Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday December 15, 2016

It’s been about 18 months since we last held an #AskMayorCam session, so as you can imagine there’s an awful lot we could potentially ask the Mayor of the City of Guelph. So with the end of the year, and the end of the annual budget process at city council, the timing seem right to invite Mayor Cam Guthrie back to Open Sources Guelph for a bit of chat, a bit of reflection, and some questions from the listeners about what they think the important issues of the season are. Continue reading “Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday December 15, 2016” →

What’s Open Sources Programming for the Holidays?

It’s that time again for Open Sources Guelph to take some R&R at Christmastime, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to leave you hanging. In other words, while we’re going to be taking a couple of weeks off from the news, we will still be delivering new episodes, so gather the family ’round the radio and give a listen your favourite Guelph holiday tradition: the annual Christmas and New Year’s specials of Open Sources. Continue reading “What’s Open Sources Programming for the Holidays?” →

The Weekender: When is a Promise Not a Promise?

After the Liberals won election last year, some civic minded web builders thought, “Hey, Justin Trudeau and his party made a whole lot of promises in this campaign, why don’t we measure their success?” There’s been so much talk lately about promises broke, and promises seeming like they’re bring broken, I decided to check out the TrudeauMeter, and the score is 90 not started, 68 in progress, 37 achieved and 28 broken. It’s easy to understand the compunction. It’s only natural that we want to measure things according to their success or failure. It’s another way of saying something is good (successful) or bad (failure), but should be using something as subjective as campaign promises to be the judge of a government’s success? Continue reading “The Weekender: When is a Promise Not a Promise?” →

Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday December 8, 2016

We are a few weeks away from Christmas (and so is everyone else), and here on Open Sources Guelph, we got an early Christmas present. In Alberta, a conservative firebrand was up to his old tricks, getting the scorching rabble all fired about the current premier of Alberta in some very unexpected ways. This story will break up nicely our Royal City focus this week, first as we mark the passing of another political year in Guelph, and then we’ll have a conversation with one of the councillors that represents Open Sources HQ on the University of Guelph campus. Continue reading “Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday December 8, 2016” →

The Weekender: Why Are You Making Me Side with Gerry Barker?

About three people sent me the link in quick succession, and by the end of the day I had talked to maybe another three people in person about the fact that Gerry Barker was being sued by one of the City of Guelph’s upper managers. Barker, the erstwhile creator and provocateur of Guelph Speaks, has made it his business to talk smack about anyone at the City of Guelph, he thinks, make his taxes too damn high. Frankly, given his acid tongue and one-track mind, it’s a wonder that this is the first time someone’s taken Barker to court, but to be honest, as good as it feels to see him sued for half-a-million dollars, this isn’t the way to do it. Continue reading “The Weekender: Why Are You Making Me Side with Gerry Barker?” →

Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday December 1, 2016

This week on Open Sources Guelph, we say goodbye to a dictator. Or maybe that’s goodbye to a working class hero. There’s a lot of controversy there as the prime minister knows, and we’ll keep serving up the controversy as Justin Trudeu’s Liberals seem to be hedging on that electoral reform he so vehemently promised last fall. Speaking of flip-flops, we’ll head to Toronto where the mayor there now thinks that tolls aren’t so bad, and we’ll round up the week by talking about everyone’s favourite President-Elect whose wrath we expect to feel on Twitter any day. Continue reading “Open Sources Show Notes for Thursday December 1, 2016” →

The Weekender: Fake News Isn’t Our Only News Problem

This week on the show we talked about the recent issues around fake news, and whether these fake news industries that have arisen, websites that create posts that are sold as news but are barely related to actual news happening anywhere, had an effect on the U.S. Election. Fakes news is obviously a problem, but as we pointed out on the show, the problem has been significantly affected by the fact that few people seem to know what real news is anymore. That’s not a problem created by Russian oligarchs, alt-right provocateurs, or unemployed post-grads, it’s being caused because there are times when our local news stations don’t know what real news is. Continue reading “The Weekender: Fake News Isn’t Our Only News Problem” →