Yearly Archives: 2011

Posted by on 31 December

“A nice big bow on a box labelled OpenGov and OpenData would be a gift for generations to come.”

So says Hamilton Spectator managing editor Jim Poling as part his end-of-the-year wish in today’s print edition.

[quote_box author="Jim Poling, " profession="managing editor"]
How about a great big box of sunshine for our publicly-funded institutions?

We live in an online world with an insatiable hunger for information that is portable, accessible in several formats and available on demand. I’d like to see full financial disclosure for public boards, committees, commissions, agencies including salaries funded by or assisted by public dollars.

More transparency and accountability around who paid for what, how much and why, will only strength our community, citizen engagement and democracy. It’s about finding solutions. A nice big bow on a box labelled OpenGov and OpenData would be a gift for generations to come.

Sunshine brings light and meaning. No secret deals, hidden contracts or fees. Publicly accessible data means citizens can apply their creativity and acumen and assist with public problem-solving.

One other wish for the coming year that involves a different kind of sunshine: Here’s hoping for gentle breezes and clear skies for two music fests in our community — Greenbelt Harvest Picnic and Festival of Friends.
[/quote_box]

His comments reflect a growing community consensus in favour of open data and open government.

Will Hamilton’s government’s and agencies continue to fight against the current or finally join us in making our community better?

2012 will tell, let’s hope they do.

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Posted by on 31 December

A song I didn’t like triggers happiness

I’m going about my business getting groceries at the local supermarket when the elevator music playing overhead changes to a song I never really liked but triggers happy memories today.

It’s one of the favourite songs of a lovely lady I dated many years ago. I couldn’t stand the song, really couldn’t stand it. Today, it makes me happy as I relate it to her. (Her and I remain friends but live in different provinces so we’ve drifted apart over the years)

The song?

Josh Groban’s You Raise Me Up – http://youtu.be/aJxrX42WcjQ

On the note of small things triggering memories. I went on a couple of dates with another lovely lady whom has a thing for cheesecake. Calling her love of cheesecake a “thing” is an understatement. (When I first met her for less than 30 seconds, our mutual friend whom I was visiting quickly said to me “No, Joseph” using my full first name for emphasis of her objection – that’s how obvious my interest was.)

The Chesse Shoppe on Locke displays a sign outside their door advertising the sale of Godiva Double Chocolate Cheesecake. Every single time I walk by that sign, I pause and think of her. (She lives in Europe now)

Both triggers of positive memories made my day yesterday. I’m very fortunate to be blessed with them as friends.

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Posted by on 31 December

Mayor announces new date for traditional City Hall Leeve

In an email today from Mayor Bob Bratina’s Chief of Staff Peggy Chapman, the Mayor announced his traditional New Year’s Levee will coincide with New Year’s Day on the Julian Calendar used by the Orthodox faith – January 14th on the Gregorian calendar we use to mark time.

The rescheduling is consistent with the information I received from sources at City Hall on December 22nd when I tweeted:

The Mayor's New Year's Levee is "postponed" from Jan 1st. No reason available for why. #HamOnt
December 22, 2011 3:29 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
@JoeyColeman
Joey Coleman

Ms. Chapman wrote to the news media:

Happy New Year Everyone!
If you would kindly add January 14th (Orthodox New Year) to your community calendars as the date for the Mayor’s Levee. It will be held at City Hall from noon to 2pm. We were planning on announcing it and advertising it next week when City Hall is open but I wanted to give you a head’s up. Due to the opportunity for a vacation (first one in two years with his family), Mayor Bratina is away this week. As well, many staff and local politicians were not available to attend and participate on New Years Day.

The email includes the following quote attributed to Mayor Bratina:

[quote_box author="Bob Bratina, " profession="Mayor of Hamilton"]
Although my preference is to hold the Levee on January 1, it would come right in the middle of the two week opportunity, so my office is arranging for the Levee to be held on January 14.  This is also reflective of Hamilton’s diverse cultures and religions, as it falls on the traditional Orthodox New Years Day, which Ukrainians for instance celebrate as “Malanka”.  We also intend to invite the Chinese Community for their Lunar Calendar New Years Day January 23rd.  Details will follow.
[/quote_box]

The email ends by noting Mayor Bratina will be away from the office until January 9th.

