MITX event called Government 2.0 Strategies for Unlocking Public Data focused on a 2009’s theme of transparent communication. Tim Vaverchak, the Massachusetts Director of Integration Services, made a simple statement about people (post talk). He said that people who know that a bus will be late are more likely to be understanding than people who expect the bus to be on time and do not know it is going to be late. That profound statement encapsulates the message we heard from Governor Deval Patrick down. Massachusetts is committed to providing open data standards for the people.

The Philosophy

“If you think about it, the data already belongs to the people” said Ann Margulies, CIO of Massachusetts. She went on to talk about how it is becoming readily accessible starting with transportation data. Prior to her current position, Anne Margulies was the Executive Director of MIT OpenCourseWare and is a big advocate for open source software.

This is an extension of the philosophies laid in open source software. People from Linus Torvalds, the founder of Linux, to Venture Capitalists like David Skok have been advocating for open source for a long time and now we are seeing the movement extend past the software itself into the actual activity streams.

Jeffery B Mullan, Secretary / CEO of @massdot said “The governor’s leadership allows us to open the data. The governor’s vision is quite literally to take the bureacracy and turn it around. Manage as though we are the customer (versus the bureaucrats.) He insists that it is done the way that customers do it. Open data is a metaphor for him.”

The administration is actively looking for ways to take the best practices developed by the MassDOT and extend them into other areas. Brad Blake, Director of New Media Strategy, has activated social media throughout the Commonwealth. “Massachusetts still has the traditional press release, but we are competing (in traditional and digital news sources) with Lady Gaga’s latest attire to get the story out and receive feedback.” he said. He went on to remind us that the Commonwealth still gets mail, phone calls and email all day everyday, but that they are looking for ways to be more responsive and to compile the questions, comments and ridicule of the senders with the feeling that social media is a great new channel for communication as well as a way to be more nimble with their responses. The Commonwealth of Massachusett’s social media presences have been compiled here: http://www.mass.gov/socialmedia.

What’s Next?

With the goal of having all bus routes available by the end of the summer, the Commonwealth is now looking at making train and commuter rail data. We reminded them that following the same philosophy of communication with data availability would pay off  Vayerchak’s statement. However, they were reluctant to commit to timelines because of the data now lives in a somewhat archaic system and may take significant transformation work. There’s also a call for standards for putting more data online.

iPhone apps and installations are already here (if you have a link to a compilation, let me know and I will link here). Once the analytics wonks get their hands on the data, you will see regression models that show the reliability of routes complete with confidence intervals that show how likely the bus is to arrive at the time you expect it to arrive. A Commonwealth Transportation working dashboard would be insanely useful and cool.

Mashups with FourSquare and Gowalla could provide amazing opportunities for advertising. Knowing the routes,who is on the bus and the length of time that riders are on the bus present great opportunities for music programming, advertising and suggested places to stop along the route in advance of getting there.

The possibilities are limitless and now nobody has to wait for permission to use the data to make their ideas happen.

Some people think I have been giving FourSquare a bit too hard a time lately and this post is going to support that notion. So let me add a few comments on the things that I love about Foursquare (and I do love Foursquare).

First, Foursquare’s founder and leader, Dennis Crowley, is impressive. The guy is brilliant and he makes things happen. If he says that FourSquare is going to be the first to provide contextually relevant recommendations in the application, I believe it will happen.

Second, the application is nearly bulletproof. Sure. It’s simpler than Gowalla and Brightkite, but it works on every major smart phone and that is really important. It is fast and it is pretty clean. You check in, share a thought, maybe check the leaderboard and friend activity, and you are done – quickly.

Now, back to the shenanigans. Foursquare’s site clearly states the following:

What is “The Mayor” all about?

If you’ve been to a place more than anyone else we’ll crown you the “The Mayor” of that place.  We see lots of bars and cafes now offering “Mayor Specials” – a free coffee or  appetizer or maybe a special discount to the mayors of their venues.  Watch out though – if someone else comes along who has checked in more days than you, they will steal the “Mayor” title back from you.

