#CBRM's Director of Tech Went to TecSocial to Talk "Smart Cities"

Joe Ward Follow Me

Posted this 2016-01-08 1:23 AM AST (updated 2016-01-29 1:40 PM AST)

CBRM's Director of Technology, John MacKinnon, joined the Innovacorp sponsored TecSocial monthly meeting in Sydney last night, hosted by Bob Pelley.

And he should be given big props for several reasons:

(1) his enthusiastic attitude and quiet acceptance of fair criticism on behalf of the CBRM,
(2) his list of IT related things CBRM has tried or would like to explore,
(3) his commitment to working more closely with the technology leaders in our community from here forward,
(4) his willingness to speak casually without any notable political bias,
(5) his invite to the tech stakeholders to look at projects involving taking over tickets.capebreton.ca, or tracking the location of the Transit Cape Breton fleet for bus passengers.

The room had a strong concentration of Sydney-based high profile names in the tech space - including Mike Targett of UIT, Richard Lorway of gocapebreton.com, reps for the recently announced Louisbourg Seafoods' technology initiative, Innovacorp I3 winner/local entrepreneur Jim Deleski, and others.

Perhaps the most prominent of those in the room was one of the founders of Protocase, Doug Milburn - who, by the way, employs a ballpark number of ~115 employees and growing in our tech sector (yes, we have one).

Protocase fabricates custom metal enclosures to meet any engineering or design need. And just in case that doesn't stir up the fizz in your soda pop enough, you should know that their customers include Apple, Boeing, Bose, GE, GM, Lockheed Martin, the US Army, NASA... and many more companies that are just as impressive. Their services are delivered here, pulling International revenues directly into the Cape Breton economy.

From what I've observed of Milburn so far at local events, he should be regarded as a bold, no-nonsense kinda guy. He's intelligent, passionate about his company, and committed to his community. And so it wasn't entirely surprising that he picked up on John MacKinnon's suggestion that the CBRM doesn't have any money to invest in the startup community or significant technology implementations.

So in keeping with Doug's no-nonsense style, during the Q&A period, his comment included displeasure with how the CBRM has come up with money for highly political investments like the greenfield site ($6 Million purchase price, a key asset in Sydney Port project), but not for technology.

And though perhaps not quite the tippy-toed approach to pointing out the obvious, it was a fair point for discussion. His assertion that the Sydney Port won't happen is a subject for debate - and one that is frequently undertaken. But Mackinnon took the right approach and didn't take a defensive position. A point that needed to be made was made and the Q&A continued.

The CBRM hasn't done enough to embrace and support the tech community. But this is an opportunity for them to get onboard. It was a good starting point, and we should hold Mr. MacKinnon to his commitment to more involved from here forward - and welcome him to stay connected.

For my own part, I'm not one to end many posts without an ask or suggestion. So I have a few incremental suggestions for John regarding technology and becoming a smarter city:

#1 Signup for a Twitter account. As the Director of Technology for the CBRM and now a part of the tech community, we want to engage with you in an open forum.

#2 Start uploading the council videos to youTube.com. This allows our community to easily share the videos into social media, cut out relevant bits of importance, comment on the video itself, or discussions around the videos within social media. These meetings are for the citizens to see. And uploading to youTube rather than a self-hosted copy on your server will help make that happen. Cost: $0 (same as current method; easier).

#3 Arrange with Mike Targett to come to UIT Startups to give a short presentation, and to observe what the current and future startup founders among the students are working on.

#4 Create an email signup list for tax sales (Tip: Use and notify anyone on the list prior to the sales. Consider this a precedent for similar periodic information updates on the site.

#5 Begin communicating on technology-related topics at gocapebreton.com, and contributing here.

The great thing about technology is that even incremental improvements have value. Small steps matter. And we invite you to start taking those small steps with us.

"If not the port, then what?" someone recently asked.

There is an answer. And it lies within our technology sector.