Citizen’s Levee

Citizens are organising their own Levee at City Hall for New Year’s Day to be held from 1 to 3pm. The Citizen’s Levee is receiving support from both members of City Council and local philanthropist Chris Ecklund.

City Hall New Years Levy appears to be on ~ citizens organizing for Sunday Jan 1, 1-4pm ~ Councillor Partridge will attend, spread the word!
December 30, 2011 8:42 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@judipartridge
Councilor Partridge
@ Citizens are hosting a New Years Levy @ City Hall ~ it's their bldg ~ I will be there to support them - thank you Chris Cutler!
December 30, 2011 9:20 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@judipartridge
Councilor Partridge

Note: I won’t be attending the Citizen’s Levee as I’m fighting off a cold and don’t want to spread it

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Posted by on 27 December

Is the golden age of tech blogging over? Is the golden age of blogging over?

Is the golden age of tech blogging over? Is the golden age of blogging over?

Jeremiah Owyang’s blog post End of an Era: The Golden Age of Tech Blogging is Over is a good read as it provides both sides of the debate.

As an early adopter of blogging, I caused disruption to the higher education news landscape in Canada. (Scooping student newspapers from three time zones east was fun) I was eventually “bought-out” (of sorts) when hired as a reporter/blogger by Maclean’s. I eventually moved most of my blogging activity (short-thoughts and links) to Twitter.

Now, I find myself missing the original reason I started blogging, playing with the coding that powers my CMS. For this reason, I’ve returned to blogging.

I believe blogging will return and communities will re-emerge around blogs as Twitter and Facebook become too congested. The addition of advertising to these platforms will encourage early-bloggers who moved to these platforms to return to their own clean gardens – their personal domains.

Regardless of if Mr. Owyang is right or wrong, his post is an interesting read.

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Posted by on 27 December

University of Saskatchewan’s new president a great fit for the role

Dr. Ilene Busch-Vishniac, a U.S.-trained mechanical engineer, is scheduled to take the helm of the University of Saskatchewan as the institution’s ninth president on July 1, 2012.

Having seen Dr. Busch-Vishniac’s work at McMaster University first hand and watching the University of Saskatchewan over the past five years; I strongly think that Dr. Busch-Vishniac’s appointment is a win-win for both parties.

Dr. Busch-Vishniac’s respect for collegial governance, honesty, and determined hard-working nature will make her very popular in the potash province and she’ll be able to accelerate the spectacular growth of one of Canada’s most underrated universities.

The reasons that she faced difficulty at McMaster University will be the assets that make her successful in Saskatchewan.

Dr. Busch-Vishniac was unable to fully integrate into the campus politics of McMaster University and faced many challenges in the McMaster Provost role that resulted in the inevitable announcement that she would only serve one term as McMaster’s Provost.

My interactions with Dr. Busch-Vishniac convinced me that the challenges she faced as Provost were unique to McMaster’s governance culture.

Dr. Busch-Vishniac’s experiences in academic governance were solely American and this experience results in her collegial approach to university governance.

Universities have traditionally been environments of collegial governance with many Anglo-Saxon universities governed in a bicameral manner. The Senate and Board of Governors as equal bodies.

McMaster remains, on paper, a bicameral institution. In reality, the Board of Governors is more powerful and the Senate is increasingly losing power.

(A good read about the decline of collegial governance in higher education is philosophy professor Vanderbilt University John Lachs’ piece “Shared Governance Is a Myth” in The Chronicle of Higher Education)

Dr. Busch-Vishniac understood the financial challenges facing McMaster University and that these challenges could not be solved solely by attempting to issue more bonds or creative accounting practices. She honestly assessed the situation during her first interview with The Silhouette – a refreshing change – and moved to streamline faculties with unsubstantialunsustainable programs.

The University moved to end its Art History program, a program that is unsustainable in its current format. The University planned to  replace it with a new Fine Arts program.

I wrote about the financial challenges leading to the Art History closure on my Globe and Mail blog.

