Earlier this year, Thornley Fallis & 76design worked with the Office of Consumer Affairs at Industry Canada as Secretariat for the Consumer Measures Committee to design and develop a new online presence for the Canadian Consumer Handbook.

Launched in April 2010, the handbook provides users with a searchable and easy-to-navigate platform as well as the option to build a customized handbook that only contains information they are interested in.

The Handbook is intended to help users become better-informed and more confident consumers. It offers information on a wide range of topics such as online shopping, contracts, housing and home renovations, identity theft, collection agencies, and much more, to help users build their buying skills.

Along with consumer tips, the Handbook includes a directory of government and non-government contacts useful to consumers.

The Handbook was created and is updated by the Consumer Measures Committee. This Committee is a joint federal/provincial/territorial committee which provides a forum for national cooperation to improve the marketplace for Canadian consumers, through the harmonization of laws, regulations and practices and through actions to raise public awareness.

After reading this article in the Ottawa Citizen, I went to the National Do Not Call List Website to, at long last, register my phone number to reduce the number of telemarketing calls I receive.  The registry “came online” today.

Unfortunately, here’s what I got…

I guess the CRTC wasn’t ready for the number of Canadians that would immediately want to take advantage of the registry.

Yesterday I substituted for Joe Thornley and chaired a conference in Ottawa about Social Media for Government. The conference was hosted by the Advanced Learning Institute under the direction of Kelly Flynn, who put together a one-of-a-kind event.

The attendees were engaged, interested (and interesting) and all were either operating with social media tools now or preparing to launch them in the near future. It was a high-energy day with ideas, innovation, thought-leaders and learners collaborating together in sessions, presentations and meals. (Kudos to ALI for creating dynamic lunch and supper sessions that offered both choice and networking.)

Joe has a following among innovators who are active with social media tools and there were a number of people who already interact and communicate with him now plus a new cadre of people who joined social media sites–for the first time–yesterday and learned directly from Joe how to make these cutting-edge tools a part of their work lives.

This was a connected day. I was learning myself while chairing the day and I made some great contacts among the crowd.

Today (Weds) Thornley Fallis was again present; Joe is back to chair and lead the day while John Sobol and Nick Rusczkowski (my colleagues) presented at the morning session.

I will be adding more information about individual sessions as soon as I touch base with the presenters. As a teaser, however, I can announce that there are a number of federal government entities who are planning to launch social media tools in the near future. What I would like to do is post some Q&A sessions on CapitalPR with these innovators and share their message and knowledge with  an even broader base.

About a year and a half ago I blogged that the Government of Canada had posted on Merx a draft standing offer for communications services for industry to provide feedback on.

• We ranked 3^rd out of the 8 bidders that qualified

Public Relations Services (EN578-060191/026/CW)

• We ranked 2^nd out of the 3 bidders that qualified

• We ranked 3^rd out of the 10 bidders that qualified

Blogs, links, jumps, sidebars, comments and emails. Spend enough time on the Internet and you will come across hundreds of thousands of each one.

This one lead me to this.

Then I saw this and I encourage you to read it. It is important, it is Canadian, and it is good. I am even going to encourage you to forward the link to people you know.

Then I read this.

No matter what happens over the next few weeks the spirit of these discussions will not go away. Even the requirement that foreign journalists will need to apply for access to Tiananmen Square 24 hours in advance if they want to interview, broadcast or film in the plaza won’t turn this story off. (Intrepid journalists will, I believe, find people to interview, film, record and photograph at other venues. I’ve visited Tiananmen Square and it isn’t the only venue in Beijing where one can reasonably expect to find citizens milling about. It is, after all, a big city.)

It is just not possible, you see, to shut the Internet down. Nor can true public conversation be silenced. Shouts might become whispers but never silence.

I have been labouring under the misconception that people (youthful ones, usually) were “running the Internet” but it appears now that I have been wrong. All this time the ‘net has been under the control of the Chinese government.

If you don’t believe me click here.

Promising journalists one thing and then delivering another is never a wise move.

Quoted:

HE SAID:
Jacques Rogge, IOC President

“I’m not going to make an apology for something that the IOC is not responsible for,” Rogge said. “We are not running the internet in China. The Chinese authorities are running the internet.”

SHE SAID:
Giselle Davies, IOC Spokeswoman

IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies blamed Rogge’s use of the words “no censorship” on the fact that English is not the Belgian’s first language.

“There’s been no change in the IOC’s position,” she said. “Again, I think we are trying to hang on every single word often spoken by people whose mother tongue isn’t English. Let me be clear again: The IOC would like to see open access for the media to be able to do their job.”

HE CLARIFIED:
Kevan Gosper, IOC Press Commission

IOC press commission head Kevan Gosper has said that open reporting may not be possible with the Olympics in a “communist society.”

“I guess there will be some debate as we move toward the games if there are sites that may or may not be open,” Gosper said.

“And the line between what could be considered as a national-interest issue might be a bit blurred. But we’ll work on it and we will deal with any potential grievances.”

I recently came across the Government of Canada’s Professional Services Online (PS Online), an electronic procurement tool, administered by Public Works and Government Services Canada, that assists federal departments in the procurement of professional services.

I came across it when reviewing PWGSC’s Office of Small and Medium Enterprises (OSME) website.  The objective of the OSME is to support SMEs by working to reduce barriers and by simplifying requirements for SMEs that want to do business with the Government of Canada.