If that is true, then why is Ben the mayor?

Ashvin Kumar, CEO of Blippy says that he created Blippy because people love to share. Kumar says that he would share more often but he admitted he is flat-out lazy and that active sharing does not suit his personality.

Active vs. Passive Sharing

Active sharing requires the user to make a decision to share. They must physically open an application and check in to a location, set a status, upload a picture etc. This leaves holes in the overall experience, but also allows people to protect moments that they do not want to share like the trip Forbidden Fruit or visiting grandma’s house. Active sharing takes time and effort and, some might say “thankfully”, leaves holes in the story.Passive sharing happens on an event. In the example of Blippy, whenever you make a purchase on iTunes, eBay or even with your credit card, the purchase is shared. Graham Nelson revealed today that he bought the BMW of strollers for @twinliving via Blippy.

Graham won an auction and Blippy let us all know. He did not have to go to twitter, login and type HEEEY!!! LOOK WHAT I WON! Blippy took care of everything. It is fun to see what people are spending and it would be cool if this sort of technology could be integrated into sales automation tools, marketing automation tools and expense forms. Blippy-type technology could also be extended to things like medical records, web activity, blog activity, library checkouts and checkins and even your email. It could also be hooked up to devices that people use.

For instance an exercise bike could share the number of miles a person rides, time spent on the machine, calories burned or changes in their heart rate. A person’s vehicle could share speeds, fluid levels, oil change reminders etc. What about security cameras or web cams?There are all sorts of cool ways to mash this data up, but I think that’s a separate post. What about looking at macro level passive streams?

Michelle Feldman shares information on a recent run

Micro vs. Macro

Micro or personal streams are really interesting, but what about looking at activity streams from a public or macro perspective? That is when things start to really get interesting. What if public transportation activity streams were freely available? In Boston, they are. The MBTA decided to make bus, subway and commuter rail whereabouts data public when they became mired in trying to figure out how to economically produce installations, phone numbers or applications.

The result is a series of applications that make it possible for people to track problems with public transportation. So one forward thinking (or desperate) government organization is leading the way for passive sharing of macro level activity. And in reality this is late. Public transportation in the US is largely government owned and supported by tax dollars so it makes sense to have the data readily available, right?

Given that, how about public office spending as a stream? I would follow everyone from selectmen to senators to get an understanding for how they are spending our tax dollars. Political campaign spending would be fascinating. I could see it either becoming more discretionary or even more lavish as candidates would be exposing their moves to the public [including paying teams to analyze the others' data.]

How about payroll? Public payroll for teachers, public officials, police, firefighters and the like would be another interesting stream that would let us know if public people are being properly compensated and if they are getting raises.

What are some useful passive streams that you would like to see?
energy consumption? Maybe taxi and airplane whereabouts? Let’s get a discussion going.

Kosha Dillz and Flex Mathews got the last work at today’s Gary Vaynerchuk presentation at #SXSW. They’d read his book and took his hustlemania advice to heart. Lined up on separate sides of the auditorium, Kosha and Flex performed a freestyle rap about Gary that took the audience by storm and had everyone on their feet applauding.

I hung out after the presentation to talk to Gary. See, I was next in line, behind Flex, to ask a question and pitch him (#hustle #crushit). I was thinking to myself: “Damn, this is going to be a tough act to follow” then realized that these lads were the closing act. Was I bitter? NO WAY! These guys inspired me. They are hustling. They are the only music group I have seen who understands that the Austin Convention center is full of people who will get the word out about them and will do it for NOTHING. They get that new media buffs are looking for content and that they can provide content. They also get that bloggers and microbloggers like nothing more than sharing their finds with their friends. (I have already told my friend, Josh Levine of Rebel Industries, a company that works with up and coming, underground hip-hop talent to create unique experiences.)

Evidence: I saw Kosha and Flex after the presentation stopped them for an interview. They surprised me by freestyling about ME!!

Interview

Rap

Thanks guys. Keep crushing it. New Media needs more people like you who think about performing spectacle to get attention for things that matter to them.

