Posted it on my bluesky account. waiting to see if any of my minuscule cohort of woke lefty followers like it:)
Yes on free/discounted passes for downtown workers (public and private)
PILTs are always fun. Must say I agree with the courts. But the feds can make up the difference through other means (TRANSIT FUNDING !!!)
Here's my bugaboo about City post-covid. Staff barely answer their emails, feel free to ghost people for months, won't come to IRL meetings. This is so not good.
The Twitter/X and Facebook newsfeeds are algorithmically filtered to maximize ad click revenue. These days, they are also being used as raw material to train LLMs, sometimes without the consent of the participants.
The algorithm leads to you not seeing everything from people you want to hear from. If I’m following the City twitter account, will I actually see a “newsflash” post from them? Or will it sink beneath the waves because the algorithm expects it will get more ad clicks from me if it serves up Ryan Reynolds videos? In the meantime, what I see is being massaged to the point that my political views are being pushed to one end of the spectrum or the other, leaving little common ground for people of differing viewpoints to agree on.
Joanne, representing a viewpoint shared by many, suggested that “Nazi” comparisons are going too far. I’d say they’re on point these days. Trump et al aren’t in the early stages of following that playbook, they’re *well* into it. And Musk and Bannon slinging Nazi salutes just tells you how comfortable the leadership is becoming with those ideals.
Saying Twitter is still useful for disseminating info, or receiving it, is a little like saying you’ll put up with your friend’s fascist screeds because he gives you a lift to work in the morning. Also, it gives your friend validation.
I think the solution is simple, make the Ottawa.ca website the locus for all of this info. Put the energy into making that a good place to easily obtain the information that citizens need. Going a little farther, foster home-grown, or at least Canadian, social media platforms.
Thank you, Arthur. So having 240,000 followers does not necessarily translate into 240,000 followers seeing the City’s notice.
Your proposals make eminent sense. The problem is that the City's web site is a hopeless mess. Time and again, Google sends you to the right place when a search on the City's web site yields incomprehensible results. Even City employees have told me that's what they do.
I am like Carolyn: Without an email notification I pay no attention to social media posts. I don't scroll. I'm a deadbeat for ads because I never see them! I post on FB or Bluesky what I want to share, mostly petitions or my own substack posts.
I'm finding the quality of Google search results declining these days. But I think I'm a little like you - for a lot of things I will just put a bunch of suitable search terms into Google/DuckDuckGo/etc. and hope for the best.
Sadly, too often people create these communication tools to get a message *out* but never examine whether the message is *received*.
As an example, I recently pointed out to my councillor that I was able to see an unadulterated feed (no login required, all recent posts easily visible) in only one out the five social media links they had on their page. The YouTube "link" didn't even link to YouTube. I suppose that kind of information would indicate to the staff how important those links are to people if nobody is noticing things like that!
Unless there is some kind of sign-up by email to link me to the website (like I get to go to Engage), I probably would not go to the web page first. I find I miss too many notices without a quick email prompt. This would probably require a dedicated staff person.
No. If everyone stops using this toxic platform it will eventually be starved of oxygen and die which is what it deserves. I cancelled my account the day Musk bought it.
Great discussion as always. I hadn't heard about the plan for a tramway along Wellington!
If being on Twitter is about getting information to the public, that information should, at minimum, also be available on platforms which don't require a login. Bluesky let's you see posts without logging in (for now...) so that would be a good compromise. In a perfect world, the City would operate it's own open ActivityPub-enabled communications platform and crosspost to other social media sites.
On the topic of a U-Pass: How about a discussion on making public transit free to use? No passes at all, just get on the bus/train and ride.
Yes, we need to take a good, hard, look at the system and address the flaws that cause people to opt for their car. I recently played around on the OCTranspo website to see what their estimated travel times to some of my old destinations would be, and was disappointed to see that it actually takes *longer* to get to those destinations than it used to. Progress?!
Back to free transit. My take on it is that the taxpayer pays for it one way or the other, so why not save some money? How much money would we save by eliminating the fare architecture completely?
How much money would we save in infrastructure costs if we get a bunch of cars off the road and reduce wear and tear on the asphalt?
If enough people take public transit, we might even see savings in health care costs from fewer collisions causing injuries, and less pollution from exhaust and tire and brake wear. We can widen the bike lanes, too.
What about visitors who don’t pay Ottawa municipal tax? Let ‘em ride the bus/train! Maybe free transit will be a tourism draw - think of all those tourist bucks being spent around the city, by people who don’t have to figure out how they’ll pay (or if they want to pay) for a ride.
Apparently, free transit saves the operators a lot of strife, because there’s no worrying about people not paying the fare.
We could combine it with congestion pricing for the core as a cherry on the top.
We’ve made the car a priority for decades, and look what it’s gotten us. Congestion, pollution, and delays. Time to think differently.
No comment about Bluesky as I am not sure I am using it properly - like which tab do I set it on to get what I want to see (mostly news from my councillor). Could the city have its own tab? As for transit passes - I would love for all major employers to have UPasses - hospitals, Federal public servants, others with large # employers. Maybe the new Civic Hospital pay should automatically include the pass for all staff except the ER and doctors?
Posted it on my bluesky account. waiting to see if any of my minuscule cohort of woke lefty followers like it:)
Yes on free/discounted passes for downtown workers (public and private)
PILTs are always fun. Must say I agree with the courts. But the feds can make up the difference through other means (TRANSIT FUNDING !!!)
