Category Archives: government information
Which is preferable: Invasive or Intrusive? (aka the Future of Canadian Census)
Back in July, when the kerfuffle over the long form census was fresh, I accused the Harper government of being disengenuous in their claims that changing the long-form census from mandatory to voluntary was due to privacy concerns over the … Continue reading
Filed under democracy, ethics, government, government information, inclusion/exclusion, privacy
The metered Internet threat to innovation & access to information
Remember the early days of mass public access to the world wide web? Back when AOL was king, noisy dial-up modems were par for the course and having any graphics on a webpage was super-fancy? Remember in 1993 or so, … Continue reading
A Day in my Life, with Census Data
To follow up on my last post about census data, and a great conversation with some local librarians a couple of weeks ago, I decided to try to brainstorm the ways census data impacts my daily life. I’m not talking … Continue reading
Filed under government, government information
Wanted: Catchy Census PSAs
Believe it or not, Rafe Mair brought it home for me in his recent Tyee article. He boils down his response to: I must say, without intending to hedge, that my opposition takes the form of simple questions. Why do … Continue reading
Filed under democracy, government, government information
Census Privacy is the Harper gov’t's Girl-Power Barbie
I’m going to go ahead and assume anyone who’s reading this blog knows about the Canadian government’s recent decision to scrap the mandatory long-form national census, and attempt to replace it with a voluntary “National Household Survey” (NHS). I’m going … Continue reading
Filed under ethics, government, government information, inclusion/exclusion, privacy
New Librarian and Archivist of Canada…an Economist?
What does it mean that the new Librarian and Archivist of Canada is neither a librarian nor an archivist; not even an author, but rather an economist? Daniel J Caron has been with Library & Archives Canada since 2003, in … Continue reading
Filed under government, government information, LIS education, preservation, The Profession
The Olympic Games & Information Issues (for those who don’t live here)
Most people who live in British Columbia are well aware of the multitudinous controversies surrounding the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, which will take place in Greater Vancouver & Whistler next February. However, when I talk to friends and family from … Continue reading
Filed under community development, copyright, government information, IP, privacy, privatization
Who CAIRS about Access to Information? (hint: Not Steven Harper)
The Canadian policy wonk blogosphere has been abuzz with the breaking of the news last week that the Tories (capital-c Conservatives for the non-Canuck readers out there) sent out a notice to civil servants advising them reporting access to information … Continue reading
Filed under government, government information, Intellectual freedom