The Government of Canada, over the years, has had numerous, similar tools (which we have registered for) aimed at simplifying the purchasing process for buyers and suppliers. After reading about PS Online, and before registering Thornley Fallis and 76design on it, I wanted to make sure one of our previous registrations (e.g Contracts Canada) hadn’t already been rolled into it, in which case I’d be duplicating our entries.

The website didn’t really tell me if or how I could check this, so I called as I felt it would be easier to discuss this with someone directly rather than go back and forth on email. I was greeted by a voice message telling me they weren’t accepting phone calls about PS Online due to high volumes and I should submit my question via email or fax. So I sent an email within a few minutes of placing my call.

As an organization that regularly works with the federal government – where we have a bunch of great clients and frequently get the opportunity to work on some great projects – I’m optimistic that this new system, PS Online, will assist both buyers and suppliers of professional services through the sometimes difficult and expensive (for both parties) procurement process.

I will let you know once I receive a response to my email, either register as a supplier or update our listing, and hopefully have a client use the system to contract for our services.

These tools are always a good idea, but where they seem to have fallen short in the past is on the communications/awareness raising of them.  That is, not enough resources are allocated to promote the availability, function and benefits of the tool to both buyers and suppliers.  For example, we are a regular supplier to the federal government and are based in Ottawa — I stumbled across PS Online basically by accident. 

Has anyone, as a supplier or buyer of PR, communications or creative services, had experience with PS Online that they’d like to share? And/or how did you learn of its existence? 

Prominent Canadian military and defence reporter, David Pugliese, who writes for the Ottawa Citizen, has his articles published in other CanWest Global newspapers and is also the Canadian correspondent for Defense News has started a blog called Defence Watch on Canada.com.

David’s first post was on December 10th and to date he’s posted 11 times, more than once a day. Given I have a few defence industry clients at Thornley Fallis, I’ve subscribed to and will be following David’s blog intently.

I’ve been meaning to post about this for a couple of weeks.  Jack Aubry beat me to it in today’s Ottawa Citizen.

I live at Somerset and Kent, one block West of the intersection of Bank and Somerset, and BTW pay the inflated municipal property taxes that come with a downtown home.  The now 60–day closure of Bank Street from Cooper to Maclaren, and Somerset Street from O’Connor to Kent has been a real pain in the ass for area residents who would normally drive through this intersection several times a day.  Not to mention the lost revenues for the businesses on those blocks, which Mr. Aubry discusses in his article.

The closure is made worse by two relatively new traffic installations on Cooper and Maclaren streets.  A no straight across O’Connor Street when travelling East on Cooper (an Eastbound one-way) and a no straight across O’Connor Street when travelling West on Maclaren (a Westbound one-way).  These two streets and no straights are indicated with red arrows and Xs on the map below.

Now someone almost died when the building that formerly housed the Duke of Somerset Pub, Lockmaster Tavern and Somerset Hotel partially collapsed during construction on October 19, 2007, so it was important for the City of Ottawa to secure the area and make sure there were no further life-threatening incidents.  But its now been two months and the streets remain closed. 

Also, they’ve had at least one police car and officer, sometimes more, stationed there 24–hours a day for this entire period.  How much is that costing?!?!  Maybe the pending property tax increase would be lower without this expense?

Finally, to the point of this post…

As someone that lives one block from the street closure, I’ve received absolutely no direct communication from the City of Ottawa letting me (and my Centretown neighbours) know what’s going on.  How difficult would have it have been for the City to mail-drop a letter or two to Centretown residents?  There’s also no information posted about it on the City’s website. When are organizations going to learn that simply keeping people informed goes a long way towards lowering frustration and dissatisfaction with service?  And it shows people that you are on top of the situation and care about the impact and people being affected.

I travel a bit, sometimes more for my volunteer activities than for my work (sorry, kids!)

A recent trip left me with a great impression of Detroit, and I never even left the airport.  Indeed, the last time I travelled to Detroit in 2003, I did not really think much of the airport, or of the city. 

This time, however, I was impressed with the quality of the airport facility itself and with some of the little touches they have that indicated to me that the airport authority is thinking about marketing the city frequently.

Airports are the welcome mat to your community, and that’s why they are such a key piece of infrastructure.  People who don’t travel often may not appreciate it, but airports have an impact on investment decisions, on future partnerships, and on a whole host of intangibles that you would not sense from looking solely at the airport — itself — as a business.

Detroit’s welcome mat is now very impressive — bright, airy, modern and spacious, with a look and feel of a city on the move.  Kudos to the designers, etc., although there’s probably been cost overruns, and other challenges, as there always are on these types of projects.

To be honest, however, the thing that stuck with me was the number of languages the airport used to broadcast the kinds of general announcements airports always announce — you know, the “the Detroit airport is pleased to offer a non-smoking environment” ones.  They announced these in six languages, and that told me Detroit thinks of itself as a city of the world.

So why does that matter?  It matters because that’s where the world is going — major urban centres that will thrive are the ones that can welcome diverse cultures and welcome the business they bring.  Airports are hubs of economic and social activity, and they must demonstrate a recognition of their role as a network hub for a world in motion.

In short, I think Detroit gets it, and for all of the city’s challenges in recent times, the airport – at least — told me the city was headed in the right direction.  Indeed, it made me want to come back and visit, and when was the last time you said that about an airport?