Posted by Joe Ward
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Matthew Butler Follow Me 2016-01-08 9:53 AM AST Reply 1 0 I was disappointed that I wasn't able to make it. Smart cities.. or well.. smart anything, is really part of my area of work at the moment. In particular, I'm currently in the process of working on integration of the Traccar (http://traccar.org) OpenSource GPS Tracking Platform which itself integrates with numerous vehicle GPS tracking systems. Once this is integrated into our platform it'll enable limitless possibilities on how to incorporate it with any other 'smart' technologies. Unfortunately I was stuck tweaking some bugs in the very link which is what prevented me from attending last night. Due to the time of the events it's often difficult for me to get out to make it quite often I find. Hopefully Bob can find a way to continue the conversation and collaboration after the event be it here or some other means to provide those who catch the YouTube video after the fact a way of keeping in touch as well. Joe Ward My Post Follow Me 2016-01-08 12:41 PM AST Reply 0 0 That relates specifically to an interest MacKinnon expressed with developing apps to track the bus locations for Transit users. He would probably be interested in meeting with you to get some insights into the tech.
Nigel Kearns Follow Me 2016-01-08 10:29 AM AST Reply 1 0 Sorry I missed this session, thrilled to be able to watch it now. Thanks for that TecSocial! Good talk all. Let's keep it going all the way to actual practice!
Richard Lorway Follow Me 2016-01-08 10:50 AM AST Reply 1 0 Hey Matthew: It was a good evening for sure. You can watch the full video recording here on goCapeBreton.com of course. And there was talk about organizing another event which would have the CBRM provide a more detailed view of their "platform" to the tech community, and invite them to find ways to co-develop new services, or help deliver existing services better. Very encouraging to hear.
Mathew Georghiou Follow Me 2016-01-08 11:11 AM AST Reply 1 0 Regarding #4, tax sale properties can be posted to the real estate map on goCapeBreton.com for free. We can also create a custom map for CBRM just for tax properties too. I remember reading long lists of tax properties in the newspaper for years and always thinking that it was such an inefficient way to discover the properties when there is a long list of addresses and no map. Just by putting them on a map would increase sales and bids for sure. Joe Ward My Post Follow Me 2016-01-08 12:52 PM AST Reply 1 0 When I went through the tax sale lists in the past, it was a tremendous amount of searching and driving along Google Street view to check stuff out. It would definitely be much more valuable presented on a platform like goCB and including a street view. As a part of a semi-related note, this tax sales process ends up catering specifically to our more affluent segment. Which makes sense as they are the ones able to buy the properties. People financially at risk (inability to pay taxes) lose properties to the affluent. It would be fantastic if some properties were eligible for a CBRM backed mortgage so that average income citizens could have a chance at securing a property at discount rates. It would be a great incentive for a municipality which may have challenges in mortgage eligibility due to economic stability, and perhaps the credit impact that can occur in challenging financial situations between jobs, etc. John MacKinnon` Follow Me 2016-01-08 1:11 PM AST Reply 4 0 good point guys - take a look at what an ex Cape Breton boy is doing and understand doing very well www.viewpoint.ca. Matthew, give me a call 563-0839 and see what we can do - we have tons of content like online booking of ice time, etc. Joe Ward My Post Follow Me 2016-01-08 1:14 PM AST Reply 2 0 I'm a huge fan of viewpoint.ca. :) Check out Tip #3 here: https://capebreton.lokol.me/7-critical-tips-for-cape-breton-home-buyers---dont-overpay John MacKinnon` Follow Me 2016-01-08 9:51 PM AST Reply 0 0 Great advise - the guy that built it is from Ashby.
madeline yakimchuk Follow Me 2016-01-10 8:18 PM AST Reply 0 0 It sounds like it was a very positive experience. I am really looking forward to seeing some of these suggestions put into action. Great initiative.
