I love version 1.1s — that first post-launch release which bridges the gap between prophecy and reality. If there aren’t a lot of changes in your 1.1 you’re either a design genius or not paying attention. No plan survives first contact with the enemy, as the saying goes, so after three days compiling Suttonboro this is what I’ve learned.
August, 2008
18
Aug 08
Twittering Sutton
Problems:
1. Sutton Council’s Latest News section doesn’t have an RSS feed or any easy way for the public to track it other than by visiting it regularly.
2. The Sutton Guardian has more dirt than diamonds (although at least it has a feed).
3. Other things happen that don’t get reported.
4. You don’t have time to plough through two dozen websites to keep track of what’s going on in Sutton.
Solutions:
1. Visit http://twitter.com/suttonboro for a concise, well-edited overview of borough activity.
2. If you use an RSS reader, subscribe to the feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/suttonboro
3. Subscribe to the latest updates by email, if that’s your thing.
Enjoy.
16
Aug 08
Hack your world
First came the guerilla gardeners, sowing seeds and planting plants in public places without permission.
Then there were the guerilla benchers, installing street seats where the local authority had been too poor or too mean to do it themselves.
On the web, a growing community of civic hackers has been building sites on top of public information to mash it up in new ways that the publishers hadn’t imagined or didn’t have the means or motive to build.