I head up a group at allen & gerritsen called the Digital Incubator. It is an emerging technology and emerging media strategy and lab environment, so naturally I am at SXSW to test out all of the hot technologies. In a discussion of goals for SXSW with Graham Nelson, I told him that I wanted to meet the Gowalla team, particularly CEO Josh Williams.

Within 8 minutes, I had accomplished this goal. When I checked into the Austin Bergstrom Airport, I got an offer! I was delighted. I was not sure how many other people had received the offer and knowing that I was on a plane full of social media nerds, I looked around the plane. I did not see anyone jumping and hitting their heads on the cabin ceiling, so I smiled and accepted.

I checked the email and made my way to baggage claim and standing there, holding a sign with MIKE is Josh Williams. He hands me a t-shirt and I try to fight the urge to launch into a zillion questions about the application, their revenue model and surprises for SXSW.

Brad Mays form Chevrolet and jumped into a brand new Tahoe and headed to our hotel. On the way, he told us about Chevy’s plans for SXSW.

This is a great story about a brand thinking about online and offline experience and the payoff of location based social networking promises to go beyond checking in. While this probably will not do much more than create buzz for Chevy and perhaps change a few minds about the ability of American big auto to think creatively, it is a definite step in the right direction.

Chevy has a bunch of interesting activities with Gowalla and QR codes in action at SXSW. If you find a Chevy pin when you check in, you can get some limited edition Hot Wheels at the Chevy Volt recharge station. They staged a big road trip for several content creating teams heading to SXSW, there are Chevy test drives and I am told there are other surprises planned. Now if only they drove people to a community where they could capture and nurture the relationships they are building.

SXSW has its share of great big parties. Why does everyone really flock to Austin?

The volume of quality content per hour is staggering. And if you are not engaged in a session, the hall way conversations are just as beneficial (if not more in some cases). Everyone is there and everyone is ready to meet and converse with you.

My priorities for SXSW:

Create

Some of the best content creators from all over the world will be at SXSW. This is our chance to collaborate. The resources to do so are for all intents and purposes (no, it’s not “all intensive purposes”) infinite. I am looking for opportunities to talk shop or perform spectacle with colleagues from Boston, Austin and Seattle (The Triangle of Awesome), the RDU Triangle, SFO, everywhere. I love to talk Social CRM, Paid / Owned / Earned media, instant video, crowdsourcing, segmentation and location based networking.

If you are interested in making videos or blogging about those topics or beer, burritos, modern rock, tea, SXSW, Chinese – talk to me. I am very excited about the chance to work with you.

Some good Boston folk have talked about putting together a daily recap of the cool happenings for people who missed the event or who just plain did not go to the same sessions or have the same conversations we did. SXSW is enormous. It is literally impossible to consume even half of all of the content. Just ask George G Smith Jr. He literally slept for about 5 hours the entire time in an attempt to take it all in.

Meet

I want to meet you. In my new role as Vice President, Director Digital Incubator, I am responsible for staying ahead of the curve. My group figures out how to make the shiny objects useful for our clients. We put them through the paces and define the roadmaps for products and services. This means I am going to be eager to talk to location based, augmented reality, massive data, visualization, social media measurement, community, video etc. etc. vendors while I am in Austin. if you have an offering on an emerging platform, chances are I want to meet you.

Learn

At SXSW, I think the motto is “kill then with content”. I likened last year’s SXSW to going to college with all of the people you wanted to be there with. This year there are so many appealing session, I am triple and quadruple “booked” on my schedule for some time slots. There simply will not be enough time to take in everything. I am not worried. I do not think you can lose at SXSW. If you do, the next session is bound to change your attitude.

If you would like to meet me, please see my google profile. http://bit.ly/smgoogle. It has all of my various connection points including location based (stalking) stuff. I am looking forward to seeing you at SXSW.

What about the parties? I am sure you will see me at a party or two, but I will not choose them over beers in a bar with local craft brew, a chance to make a cool video or a opportunity to meet with the Wired, Gowalla or WOXY gangs!