Peter Sheehan Follow Me 2016-01-11 7:20 AM AST Reply 0 0 Boys, for what it worth , the Province of NS and all the Municipalities are way behind when it comes to using technology to improve their operations . You need a leader(s) who has at least a basic understanding of business let alone business systems and business processes . My suggestion is to develop a master program and website design that would suit any municipality or province such that data can be easily found, especially financial data . Go to any municipal website and see how little financial an statistical data is there . Now, you realize the union boosters and the senior bureaucracy do not want anything "computerized " in general as that can erode their little empire .They forget to realize that there are far better jobs in managing computer systems and better municipal services than in shuffling index cards. Their councillors forget that they are there to represent and also watch what is going on with their constituents tax money. Tax sales ? Think it very easy to produce that kind of list that you want for a map . It just takes someone to marry the data that the municipality has in their tax accounting system to the data that sits on the province's Property On Line system . Joe : isn't it interesting though that municipalities never try to sell their "tax sale" properties on the open market ??? or fix them up and then try to sell them or rent them ( maybe as low income options) ??? What does your IT community need to better expand on the island ? Space to work ? workers to work ??? Investors ??? Fibre op ??? madeline yakimchuk Follow Me 2016-01-11 7:24 AM AST Reply 1 0 boys? Peter Sheehan Follow Me 2016-01-11 7:31 AM AST Reply 1 0 Oh , sorry .( I'm not an award winning journalist) madeline yakimchuk Follow Me 2016-01-11 9:07 AM AST Reply 0 0 I am not an award winning journalist either, but I'm also not a boy, and I had participated in the conversation just above you... it was sweet of you to recognize that you had excluded me. Joe Ward My Post Follow Me 2016-01-11 9:55 AM AST Reply 1 0 The technology community needs more people participating in it (coming here, staying here), more no-strings-attached funding programs or higher capital amounts available, more students going through an expanded UIT Startup program, and some way to recruit technology people to the island. IMO, the tech space in Cape Breton doesn't have a compelling USP (unique selling position), compelling way to differentiate itself, nor any competitive advantage. Even our active local tech space is frequently lured away to Halifax for Startup Empire, Volta events, hackathons, etc. Perhaps the most leverageable component is the low or weak competition. Someone from Halifax, Toronto, or even the United States could realize that the Spark competition (for example) has limited entries, frequent repeat entrants (myself included) among them, and a resulting lower competitive state. That program has kept very smart young developers like Brian Best in Cape Breton. For the time being, we've recruited him away from Ontario. My Spark proceeds were also helpful not having me start thinking more heavily about moving to Halifax. Aka, rent paid. BTW, I'm a software developer with 15 years of post-degree experience. However, I think we need to develop a unique differentiator. It isn't "fast Internet". They have that everywhere that matters. Nobody says they are leaving Halifax, or Toronto, or Vancouver, or any city or town that has basic broadband Internet access because Cape Breton politicians seem to think that's the big selling point. If they are talking about that, then it means they are struggling to come up with a differentiator. Expand UIT Startups to 100 students per batch, fully funded, a highly competitive process marketed across Canada. Then tie it directly to increased seed funding availability that those 100 compete for. You'd have the start of accelerating the build out of a tech community. But the key missing ingredient there is coming up with the funding somehow.
Joe Ward My Post Follow Me 2016-07-15 6:30 PM ADT Reply 1 0 Update for John MacKinnon, CBRM: Hi John, last week I launched a 15-point pledge and invited all district councillors, and their prospective challengers in the upcoming election, to accept it: https://capebreton.lokol.me/voters-demand-the-cbrm-councillors-pledge Though the challengers seem to be average to very skilled in terms of using social media, none of the current councillors have been able to post a reply. Only Deputy Mayor George MacDonald, and District #1 Councillor Clarence Prince, were able to respond via email. Granted, there are others including Eldon MacDonald, Saccary, and Doncaster who do have Facebook pages in place. ►REQUEST: Do you think it would be possible for you to put together a basic 1-hour presentation for the councillors instructing them: 1. How to use their email, including with a smartphone if they have one available, 2. How to create an account and verify it on goCapeBreton.com, 3. How to setup a basic Facebook page (fan page as a political figure), and 4. How to make updates on that page (see 3). That will ensure they are able to contribute to the public conservations