IBMers from the Toronto Innovation Centre are inviting non-profit agencies to participate in learning sessions this Thursday May 19th. Open Doors is designed to educate senior level non-profit professionals in the use of online tools to drive community and volunteer engagement. Expert IBMers will share their knowledge and skills in Social Media, Collaboration and User Experience consulting. Watch the sessions live on the IBM GBS Channel. Session 1: User Experience (9:00 to 10:00 am) Session 2: Social Media (10:15 to 11:15 am) Session 3: Collaboration (11:30 to 12:30 am)

IBMers from the Toronto Innovation Centre are inviting non-profit agencies to participate in learning sessions this Thursday May 19th.

Open Doors is designed to educate senior level non-profit professionals in the use of online tools to drive community and volunteer engagement. Expert IBMers will share their knowledge and skills in Social Media, Collaboration and User Experience consulting.

Watch the sessions live on the IBM GBS Channel.

Session 1: User Experience (9:00 to 10:00 am)

Session 2: Social Media (10:15 to 11:15 am)

Session 3: Collaboration (11:30 to 12:30 am)

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What’s one major consequence of a city becoming a booming economic center? Increased traffic that leads to mind-numbing, stop-and-go commutes. IBM surveyed drivers in 20 of the world’s metropolises to see which city’s drivers experienced most traffic-related woes. Its Commuter Pain Index takes into account factors such as time drivers spent stuck in traffic, high gas prices, stress and anger caused by long commutes, and even instances where the specter of a bumper-to-bumper drive pushes drivers to cancel trips. Check out the results here.

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To be smarter, cities need to display their intelligence more explicitly. This means creating graphics and learning materials that help everyone in and not in the region understand clearly the pressures, trends, and emerging opportunities around the city. It’s not enough to talk about “Chicago” generally. Data and Information Visualization allows us to encode information into graphics. This unites the micro- (neighbourhood) and macro-economic (City-Region) views. To this end, cities might consider setting up new shops within GIS departments or somewhere similar. Perhaps a new position - Municipal Information Manager. Long-term, the work might be similar to Boston Municipal Research Bureau, yet much more visceral, multi-media, sensorial, absorbing. Toronto, Ontario #Visualizaiton #Diagramming

To be smarter, cities need to display their intelligence more explicitly. This means creating graphics and learning materials that help everyone in and not in the region understand clearly the pressures, trends, and emerging opportunities around the city. It’s not enough to talk about “Chicago” generally. Data and Information Visualization allows us to encode information into graphics. This unites the micro- (neighbourhood) and macro-economic (City-Region) views. To this end, cities might consider setting up new shops within GIS departments or somewhere similar. Perhaps a new position - Municipal Information Manager. Long-term, the work might be similar to Boston Municipal Research Bureau, yet much more visceral, multi-media, sensorial, absorbing.

Toronto, Ontario

#Visualizaiton #Diagramming

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LivingSocial Now Offers Daily Deals For 52 Cities – 25 More Than Yesterday

LivingSocial, the daily deal site that is often referred to as the main competitor to Groupon (see our extensive guide on group-buying sites in the United States and beyond here), is experiencing fast growth.

Rather than launching in one new city on a regular basis, like Groupon tends to do, the company this morning announced that it has added 25 live markets to its roster, nearly doubling the amount of cities it offers daily deals in.

The social commerce startup is now effectively live in 52 markets and 3 countries (the U.S., UK and Canada), now that it has added cities like Sacramento, Miami, Las Vegas, Toronto, Memphis, Buffalo, Detroit and Vancouver to the fray.

(Read more on Techcrunch)

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“From the freeways of Los Angeles to the canals of Amsterdam, cities are taking the lead in the fight to reduce carbon output. As world leaders squabble over how to cut greenhouse gases, city hall is becoming the best hope for climate action. Given their smaller jurisdictions, local officials can green-light eco-projects faster than nationwide schemes can be implemented. “We’re not going to wait for national politicians, we’re acting right now,” says Toronto Mayor David Miller, who plans to invest more than $1 billion in public transport and eco-friendly air-conditioning systems for buildings by 2017.”