The University botched the attempt to end the program. The closure motion failed to secure enough votes during an April 2010 Senate meeting. The majority of Senators voting in favour of closure did not attend the meeting. The vote occurred during the exam period.

Traditionally, the faculty members on Senate receive a phone call from the University President or Provost reminding them to show up for Senate. The calls were not made. On the day of the vote, they receive a second phone call immediate before the vote. The call McMaster’s equivalent to the bell in Parliament reminding the MPs it’s time to vote as their party expects.

In the United States, most Senates remain influential enough that members attend the meetings. It’s not so at McMaster and due to Dr. Busch-Vishniac’s experience, I do not believe she realised this unique requirement to remind faculty members to attend Senate.

Her tenure at McMaster was time-limited after this, she was seen as the administrator responsible for the failure to pass the motion.

Her relations with faculty and students were mostly positive, no Provost is popular with everyone. As a member of The Silhouette, I know the paper enjoyed a respectful relationship with her unique in my experience at the paper.

The University of Saskatchewan is more similar to an American public university than McMaster University is.

USask is the provincial university with a focus on fulfilling all areas of academic pursuit for its province. It’s flagship programs receive worldwide acclaim.

USask will be lead for the next five years by a President with an impressive understanding of how the academy operates in a collegial manner who possesses experiences that bring a unique perspective to the prairie.

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Posted by on 27 December

MPR (Minnesota Public Radio) story on the university reciprocity agreement with Canada’s Manitioba

During my time in residence at the University of Manitoba, I discovered how much my friends on the Prairies looked to their American neighbours more than Ontario as their closest friends.

Mall of America was the place to go for a weekend trip, not Thunder Bay or anywhere in Ontario. The connections between the cultures of the northern plains states and the Prairie provinces are stronger than what I’ve seen in the border communities of Ontario.

A unique aspect of these connection are the reciprocity agreements for tuition between the various jurisdictions that cross International lines.

Minnesota Public Radio recently covered the agreement between Minnesota and Manitoba that allows residents of both jurisdictions to attend public universities on either side of the border at the “in-state/in-province” tuition rate.

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Calling the Mayor’s scandal “Peggygate” reveals a gender bias against women in politics
Posted by
26 December

Calling the Mayor’s scandal “Peggygate” reveals a gender bias against women in politics

 

It’s tough being a woman in politics. The standards are different. No one questions a male politician who is away from their family, but a young female politician faces these questions during campaigns.

Hamilton City Hall by Tom Flemming via Flickr

While it is not the role of the media to promote one candidate over another due to gender, it is our role to not diminish a person because of their gender. Yet, we do it often and, despite overwhelming academic research, we seem to revel in attacking women in politics by using their first names.

The use of the first name for women in politics betrays a discomfort with strong women in power and trivializes those individuals.

One rarely observes a male public figure referred to solely by their first name. In cases this occurs, the male public figure brands themselves around their first name.

The use of last name, without prefix, for male leaders is a sign of respect for their power. The use of the first name during scandal is a sign of disrespect or provides a better play on words. Billy (Clinton) rhymed with Willy and the press couldn’t help but be a little silly.

I observe the latest scandal caused by Mayor Bob Bratina engulfing City Hall with concern about how my trade is branding the scandal “Peggygate”.

Not only is it inaccurate – the issue is not about Ms. Peggy Chapman. The issue is the misleading of the public and decisions made by Mayor Bob Bratina – its shows an unprofessional disrespect and disregard for a civil discussion of civic affairs. It’s also diminishes the authority of Ms. Chapman by referring to her in the first name when the last name is the half which carries authority in our society.

My trade has a responsibility and duty to raise the level of civic discourse, avoid personally diminishing individuals, and focus on the issues to the best of our ability.

Ms. Chapman is an abrasive person and often engages in needless battles with others at City Hall and in the media. This partly explains why she is often not referred to by her actual title of chief of staff to the mayor of Hamilton. Instead, she’s referred to as the Mayor’s “assistant” or “aide”. In the comment sections of websites, she is further diminished to “secretary”.

