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2 'Hack Miramar' 2015 Events For Your Calendar

Along with this Saturday's Hour Of Code event , which is part of the world's largest education event, that Hack Miramar and  +Wellington Makerspace  are holding at  +Scots College  you should also pop the following into the calendars: 1: Hack Miramar, "Community Engagement" Saturday March 7th - Sunday March 8th, 2015 Venue: Miramar Civic hackathon around "Community Engagement"  This event will follow the framework of November's "Transport" event . What to do: Add to your calendar Get onto  the Hack Miramar email list 2: #HackWLG (part of #GovHackNZ 2015) Friday July 3rd to Sunday July 5th, 2015 Venue: tbc This is a "Hack Miramar" presents the HackWLG event as part of the wider New Zealand participation of the GovHack series of events from Australian 2015 GovHack. What to do: Add to your calendar Find out more  Get onto the GovHack email list Get onto the Hack Miramar email list for local o

Hour of Code Wellington Announced

Hack Miramar and Wellington Makerspace Trust announce free programming workshops for all ages on December 13th at Scots College November 26th 2014, Wellington - Hack Miramar and the Wellington Makerspace Trust today announced “Hour of Code Wellington”, a day of free one hour introductory programming and technology workshops for Wellingtonians of all ages. These sessions will run from 10am until 4pm on Saturday the 13th of December at the Centre for Performing Arts Centre (CPAC) at Scots College, 1 Monorgan Rd, Strathmore Park. Attendees can drop in during the day to take part in sessions that will start each hour on the hour. The workshops will be based around the global 'Hour of Code' format which provides an easy introduction to computer programming for anyone wanting to learn a little about how computers work. In addition to learning some simple programming concepts participants will also have a chance to do exercises with Raspberry Pi, Arduino and Makey Makey de

Open Access To Research - My Statement

My statement on Open Access to research: Everyone needs paying for services rendered and that payment should always be at a level that recognises the true value of the output. This is why I am happy (nay insistent) that some of my tax dollars be spent on many types of research as we look to sustainable methods of ensuring value flows into New Zealand.  Having paid gaining that value is to ensure all of New Zealand builds upon it and, seeing as my taxes have already covered the costs, there should be call to "profit from the research" by charging for access as profit comes for what is build upon it.  I therefore wholeheartedly support the call that all NZ publicly funded research institutions and research funders that they adopt Open Access policies. Why pop this up now -   International Open Access Week starts on 20 October 2014

Change Management Is So Simple

No, change management is not simple and for one very easy to understand reason - it involves people. And that's the first, most important, all encompassing and ultimately only real point of change management. People are what we are endeavouring to help through change and the outcome of change management is people doing something different (there is a change) But dropping the other attributes of change management can leave you open to a non-starter of a process or, at best, one that flops over the line with many weary participants huffing and puffing behind you. A little self disclosure before we get to the 6 main components of "change management". I'm actually someone that believes in constant change, that companies, Govt agencies, NGO's, communities and all people are constantly adapting to the environment within which they operate. Therefore a "Enterprise Change Process" (or even a "Transformation Programme") is a slightly false worldview

Being Labeled Is Good - Isn't It?

Knowing what you want to be when you grow up isn't something I'm particularly interest in and therefore something I find as a difficult part of my life. I'm known to many as the "Google guy" despite the fact that I've never worked for Google. Yes, I did have a business focused solely on their products AND I do use a lot of their services so I am quite comfortable with that BUT it's not what I have 'done' for quite some time. More generally I'm also known as the "cloud guy" having been someone that has talked "Web 2.0" and "cloud" for many many years - much longer than the plethora of Kiwi companies that have seemingly suddenly discovered the "cloud" and who, in my opinion, are still missing the point. So "Google" and "cloud" are two words I often hear used to describe me but those specific labels don't describe me that well (and I'll be honest with you they never have).

Wellington Civic Hackathon: Calling Freaks, Geeks, and Sensing City Vendors

(cross posted from  +Ian Apperley 's article ) Wellington is running it’s first Civic Hackathon the first weekend of November to tackle transport issues in and around Eastern Suburbs and the wider city. We’ve got a bunch of people involved already and we’ve still got spots open if you want to join in . We’re looking for freaks, geeks, and companies that want to showcase their Smart City and Internet of Things devices, so get in. A group of like-minded individuals are coming together on the 1st and 2nd of November this year to participate in Wellington’s first Civic Hackathon. A hackathon is an intensive session where a group of people are giving a civic problem, data, tools, and bring their own skills & resources to solve that problem. Hackathon comes from merging “hack” and “marathon”. A number of sponsors have come forward already and are providing us with raw data and sensing devices that we can utilise to capture data that has otherwise been unavailable. We want