What are you hoping to get from SXSW?

Or, Why i’m F***ED in the Cogaoke Competition

Why am I doing this competition? I do like Karaoke.

A lot.

But I’m also way more than a little curious about response rates in social media.

Climbing a BIG Hill

I appreciate your votes friends, but let’s take a look at what your friendly, neighborhood Schneider-man is up against.

I need to be in the top 15 to be in the competition. Let’s assume that I have 50% active following. That would be ~1350 people.

• I currently have 218 votes and sit in 28th place.
• TonyBGoode is in 15th place with 583
• RogerNiner is at the top with 1153.

This means I need 365 incremental votes just to overtake Tony and 935 to get to Roger.

Awesome! If my active followers each have (on average) 2 browsers and are savvy enough to use them, that means I need between a 14 and 35% response rate to get into the game! And this all assumes that people stop voting for anyone but me! There are still 3 days left and you can vote from each browser daily.

Recent efforts from me and from friends (I love you people) have resulted in between .01 and 1% response rates depending on their audience sizes. Yes, I’m counting responses as votes, not just clicks on the URL.

So. Who wants to help prove the numbers wrong? What response rate ranges have you documented for similar requests?

Here’s the URL: http://bit.ly/smcogaoke if you want to promote it. Or click here to vote now

Google Buzz has the potential to be THE ultimate social media dialogue and content aggregation machine. Here are three short-term ideas that will make it infinitely more usable and convert the skeptics.

Compact the Content

Problem: Showing the buzz and all the comments (even just 10 – and how are they decided?) is really noisy. Particularly when you follow people who get serious engagement like Jason Calacanis, Pete Cashmore and “Mr. Noisy” Robert Scoble. Users will decide when they want to read the comments. Result: more content is read. I do not see a decrease in engagement. The people who don’t like to read comments were not going to read them anyway.

Filter Out Channels

Problem: Some people are still using multiple social media tools. They want to continue to use them for what they like to use them for and they are not coming to Buzz to have that content duplicated. OK. Let them remove the content they do not want to see. Caveat: They can’t remove Buzz original content.

Here’s a quick and easy way to remove the content you do not care about.

Clicking “Filter Channels Options” takes your to this screen that allows you to set options globally and also to change your mind if you decide you want the content back. (Yeah, I grabbed the channels from FriendFeed).

Make Buzz Post to Twitter

That’s game over.

The Chinese Spring Festival (Chun Jie 春节), what we call Chinese New Year, is currently in progress. This is the biggest holiday in China and has many awesome traditions. One of these is the Lion Dance.

Often mistaken for Dragons, the Lions will be in Chinatown this Sunday, February 21, 2010. The Southern style lion dance is a ritual to scare away evil spirits and bring good luck and fortune to a shop. The local Kung Fu troops will be parading through Chinatown from ~10AM-5:00PM.

So how do you enjoy the event without having any idea what it is about?

Don’t Just Stand There

This isn’t a typical parade. You can actually follow the action from shop to shop and there will be plenty of gong fu troops with (usually) 2 lions, a buddha, firecrackers and a drum. Shopkeepers place a bowl full or lettuce, oranges and red envelopes in front of the shop. The Lions come to the shop, jump on the bowl, eat the lettuce, throw the oranges and grab the envelopes. Then they go into the shops and restaurants to scare away the evil spirits. When they leave, the shopkeeper tosses firecrackers at them to scare them off.

The Lion dances can be a little intense with the firecrackers, so keep the kids close. They like the colorful costumes and enjoy the dance, but sometimes the bangs can be a little much. If they get scared, then go to a restaurant or bakery.

Plan to Eat

Come early to Hei La Moon, Chao Chow City, Emperor’s Garden or China Pearl to have dumplings, buns and tea. This is called dim sum. Har Gao / Xia Jiao is a shrimp dumpling. Shu Mai is a pork dumpling. The sticky rice in lotus leaf is delicious and has meat and other delights inside. Ask for pork buns or “nai wong bao”, which is a delicious custard bun. They’ll be surprised you even know about this one. My kids love it.