Here's my bugaboo about City post-covid. Staff barely answer their emails, feel free to ghost people for months, won't come to IRL meetings. This is so not good.
The Twitter/X and Facebook newsfeeds are algorithmically filtered to maximize ad click revenue. These days, they are also being used as raw material to train LLMs, sometimes without the consent of the participants.
The algorithm leads to you not seeing everything from people you want to hear from. If I’m following the City twitter account, will I actually see a “newsflash” post from them? Or will it sink beneath the waves because the algorithm expects it will get more ad clicks from me if it serves up Ryan Reynolds videos? In the meantime, what I see is being massaged to the point that my political views are being pushed to one end of the spectrum or the other, leaving little common ground for people of differing viewpoints to agree on.
Joanne, representing a viewpoint shared by many, suggested that “Nazi” comparisons are going too far. I’d say they’re on point these days. Trump et al aren’t in the early stages of following that playbook, they’re *well* into it. And Musk and Bannon slinging Nazi salutes just tells you how comfortable the leadership is becoming with those ideals.
Saying Twitter is still useful for disseminating info, or receiving it, is a little like saying you’ll put up with your friend’s fascist screeds because he gives you a lift to work in the morning. Also, it gives your friend validation.
I think the solution is simple, make the Ottawa.ca website the locus for all of this info. Put the energy into making that a good place to easily obtain the information that citizens need. Going a little farther, foster home-grown, or at least Canadian, social media platforms.
Thank you, Arthur. So having 240,000 followers does not necessarily translate into 240,000 followers seeing the City’s notice.
Your proposals make eminent sense. The problem is that the City's web site is a hopeless mess. Time and again, Google sends you to the right place when a search on the City's web site yields incomprehensible results. Even City employees have told me that's what they do.
I am like Carolyn: Without an email notification I pay no attention to social media posts. I don't scroll. I'm a deadbeat for ads because I never see them! I post on FB or Bluesky what I want to share, mostly petitions or my own substack posts.
I'm finding the quality of Google search results declining these days. But I think I'm a little like you - for a lot of things I will just put a bunch of suitable search terms into Google/DuckDuckGo/etc. and hope for the best.
Sadly, too often people create these communication tools to get a message *out* but never examine whether the message is *received*.
As an example, I recently pointed out to my councillor that I was able to see an unadulterated feed (no login required, all recent posts easily visible) in only one out the five social media links they had on their page. The YouTube "link" didn't even link to YouTube. I suppose that kind of information would indicate to the staff how important those links are to people if nobody is noticing things like that!
Unless there is some kind of sign-up by email to link me to the website (like I get to go to Engage), I probably would not go to the web page first. I find I miss too many notices without a quick email prompt. This would probably require a dedicated staff person.
There is a page on ottawa.ca where you can do just that - There are a variety of options for what kind of email you want them to send you.
No. If everyone stops using this toxic platform it will eventually be starved of oxygen and die which is what it deserves. I cancelled my account the day Musk bought it.
Don't post on X. Musk is just another oligarch who shouldn't be supported by Ottawa.
Great discussion as always. I hadn't heard about the plan for a tramway along Wellington!
If being on Twitter is about getting information to the public, that information should, at minimum, also be available on platforms which don't require a login. Bluesky let's you see posts without logging in (for now...) so that would be a good compromise. In a perfect world, the City would operate it's own open ActivityPub-enabled communications platform and crosspost to other social media sites.
Coun. Laine Johnson's thoughts: "I cannot stress how disappointed I was to learn of the opposition. To me, it seemed like a slam-dunk of a conversation." https://www.college-ward.ca/x_and_public_engagement_who_should_control_the_city_s_relationship_with_our_residents
On the topic of a U-Pass: How about a discussion on making public transit free to use? No passes at all, just get on the bus/train and ride.
Yes, we need to take a good, hard, look at the system and address the flaws that cause people to opt for their car. I recently played around on the OCTranspo website to see what their estimated travel times to some of my old destinations would be, and was disappointed to see that it actually takes *longer* to get to those destinations than it used to. Progress?!
Back to free transit. My take on it is that the taxpayer pays for it one way or the other, so why not save some money? How much money would we save by eliminating the fare architecture completely?
How much money would we save in infrastructure costs if we get a bunch of cars off the road and reduce wear and tear on the asphalt?
If enough people take public transit, we might even see savings in health care costs from fewer collisions causing injuries, and less pollution from exhaust and tire and brake wear. We can widen the bike lanes, too.
What about visitors who don’t pay Ottawa municipal tax? Let ‘em ride the bus/train! Maybe free transit will be a tourism draw - think of all those tourist bucks being spent around the city, by people who don’t have to figure out how they’ll pay (or if they want to pay) for a ride.
Apparently, free transit saves the operators a lot of strife, because there’s no worrying about people not paying the fare.
We could combine it with congestion pricing for the core as a cherry on the top.
We’ve made the car a priority for decades, and look what it’s gotten us. Congestion, pollution, and delays. Time to think differently.
short answer: NO
No comment about Bluesky as I am not sure I am using it properly - like which tab do I set it on to get what I want to see (mostly news from my councillor). Could the city have its own tab? As for transit passes - I would love for all major employers to have UPasses - hospitals, Federal public servants, others with large # employers. Maybe the new Civic Hospital pay should automatically include the pass for all staff except the ER and doctors?
That was so great to watch. I really miss the old Municipal Panel on Ottawa Morning.