Gone But Not Forgotten



Hello, you've landed on DATA eh? - Open Data Toronto's original blog space for data discussions. This is not an active blog at the moment but legacy posts are still here. Have a read ... you can still provide comments.



Thursday, September 30, 2010

The City of Leon and something about something about something and something else

NOTE: This is content from the web re:Brand posts going back to November 2010. We have kept the re:Brand posts as a legacy archive but, on a go forward basis as of October, 2011, the new DATA eh? content takes over this space.

The re:Brand team was talking just this week about the parable of the tortoise and the hare.  Maybe toronto.ca is a bit like the tortoise. In a rebrand (redesign or refresh) context, we haven't gotten to the release stage of presenting major changes to the web yet and other city sites are ahead of us.

Of course, there are some examples right now that our users can see and ponder (see Parks, Rec & Forestry pages) but no whole scale, final, "this is it" changes from us yet.

This is why it's a bit ironic to find out about the City of Leon. Apparently they got their website done in 24 hours!

Amazing
When I stopped by and saw they have 2400 residents there it did give me pause. In fact, I think you could phone each and everyone of them - that's quite possible - to engage in conversation rather than using twitter or facebook (which they are doing). You know, if the phone were invented now, it would be the next big thing.

Anyway, it's a bit of apples vs. oranges to compare our challenges to their challenges.  I won't even go there but I will say ... kudos Leon!



And kudos to Luke Fretwell who posts about his effort in the process on his blog. If this doesn't illustrate something about something about something and something else I don't know what does. (fill in the somethings for me ...)

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

What The Wall and toronto.ca have in common

NOTE: This is content from the web re:Brand posts going back to November 2010. We have kept the re:Brand posts as a legacy archive but, on a go forward basis as of October, 2011, the new DATA eh? content takes over this space.


Roger Waters (ex of Pink Floyd) made three appearances in Toronto last week touring The Wall Live. I saw the show and it was, in a word, spectacular!  I'm always trying to come up with interesting analogies for the re:Brand effort and there are several items worth mentioning coming out of the show.

In the first instance The Wall is all about alienation/isolation and how to deal with issues surrounding alienation/isolation.  If you look at our web you might say we alienate users whenever we provide bad web or bad web experiences.  We sometimes isolate ourselves and users by not providing enough information. We may not be as brutal as the Pink character's teacher or mother or wife but users do get alienated all the same.  

Roger aters and band on stage - picture taken by Keith McDonald

I took this picture at the show

Is There Anybody Out There?
One of the most powerful moments in the show is when the wall is built across the stage and the band is performing behind it. In song, Waters asks the question: "Is there anybody out there?"

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The new fall TV season and toronto.ca

NOTE: This is content from the web re:Brand posts going back to November 2010. We have kept the re:Brand posts as a legacy archive but, on a go forward basis as of October, 2011, the new DATA eh? content takes over this space.

What's the "new. exciting fall TV line up" got to do with toronto.ca?  Absolutely nothing directly ... but I think it's fair to say the risks to the networks when launching new TV shows are similar to the risks we face in launching a re-branded website.

Locally, if not even globally, our audiences have as much to gain and as much to lose by anything we do new or change. It may not seem to be at the level of Jay Leno moving to Prime Time and back to late night again (Hello, Goodbye Conan), but, in our little piece of the communications universe, it's pretty important.


All About Ratings
I've been posting here frequently about how the user experience has to be better when surfing toronto.ca. To me that's akin to a viewer liking a show enough to come back week after week, making the program a ratings hit.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

We want it!

NOTE: This is content from the web re:Brand posts going back to November 2010. We have kept the re:Brand posts as a legacy archive but, on a go forward basis as of October, 2011, the new DATA eh? content takes over this space.


This video caught fire since we posted it to our City of  Toronto YouTube channel.


It's part of a full radio and TV campaign for recycling electronics. It's well done, educates while amusing viewers.


That's good communication by my book.


But I wonder how far we can take it?


I mean, the City probably couldn't sell the harder and delicate issues we face this way ... or could it?


Part of the issue with social media is that it is not a given audiences will come in huge masses and partake. (Ha, ha, the re:Brand blog is an example of that!) Indeed, the work has to have something about it that stimulates enough to make it "comment worthy" or "share worthy" thus becoming "buzz worthy" and maybe "influence worthy".


So it's food for thought ... how do you want to receive your information? With a smile attached to it ... a nod and a wink or deadpan serious? Is there a middle ground?


How about time and place - when is it OK to move along the "funny ha ha" spectrum and when isn't it?


Some of your thoughts would be helpful as we go forward in reviewing how we present content at toronto.ca.



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#33/2010

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

ottawa.ca is to Ottawa as __________ is to __________

NOTE: This is content from the web re:Brand posts going back to November 2010. We have kept the re:Brand posts as a legacy archive but, on a go forward basis as of October, 2011, the new DATA eh? content takes over this space.

Ottawa is yet another city to launch a changed website this year.  Now, of course, we are getting pretty close to home with Ottawa being in the same province.

So, I thought I'd title this post with the same type of "fill in the blanks" we've been throwing out on twitter from time to time - "our website is to the City as blank is to blank". We get an idea of how users see the website in relation to the City itself.

Love to hear your comments on what we might take from Ottawa.

I personally like the fact they are promoting their social media presence right on their home page with twitter, YouTube and flickr links as well as a dedicated twitter feed. On the screen capture I added to this page, I selected the YouTube link so you see a video segment in what is normally the twitter feed box.


I note also the spot underneath the social media spot for comments on the site changes. We would like to bump our comments presence on our website too but make it directly associated with specific web pages. I've long felt we'd get more comments if users could address their issues right from the pages they are on - we could also better associate what issues specific pages present for users.  What I'm talking about is what Google and others do at the end of pages - "Was this helpful?" etc.

Anyway, congratulations Ottawa ... who's next up for changes? We're still a ways away.

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#32/2010