all learn the methods of other intrapreneurs and adapt them to their contexts.

Connected adjacencies are initiatives designed so that they are memetically consistent with the host organization, its goals and its culture. Public service leaders and heads of departments should consider creating specific innovation labs and projects in order to create a safe space for experiments.

Re: From Public Servant to Public Insurgent

Mark Kuznicki — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 12:48:52 -0000

Personally I think the "Public Insurgent" title is effective and snappy. I wish I had thought of it.

I am not one, of course. I am an outside consultant who is hired into organizations specifically to bring "fresh eyes"/insurgency from my free agent outsider perspective. It's a clear decision by someone on the inside to bring the legitimacy of that outside perspective into the organization.

I can say things as an outside consultant that many insiders might know or suspect but are disabled from saying thanks more to corporate culture than a specific written rule or policy.

When I meet people on the inside like Nick and so many others I've met, I am hopeful for the future. I see the possibility of positive change. I think Nick and others should wear their insurgency proudly and openly. You will always have a job on the outside as a consultant. :)

Re: What Munir’s Resignation means to Public Servants

Mark Kuznicki — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:27:01 -0000

So let me be clear about the standard the email author is describing.

If a Minister publicly misrepresents the advice given to him/her by the professional Public Service, then the professional Public Service (in the person of the Deputy) has a duty to defend the reputation and integrity of the specific department and/or the Public Service in general even if one is forced to resign one's post in order to do so.

First, am I reading this right? Second, is there precedent for such a standard?

It's wonderfully heroic, and I can only dream that there are many such heroes that would do something similar. If such a standard were to be reinforced by other Deputies following Munir Sheikh's lead, it would open up a tremendous window into the critical interface between the Public Service and the political level.

Re: Open Space, Social Media and Open Data

Mark Kuznicki — Wed, 12 May 2010 17:58:07 -0000

Thanks Daniel. Lets find an excuse to work together, I'm a fan of your work!

Re: Open Space, Social Media and Open Data

Mark Kuznicki — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:29:53 -0000

A temporary city, but yes it absolutely appears like a physical manifestation of a collective dream. What is so surprising about that statement?

Re: This Round Is Letterpress.

Mark Kuznicki — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 23:35:36 -0000

I like 'em! I especially love the little Twitter birdie.

Re: This Round Is Letterpress.

Mark Kuznicki — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 23:35:36 -0000

I like 'em! I especially love the little Twitter birdie.

Re: A Rare Medium, Well Done.

Mark Kuznicki — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:21:22 -0000

Congratulations! I'm so glad you guys are back and bringing some of the best design to a world in desperate need of it.

Re: A Rare Medium, Well Done.

Mark Kuznicki — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:21:22 -0000

Congratulations! I'm so glad you guys are back and bringing some of the best design to a world in desperate need of it.

Re: An Opportunity to Reset the Agenda for Canadian Democracy

Mark Kuznicki — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:12:19 -0000

Brian, thanks for your post and the kind words. I think it remains to be seen if this is a turning point for the citizen-led open government movement. Right now, many partisans are trying to turn this into a turning point for the opposition. This isn't the change we seek. At least, it's not where the change ends.

But how can the movement come together and say, as you rightly point out, a pox on both your houses. The Chretien Liberals started us down this road, the Martin Liberals used their knives to grab that power and then they screwed it up and handed it over to the Harper Conservatives. The Ignatieff Liberals have been unable to engage the imaginations of Canadians, even those who want to support them. The NDP-Lib-Bloc coalition was seen by Canadians as an undeserving inheritor of this highly centralized power that's been concentrated in the Prime Minister.

We need a new centre of power. We need, as you describe, a new axis to tilt. But the challenge is that this is a movement with no centre, no clearly articulated over-arching ideology and no single TV-friendly leader. So how, exactly, will this movement take advantage of this moment?

I'm not sure. But this dialogue is a start. Thank you.

Re: Building a city that thinks like the web

Mark Kuznicki — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:38:40 -0000

David, thanks for your thoughtful comments here and at the panel discussion last week. You are quite right, building a vibant ecosystem is about more than contests. Contests can help create demand for data, some excitement and awareness of what's possible and, if lucky, one or two good ideas made real which can demonstrate value to the wider community.
But a real ecosystem includes a diverse number of value exchanges, and the creation of markets for the services and products that will drive further demand for data and the talent needed to make that data come alive.
The next phase in this work includes taking on these bigger systemic questions. It's not just about freeing the data, but reforming the technology procurement practices of government organizations and bringing in other community partners in order to create markets for civic innovation.
Given these two pieces: open data and markets for civic innovation, the possibilities are truly endless.

Re: Toronto Open Data Lab liveblog

Mark Kuznicki — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:30:37 -0000

The liveblog was only on during the live event. For current conversations, please go to Twitter and search for #opendataTO.