Remember, the lions come into the restaurants so have your camera ready.

If Dim Sum is not your style or you come later in the day, Vinh Sun has extremely delicious Hong Kong style food with roast pork that melts in your mouth. They also have dishes served in sizzling hot clay pots that are winners. It’s better to get a group together when you go for Chinese food. Dishes are meant to be shared. Shabu Zen’s cook-as-you-eat hot pot is a unique and delicious experience. They have 2 locations. One is in Allston, one in Chinatown. It’s kind of like Japanese Tapas. Hei La Moon’s “feasts” are authentic and incredible. Ask for the Chinese menu. They have seafood and non-seafood feasts for 4, 8, 12 – more.

Hit the Bakery

My favorite is Hing Shing. I love their custard buns, cookies and coconut bars. The cookies are also delicious and the prices are insanely low. Other people swear by Ho Yuen and Eldo Cake House. There are plenty of bakeries in Chinatown to enjoy and no one, except maybe the owners, would fault you for going to more than one!

Follow the Action

When you are not eating, follow the action around. Throw a kid on your shoulders and follow a gong fu troop. It’s a great way to get to know Chinatown. Pop into the shops, talk to the people, grab a bubble tea, a snack, or menu for next time.

Chinese Lesson 中文

Try these out when you’re in Chinatown

新年快乐 : Xin1 Nian2 Kuai4 Le4 /Shin Nee-en Kwai Luh/ This means “Happy New Year”
恭喜发菜：Gong1 Xi3 Fa1 Cai2 / Gong She Fa Tsai / This also means “Happy New Year” but literally means “Congratulations on your Riches”

Happy Year of the Golden Tiger! Hope to see you there.

FriendFeed is the ultimate Social Media communication and aggregation tool and Google recognizes this. Enter Google Buzz 1.0 which is basically a clone. The big advantage over FriendFeed is that it has an instant, enormous audience.

FriendFeed is like fine china. It’s beautiful. It’s elegant. It makes you feel happy to use it, but you rarely do. Google Buzz is like your everyday plates and bowls. At the end of the day, they both do pretty much the same thing, but you use the more ordinary of the two a hell of a lot more often.

People are taking a serious look at Google Buzz. According to Mashable, Buzz has had over 9 million posts at the time I published this post. People are in test mode. The question is whether or not it will stick. If Google wants to keep the buzz going or even be a buzzkill for Twitter and Facebook, there are 3 key features that will all but guarantee they become the preferred platform

Analytics

Integrate with Google analytics.They could start with “URL shortener style” analytics for each buzz. Engagement metrics are key. Give people an idea of how often and how long people are engaging with Buzz content. Hits over time, sliced by location would get everyone very excited. “Time per Buzz” would also be very cool.

Mobile Apps

One of FriendFeed’s downfalls was that it had nothing resembling a mobile application. It’s not enough to be able to contribute content through the web browser, people want native apps. Once Buzzdeck, Buzzmic, HootSuite for Buzz and Buzzie hit the iPhone apps store or are downloadable to Blackberry, you can stick a fork in Twitter. Google Buzz launched with an API., so this is most likely around the corner. If you are working on a Google Buzz iPhone application, I would like to talk to you.

Filter

This feature is also known as the Scoble volume control. Is it me or is that guy noisy? As Google allows more sites like posterous, tumblr, foursquare, gowalla, brightkite, digg, de.licio.us etc to be aggregated, streams will become more Scobley (noisy). Google Buzz allows us to setup groups, which essentially are the same at lists in Twitter, but it would be awesome to be able to filter out content.

(Did I mention Scoble being noisy? He sure is.)  For instance, lets say I do not care, or it is against my religion, to know what is happening in Twitter. Or lets say that on Tuesdays, all I want to see new blog posts. If Google Buzz would allow me to filter out channels, it would succeed where FriendFeed failed.

What else would you like to see in Buzz?

Article title by Kevin Long: http://www.longshotsprophoto.com