What CC Means To Your Gran (Or Grandchild)

( cross posted from the most excellent NZ Commons site) Mike and Nanna 14 Days Old by Mike Riversdale. CC BY Every family has its story. As we commemorate 100 years of the beginning of World War 1 , a lot of us are tracking down our grandparents stories, how the soldiers within in our families fought and died, how those back at home coped with the hardships and the many years of repercussions as the scars, both external and internal, came home. Together with these ‘big event’ stories , we all have a myriad of everyday tales that we commonly think of as particular to ourselves, memories of days gone past and yarns to be recounted at family get-togethers. And of course we all have our recent stories: last year’s summer holiday, the kid’s birthday celebration and even that catch up with mates in the pub last week. All of these stories go to make up the fabric of our families, our friendships and our whanau – without them we are indeed islands and, as we all know, “ No man is

Hacking Miramar For The Future - 1st / 2nd November

Living in MirAmar here in the beautiful Wellington City has allowed me to take many opportunities. And now it's time, alongside a gang of similar minded folks such as +Ian Apperley ,  +Ben Wilde  and the like, to focus the incredible talent, connections and vision ( I  bring energy) alongside the wealth of talent within the Peninsula and ... make a difference. How? Who knows, BUT we work in an industry (tech) that is inherently fast moving, ever changing and one that can make a massive difference and so the opportunity is too good to let go. And that fast moving change allows us to try, try, try and succeed. The best way is to bring the following together: Talent Passion Tools & Data Challenges And that's what we're doing with the Hack Miramar ! Hack Miramar is Wellington's first civic hacking event and hopefully one of many to come. It's an open invitation to innovators, designers, architects, developers, activists, all manner of geeks, and th

Enrol. Vote. Party!

Enrol Vote on Saturday September 20th PARTAY!

Creative Commons In The Kitchen

(cross posted from my NZCommons article ) Reference: ‘Creamy Broccoli Soup‘ by Bill Mckee. Copyright: CC-BY-SA In our house, we have a shelf of cookbooks. Some have barely been opened, others are the classic “coffee table” types, but then there’s the ones we use at every opportunity. I’m sure you’re just the same. I rely heavily on my British background and am never far from Mrs B ( Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management ) when I need to know how long to roast a chicken. Having been here in New Zealand since 1996, I will also reach for every student’s cooking bible, Edmonds Cookbook . Both these fine tomes pale into nothing when compared to my wife’s recipe “book”. It is handmade, full of very old bits of paper and uses a hope and a prayer as a means of organisation. This collection of recipes (to be called “Liz’s Recipe Book”, even though it’s not strictly a book) is chock full of IP — that is, Intellectual Property , that nebulous stuff that seems to be both t

3 Uses Of "The Cloud" For Senior Contractors

I've just left The Johnson Group ("public sector recruitment specialists") after delivering a quick fire, "This is the cloud" and "These are some tools based on the 'cloud', your mobile and your browser' that you, as a contractor working in Government can use". The 3 uses and toools to support those uses are: Note taking Writing Reference / Research The highlight for many was  +IFTTT  ... I am so happy about that! As is typical with my presentations they are graphic heavy but at least this has the Google Play Store, iTunes, Windows phone and Chrome Web Store links to the tools I spoke about - enjoy. My thanks to those that attended, engaged, asked questions and of course to Claudia and Heather for inviting me. I leave with some thoughts from the discussion before and after: There were around 25 senior Government consultants in the room Majority of questions were about security Hardly anyone used any of the services me

Your Chance To Pose YOUR Election Tech Question To Our Politicians

On the weekly podcast  +Raj Khushal 's and I create, Access Granted   on the  Hashtag ME network , we are setting up a series of interviews with the tech reps of the main political parties. Once we have the interviews in the can we'll put them all together in an election special for release on Tuesday 2nd September in time for Election Day on the 20th. Whilst we have some areas that we'll definitely be focussing upon such as, "What exactly is your party's ICT policy" we also want to open it up to you, the NZ tech workers and give you a chance to pose the tech-related question to the political parties. Loading... (thanks to whatisitwellington: New Zealand ICT Government Worker Survey 2013: Take one, pass it on for the image) short url: http://goo.gl/WAuhRd

