Inspired by Rob Oullette of Reading Toronto as well as Torontoist, BlogTO, Spacing and Transit Toronto and their readers, a small group of BarCamp Toronto mavens gathered at the Radiant Core offices to dream a better future for the TTC and it’s website.  Jay Goldman did a fantastic job summarizing myriad comments and ideas into a coherent framework for action.
There is a unique opportunity here for the TTC to embrace the power of mass collaboration and community. I am hoping that it takes advantage of this tremendous goodwill, energy and free advice to make something that is truly remarkable. A new attitude towards community engagement by the TTC could offer a way forward as it navigates its perennially difficult financial bind.

Technorati Tags: transit, TTC

Enterprise Camp Toronto was a success. Thanks to Bryce for organizing, and Navantis and Microsoft for sponsoring. For those who have never been to a BarCamp event before, this is what it looks like:

How to Get Users to Use It 1, originally uploaded by chesh2000pro.

Kind of like group therapy for geeks, except much more fun and creative. Thoughts and analysis after the jump…

Technorati Tags: consulting+2.0, enterprise20, enterprisecamp, enterprisecamptoronto, open+innovation, torcamp, wikinomics

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I’ve had the opportunity to get to know Will Pate over the past week as he has received the David Crow and BarCamp royal tour of Toronto’s tech scene. Apparently Will was suitably impressed by the enthusiasm of our little community and the excitement that continues to build around the TorCamp community and more recent developments like the Indoor Playground. It looks like he’s moving here. Mission accomplished.

WillPate.org, originally uploaded by kk+.

See Jevon’s post for background on the little guy from PEI, Will’s hire me page and his LinkedIn profile (25 recommendations!). Will’s done a lot in his young life, most recently at Flock, and he appears to be part web slinger part energizer bunny. You enter his event horizon, and can easily be swept away by the enthusiasm and genuine warmth of the guy. Rumor is he’ll be in Toronto starting February. Book him now.

Technorati Tags: willpate

I attended, along with David, Will, Tom, Eli and another Mark (Raheja) , Don Tapscott’s Wikinomics book launch at Rotman. Wikinomics is co-written with New Paradigm colleague Anthony D. Williams. Anthony is clearly much more than a research assistant. He is an accomplished writer, PhD candidate at LSE, and the accompanying Wikinomics wiki chapter and blog have his fingerprints all over them.

Will and David commented on the interesting collision between the mass collaboration theme of the book and the (mostly) invite-only crowd. My former head honcho from State Street (now Thomson Financial) David Toyne was there, as was former Premier and federal Liberal leadership candidate Bob Rae:

“Bob Rae Loves Wikis” by Will Pate

I am looking forward to participating in the emerging community around this important new book. It links closely to my thoughts around the role of open innovation networks in regional economic development, a theme I will be pursuing this year with some great thinkers. Watch this space.

Technorati Tags: open innovation, open source economics, anthonydwilliams, dontapscott, wikinomics

I have resisted all smartphones and PDAs up to now. Blackberry was too corporate. Treo seemed too crappy and poorly integrated with the rest of my life. Motorola…well I never really took it seriously. And I really hate the whole structure of being locked into a mobile provider’s network, content and the exorbitant data pricing in Canada.

Now Apple’s iPhone.

How I lust for this thing. Impossibly thin. iPod, phone and internet communicator. Fantastic form factor and absolutely breakthrough user interaction. Thin, widescreen, gorgeous. WiFi, GSM, Bluetooth, EDGE. Integrated with ITunes content. Partnered with Google and Yahoo. A real web browser experience. Running OS X. A real computer. $599 USD for 8GB model.

It won’t be introduced until June in the US in partnership with Cingular. How much longer before a Canadian can get one?

I am panting in breathless anticipation.

Technorati Tags: apple, iphone

Have I mentioned recently how much I love YouTube?
[youtube]CzG_oHDLZdc[/youtube]

“But daddy, it’s the wrong colour!” I love the part when mom clearly thinks her husband’s an idiot and stomps off with “You deal with her.”