Fighting Carbon Emissions: Cities Take the Lead - BusinessWeek

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methodinthemadness: I’ve only been seeing Toronto a short time, but I feel that taking the TTC everyday has brought Toronto and I closer as a couple. We go on fun dates, he introduces me to all sorts of people and I get to see him quite frequently. However, I’ve also been shown some of his less favourable characteristics. Toronto can be very cold and abrasive, and he can be unreliable. He is often late to pick me up. He doesn’t even call to tell me he’s going to be late. I think Toronto needs to work on his communication skills. Luckily MIT has developed a bus stop concept that would really help my relationship with Toronto. The EyeStop - unfortunately cheesily dubbed ‘the bus stop of the future’ - will help transform bus stops from unproductive uses of city space to interactive and informative travel centres. Touch sensitive screens allows users to plan their route, explore the web, learn about delays and get updated on wait times. They can also use their phone as an interface with the shelter to store trip information or post ads to electronic community announcement boards. As a bonus, the shelters are solar powered and will display urban pollutant levels. I know it may take awhile for Toronto to come around, but I’m hoping for our relationship’s sake he considers opening the communication lines. via fubiz

methodinthemadness:

I’ve only been seeing Toronto a short time, but I feel that taking the TTC everyday has brought Toronto and I closer as a couple. We go on fun dates, he introduces me to all sorts of people and I get to see him quite frequently. However, I’ve also been shown some of his less favourable characteristics. Toronto can be very cold and abrasive, and he can be unreliable. He is often late to pick me up. He doesn’t even call to tell me he’s going to be late. I think Toronto needs to work on his communication skills. Luckily MIT has developed a bus stop concept that would really help my relationship with Toronto.

The EyeStop - unfortunately cheesily dubbed ‘the bus stop of the future’ - will help transform bus stops from unproductive uses of city space to interactive and informative travel centres. Touch sensitive screens allows users to plan their route, explore the web, learn about delays and get updated on wait times. They can also use their phone as an interface with the shelter to store trip information or post ads to electronic community announcement boards. As a bonus, the shelters are solar powered and will display urban pollutant levels.

I know it may take awhile for Toronto to come around, but I’m hoping for our relationship’s sake he considers opening the communication lines.

via fubiz

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In Copenhagen, 14 of World’s Biggest Cities Commit to EVs : Gas 2.0 Fourteen of the world’s largest cities agreed to take steps over the coming year to make their cities more electric vehicle-friendly. The announcement was made at the ‘Climate Summit for Mayors’, which is being held alongside the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Half the world’s population lives in cities that account for more than two-thirds of carbon emissions. And as California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made the case in Copenhagen on Tuesday at the Climate Summit for Mayors during the UN COP15 climate summit cities and other sub-national units of government will play a critical role in implementing the kind of innovative solutions necessary to clean up our transportation infrastructure in a carbon-constrained world. In that vein, a group of fourteen of the world’s largest cities took a step in that direction in Copenhagen on Wednesday.

In Copenhagen, 14 of World’s Biggest Cities Commit to EVs : Gas 2.0

Fourteen of the world’s largest cities agreed to take steps over the coming year to make their cities more electric vehicle-friendly. The announcement was made at the ‘Climate Summit for Mayors’, which is being held alongside the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Half the world’s population lives in cities that account for more than two-thirds of carbon emissions. And as California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made the case in Copenhagen on Tuesday at the Climate Summit for Mayors during the UN COP15 climate summit cities and other sub-national units of government will play a critical role in implementing the kind of innovative solutions necessary to clean up our transportation infrastructure in a carbon-constrained world. In that vein, a group of fourteen of the world’s largest cities took a step in that direction in Copenhagen on Wednesday.

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IBM leads discussion on smarter cities at Toronto Forum for Global Cities

The world’s great cities are unsustainable on their current path. Half the planet’s population now lives in cities and that number will quickly hit two-thirds, placing incredible strain on the already-over-burdened systems and aging infrastructures that cities require to function.

On Tuesday, November 10th IBM will join leading experts to discuss urban challenges, helping to define the problem and identify potential solutions.

What: Smarter Cities Forum (part of the Toronto Forum for Globa Cities conference,

When: Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 8:30 am - noon

Where: Metro Toronto Convention Centre, North Building

                 255 Front St W
                 Toronto, ON
                 M5V 2W6

IBM leads discussion on smarter cities at Toronto Forum for Global Cities

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