Is Wellington Or Auckland The "Tech Capital" Of New Zealand

photo source: Sky Sports Where does New Zealand have it's tech centre, and does it have to have one or can we have many thriving, sustainable and scalable points all over our fair country ... remembering we're a bloody small population that is spread thin across quite a large land mass and even more so when we think about the number Kiwi tech workers . Auckland According to  +New Zealand Trade and Enterprise  (NZTE) it's Auckland: Auckland is recognised for its food and beverage sector, high-value manufacturing, and as a centre for New Zealand's developing ICT industry . (my emphasis - source: NZTE's regions of opportunity ) And they go on to say this in detail : Dynamic ICT sector Auckland offers attractive opportunities to invest in its growing ICT and services sector and to take advantage of shared time zones with international markets. Many global ICT companies are choosing Auckland to service the Asia Pacific region. Wellington But  +Positivel

3 Ways To Know Your A 'Survivalist' And Not A Start-up Any More

( originally posted on NZE ) When you start a business it can, and should, be an exhilarating adventure as you step into a whole new way of being with yourself, your peers, your market and even your family and friends. Taking the step into entrepreneurship is usually one full of trepidation, worry, unknowns and stresses. The downsides of being a company owner are rarely discussed, rarely acknowledged and are almost always front and centre for every business founder. If you're going to become a 'start-up' my single biggest advice is don't do it alone . Make sure you have an equal business partner who is as excited as yourself to be going on the adventure. Someone that you trust enough to open up to when the stresses become close to tipping edge. Someone that you can raise your wine glass to when you know you've just done something amazing. Someone that you don't have to explain what it is you do, where you're going, which clients are a pain and why.

Internet = Human Right, But In NZ?

Without the Internet everything (well, almost) I do for a living grinds to a halt. But more importantly a vast amount of what I do outside of work would also be impeded and I don't think I'm alone in this. On the latest Access Granted podcast I mentione the growth in importance of th Internet to all Kiwis as documented on the Wiki New Zealand site: source:  http://wikinewzealand.org/?graph=000396 Clearning my Twitter favourites today I was lead to  +Clare Curran 's  +New Zealand Labour Party  post, " Why a spy-free internet should be a human right " which made me think that surely the rest of the hip cool political parties in New Zealand have something similar Assuming @NZGreens and @InternetPartyNZ have same policy as @clarecurranmp 's @labour one - "Internet = human right": http://t.co/vFvsrKF4sx — Mike Riversdale (@MiramarMike) June 20, 2014 So off I tootled, first the  +Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand : Ah, here we go - @NZGreens ,

What Is iBeacon - is it Apple Only?

As I am looking at how venues, both big and small, are digitising themselves for this crazy mobile world that we seemed to have ended up in I am constantly bumping up against the word, iBeacon . And what I've discovered is that it is yet another genius marketing move from Apple having us all believe it is some sort of magic from Cupertino. What is iBeacon? This is what Apple will tell you iBeacon is: ... a new technology that extends Location Services in iOS. Your iOS device can alert apps when you approach or leave a location with an iBeacon. In addition to monitoring location, an app can estimate your proximity to an iBeacon (for example, a display or checkout counter in a retail store). Instead of using latitude and longitude to define the location, iBeacon uses a Bluetooth low energy signal, which iOS devices detect.  (source:  http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6048 ) You should know that the actual word, iBeacon, is a trademarked word owned by Apple . So, is it some m

Where are YOUR Developers Coming From?

An excellent post from +Ben Gracewood  has sparked a Twitter conversation that all New Zealand companies should read. Where the developers at? http://t.co/2wNmDi0ttu — nzben (@nzben) May 28, 2014 And I mean all NZ companies as this is not just about  +Vend Point of Sale , +Xero Accounting Software  and all the other "rock star" tech companies. If you are a modern, sustainable and growing company then you're using computers to run your business. Yes, yes, I know that the majority of what's in your face is developed/maintained by large corporates such as Google, Microsoft, Oracle and the like. But, if you've got anything that resembles "secret sauce" (the stuff that makes you different to your competitors down the road) then you already know that there is no off-the-shelf software product that truly makes your business hum. It's either a Heath Robinson affair of cobbled together large systems from the likes of Google, Microsoft which needs spe

Open Data Skunkworks with Result 9 - A Review

A week or so ago I was kindly invited to participate in a rather unusual, but hopefully the first of many, start-up weekends as facilitated by the ever energetic  +Dave Moskovitz . His idea was to bring together a select band of influential government employees, hackers and coders and "open data advocates" (such as myself) to put some skin to the "let's make all government held data open and usable" cry. Dave focused on the Result 9 area of government which, under the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), has been tasked with running: ... a collaborative effort by government agencies to deliver better public services for business by providing: Better integration of services Services designed for business Increased digital service delivery (source:  http://www.mbie.govt.nz/what-we-do/better-public-services ) Note that they are focused on making it easier for businesses to do business with the Government whereas Result 10 has a s