that will be happening at goCB, Facebook and other social media platforms up until (and beyond) the election in October. I understand that several of them may be uncomfortable with even the basics of Internet technology. However, it's a part of the job, and I think they should be credited at least if they make an attempt to try it. Though I would caution that I'm an advocate for ensuring that our chosen council is one that is able to communicate effectively with modern tools - which are highly efficient, require very little time, and are highly cost effective (often free). The 4 items above, as you know, are just the absolute basics. If it came down to you or some support staff actually creating accounts for them, I think that would be a tremendous benefit to them, as well as the public who wants to know where they stand on many issues. John MacKinnon` Follow Me 2016-07-28 11:10 AM ADT Reply 0 0 Greetings Joe, I hope you are well. Sorry for the delay in responding. I was on vacation and attempting to get caught up. The Technology Department of the CBRM has always been supportive in providing technical assistance and training to Council on a variety of items including Social Media. Because the election is so close, I don’t think it would be prudent to offer structured training to the incumbents at the expense of those new vying for the opportunity to represent. I would agree and commit to providing Social Media training to councillors in an effort for them to be able to communicate via multiple channels as part of the orientation. Hope you have an enjoyable summer and look forward to meeting you one of these days and discuss some of the ideas we have in making the CBRM a “Smart City”. Please take care. Regards, John John MacKinnon, P.Eng. Director of Technology CBRM Joe Ward My Post Follow Me 2016-07-29 1:05 PM ADT Reply 0 0 Hi John, thank you for following up. The most imprudent course of action for the CBRM is having people elect familiar names without knowing what their commitment and focus is, who they are, what they stand for, and what they've done so far. That vote is binding for 4 years, and that's a long stretch of time in the rapidly declining CBRM. BTW, to clarify, I know you're not responding from a political standpoint, only as representative for your department, so I want to acknowledge that. Although it's not the only reason to raise the points I'm raising, it is certainly a big part of my focus at present. However, here's a problematic trend I should address. I've heard many suggestions that it's too late to do things now because of the election coming up, such as release of the audited financial statements of the Port of Sydney Dev Corp or replacing the board; handling the matter of the councillors' $140/week travel expenses without receipts (something they've been talking about for years); or getting them up to speed on how to communicate using the tools of communication that are commonplace now. Of course, only the latter pertains specifically to your role with the CBRM. None of these things are dependent on the election time frame. And all of these things could have, and should have been done before. The election campaigning cycle should never be an acceptable excuse for why things haven't been done. Joe Ward My Post Follow Me 2016-07-29 1:44 PM ADT Reply 1 0 I can mitigate your concerns in two ways. 1. You can invite all current councillors AND our current challengers to attend a session with instruction on how to communicate with social media. You can also release that presentation (PowerPoint or Slideshare format, or video, etc) so that it can be used as a guide on an ongoing basis for everyone, until such time as things change and new methods of communicating arise. 2. You can utilize the basic strategy as outlined by the goCapeBreton team in this article: https://capebreton.lokol.me/politicians-guide-to-using-social-media-to-win-hearts-and-minds It provides the easiest and least intimidating method of communicating using social media for those new to it. Of course, the importance of this method of communication goes far beyond election campaigning. Smartphones and Facebook have been around for a long time, and are commonplace communication tools everywhere, with deep market penetration even here in the CBRM. It's the most effective way to communicate, and the majority of council are not even making an effort. Given how little effort it would require to get them started, it would have a tremendous ROI. P Sheehan Follow Me 2016-07-29 4:14 PM ADT Reply 0 0 I suggest CBRM could become a leading example if it facilitated a forum on social media for ALL candidates to make their pitches and to answer questions . You know, a social media TOWN HALL. Is that so difficult to do ???