This is intentional – it diminishes her power. While the majority of this diminishing is the result of Ms. Chapman’s personality and actions, it does not excuse us in the media from diminishing her title, especially when academic research informs us of our tendency to refer to female leaders by their first name.

University of Toronto professor Sylvia Bashevkin researches the role of women in Canadian politics and writes extensively about  the challenges facing women in politics.

Here’s Ms. Bashevkin discussing her book Women, Power, Politics: the Hidden Story of Canada’s Unfinished Democracy


FAST FORWARD TO 7:00 to listen to Professor Bashevkin address the issue of first-name use against women in politics.

Every election cycle, we ask why there is a drought of woman candidates – “Peggygate” is a perfect example why.

The use of “Peggygate” doesn’t only diminish Ms. Chapman, it gravely damages our democracy by discouraging qualified, capable women and men from seeking public office.

I understand my trade’s wish to label everything a “-gate”, it makes us feel like were holding power to account and serves as a remembrance of when journalism took down a president.

If we must make this a “-gate”, why not name it after the person making the decision – the person responsible for the scandal?
Bobgate?
Wait, that doesn’t sound right now does it?

We’d have to call it “Bratinagate” – and there lays the gender bias.

Photo of Hamilton City Hall by Tom Flemming, visit the Flickr page here.
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Posted by on 26 December

One of my articles from 2008 republished in textbook

One of my articles from 2008 is republished in the third edition of Social Problems: A Canadian Perspective.

The article “York anti-racism rally goes off rails” is an unique news story about an anti-racism rally at York University that degraded into attacks on Israel, the provincial government, and the president of York University.

I remember well the process of writing the article. I took the GO bus up to York University for the rally with the story template complete – just needed a few photos, some quotes, and I could quickly file my story about York students rallying against racism on their campus.

Unfortunately, that was not the entire story. The rally went off the rails. As I wrote January 24, 2008:

The rally began with speakers calling for the York community to unite to combat racism on campus. The first speakers described the graffiti as an attack on them, their space, and their safety.

As other speakers took the microphone, however, they turned the focus to attacks upon Israel as a “racist and apartheid state,” Premier Dalton McGuinty, and York University President Mamdouh Shoukri.

McGuinty was blamed for the “racist actions” of the government for denying entry last summer to Malik Shabazz, the leader of the US New Black Panther Party.

The strongest attacks were saved for Shoukri. At the microphone, one of the rally organizers criticized Shoukri for “not caring about students,” claiming that Shoukri was not at the rally, and that by not being at the rally to address students, he was being silent in the face of racism.

Shoukri was in fact present and in the crowd, and in response to this criticism, he moved toward the stage. When he reached the front, he was seen speaking to the organizers. He was seen asking for the opportunity to address the assembled students but was apparently refused, after which he walked away. One of the organizers yelled that the rally was about “African issues” and for “Africanized people” to speak out against marginalization. Shoukri, whose undergraduate degree is from Cairo University, was born in Egypt.

Organizers then demanded that the media leave, accusing reporters of looking to sensationalize the story and “looking for the picture of an angry person for [their] front pages.”

No other media outlet, and every Toronto outlet was represented, included this in their stories.

York University President Mamdouh Shoukri takes questions from the media following an anti-racism rally on his campus.

I spent a great deal of time debating if I would include these facts in my article, knowing that I likely be the only reporter to do so and that many emails would attack me for doing so.

I decided that I could not shy away from the truth of the rally and wrote this angle. While I received many emails accusing me of being a racist for highlighting these events, I also received emails from those present at the rally thanking me for writing what actually happened and not just the cookie-cutter story I came prepared to file.

The story reflected the complexity of the issue and the rally.

I’m honoured that the article found its way into an academic textbook.

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Posted by on 25 December

Merry Christmas 2011

As we end this holiday day, I wish you and all a Merry Christmas.

It’s been a Christmas to remember for me. I had the opportunity to spend time with friends, family, and time with those I rarely see or haven’t seen for years.

The holiday is about our connections to God and others on the journey with us.

As we look forward to the year ahead, we can be thankful for the year that is past.

Thank you to all my friends, readers, and those that work to make the world a better place.

May the Christmas spirit remain with us.

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