I love open data initiatives; Especially when they are Canadian (my home turf). I wrote about the premise behind the Apps for Climate Change contest back in April, and now that we have submissions, I want to remind you to vote. The total number of submissions that met all requirements is 16, a huge success in my opinion given the infancy of apps contests in Canada. You can see demos and vote for your favourite apps here.

My vote went to the Etho App. An iphone application that “provides shoppers with relevant health, social & environmental facts on the spot to aid them in making ethical purchases”. I’m already addicted to apps like RedLaser, which allow you to scan bar codes for price information, so this would be a natural evolution of that by overlaying environmental data.

Which one did you vote for? Deadline is August 29th.

Earlier this summer, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada posted up their Twitter Policy. While a few other departments were already on it (such as the Get Prepared – PSC – Twitter Policy), this is the first one that is publicly posted in full detail rather than just in summary form [Correction 24/08/2010: Public Safety does indeed have its full Twitter policy posted here.] This is good news for all of you still stuck trying to convince the “clay-layer” of middle-management that Twitter can be used for significantly more strategic purposes than finding out what Justin Bieber is up to.

Why is this good news for government organizations? The majority of decision makers in government like to follow not lead.

By far, the hottest trend I am picking up right now as a consultant in this field is the need for guidelines/policies surrounding digital engagement. At the end of the day, these are merely reminders of existing policies and guidelines that employees are already supposed to be adhering to in day-to-day interactions with other people.  They are just updated and simplified to reflect the real-time digital information environment that we currently live in. Various proactive organizations have already begun creating these (or issuing RFP’s), while the reactive ones are waiting for something to come top-down (at a significant cost in terms of missed opportunities).

Want to create guidelines on your own? Browse the Social Media Governance Database and derive ideas from an existing template.

Here’s your chance Canada. In less than one hour you will have the opportunity to use YouTube to submit a question directly to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The Prime Minister’s response to the Speech from the Throne will be broadcasted live onto YouTube at approx. 11am on Thursday, March 11th. From March 11th until Sunday March 14th, you will have the opportunity to submit questions (text or video) on YouTube and also vote on which questions should be asked directly to the Prime Minister in a live interview on Tuesday, March 16th conducted by Google CFO Patrick Pichette, which will also be posted to YouTube.

I’ll likely be posting one about the need for open data and/or 2-way social media engagement unless someone beats me to it.

Here’s a link to the YouTube channel where you can submit and also vote on questions for Prime Minister Harper. His speech and interview will also be streamed on this channel. Additionally, here’s a link to the YouTube blog with more info about this particular initiative.

Special thanks to Geordie Hyland for the heads up.

When I first launched the CEPSM social media marketing workshop in April, 2008, I really had no idea that it would garner such a positive response. In fact, we quickly stopped going through the logistical hassle of organizing public workshops since there was more than enough demand for private ones (organizations inviting me in). CEPSM was never meant to be solely in the workshop business, but this way all logistical items were taken care of by the client. However, over the last year, CEPSM has been getting numerous requests from individuals in the public and non-profit sectors to once again offer a social media marketing workshop that is open to the public. Well guess what, we listened.

To solve our logistical dilemma , we decided to partner with an organization that has been conducting workshops successfully for decades, The Centre of Excellence for Communications. Yes, I know it’s ironic that we happen to share similar names, however don’t let that confuse you. The CEC’s core business is workshops, whereas CEPSM’s core business is the consulting side (although training is part of our consulting process). I’ll stop confusing you though. The bottom line is this, on November 25-26, 2009 CEPSM/CEC are jointly launching the 2-day Social Media Strategies for the Public Sector workshop. The intent is to offer this workshop in major cities across Canada for the first year and then see how it evolves from there.

Those of you familiar with my 1-day workshop will notice the switch to 2-days. I wanted to change things up a bit and add a hands-on session where each participant can get their hands dirty by actually using all of the tools I introduce during Day 1.  Further still, we will be using a live Google Doc to fill out certain sections of the workbook collaboratively.I like to practice what I preach as much as I possibly can. This is a great opportunity for me to do so.

For those of you interested in receiving this training as part of a University Certificate, be sure to see if our Professional Certificate in Public Sector Marketing course offered through Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business is a right fit for you. I’m really looking forward to being part of the instructional team this year!

Ok then, if you have any questions whatsoever, fire me an email or give me a call. Also, to stay up to date on my speaking schedule visit the Upcoming Speaking Engagements page on my blog. And yes, we will still be offering our private workshops for those interested. This is not meant to replace them.

Hey everybody! i would like to officially thank you all for contributing your favourite Malcolm Gladwell quotes , concepts and theories (QCT’s), as part of the contest I launched a few weeks ago. There were over 25 QCT’s submitted, all very valuable.

Ok, so without further ado…the winner is (drum-roll)…

JAMES TOURIGNY

Congratulations James! You and a friend/spouse are going to see Malcolm Gladwell at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on June 11th, 2009. Tickets are valued at $75 each (donated to me by the wonderful folks at United Way Ottawa).

Please call me at 613.899.1348 to arrange ticket delivery.

As promised, I have posted up a video of the selection process for all of you to see. Thank you to my fiancee for agreeing to choose the winner and actually be on camera.