Monday 21 December 2015

Life According to the Book of Face



Usually agendas of upcoming Regular Council Meetings and Committees of the Whole (COW) are posted on the City's website on Friday afternoon prior to the following Monday's meetings. This so that anyone interested can check what's on and - for a public-input COW - possibly prepare thoughts to directly present within the once-a-month 15 minutes allowed to we-the-people. Or just go for the hell of it.


  



According to the Meeting Calendar there is to be a COW, 21 December. But by Fri. evening no agenda has been posted. This could be just an internal mis-whatever: seeing that the date has not been changed on the calendar; there is no announcement of the COW having been cancelled under Public Notices on the City's home-page; Sat. morning there is no notice on the City Hall bulletin-board in the lobby, where usually a hard-copy agenda is posted when.



Later a Councillor informs me in a reply that the mayor and several Councillors have gone away: there is to be no COW.
Later still I find out from the Star that they have received an email about the cancellation and a notice has been posted to that effect on the City's Facebook Page.

But for we-the-people - nothing! Unless we're on Facebook. But many aren't - choose not to be. Possibly for stronger reasons than those of habitual signer-uppers: the majority of subscribers.




The Book of Face
I recently address subscribing-or-not to the gospel according to Facebook and some limitations of that belief-system in

Wi/WiNotFi
9 Dec, 2015

City Staff's ...simple informal 2 question survey on the City's Facebook Page - regarding whether-or-not to Shaw GoWiFi in the parks - predictably results in the majority of acolytes cheering yes-yes-yes! With Staff - literally using the sanctity of The Book of Face - to disregard possible opinions of nonbeliebers. While results certainly are skewed - they're righteously proof enough to base a pro-WiFi decision on.
Good enough for all - because The Book says so! Or that used as a pretext.

Nellie Konkin - in a Star LETTER: Facebook poll unreliable indicator - expresses similar thoughts. But - wouldn't you know it! - while the Star still publishes occasional select letters: commenting directly on news-items there is only possible for - Facebookers. 


   










The comfort of living by the book!


But you still (as in thus far) have a choice:


You don't need to go to church to be a Christian. If you go to Taco Bell that doesn't make you a taco.
                                                                                Justin Bieber





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Monday 14 December 2015

To/At/From THE HEART



The City of Nelson will start planning the development of Railtown in January at a meeting with a new by-invitation group of stakeholders that includes business owners, landowners, developers, local government, and community groups.
                                            New stakeholder group will plan Railtown
                                                 Bill Metcalfe - Nelson Star, 8 Dec. 2015

Not in January: Kevin Cormack, City Manager, and David Reid, EcoDirector, have been at it for some time; how long exactly we - the great unwashed - don't know. As we probably won't in the coming days either, what with being decisively uninvited into this hush-hush-so-far supergroup of local consequence.
Who pulled this group together?
Who comprise it?
Who is running it?

Names?





Initially we are to be invited to a regular-folks-input in November - last month: results of which then possible to become part of the grand design for Railtown. The reasonable way to go: start at grass-roots level and - organically, one may say - grow upward. 
But what with the Cormack/Reid alliance just not willing to wait - not caring to be part of - their going-it-alone scuppers this growth-process: the input-meeting never happens, is never mentioned again, and wherever we are today: it's not Railtown. 

Pam Mierau, Approving Officer, Planning & Development - in a first-time thus laudable effort to keep us informed - will  enable us to track the progress of the Railtown plan and get public feedback on it through a specifically to be set-up website. Track - but not input-before-the-fact - you can look, but don't touch! - won't affect anything. Commenting impossible to be more than most of the usual natter in the Star.


 

Two Possible Railtown Scenarios

1. Scenario
A Tom Thomson - David Reid Axis

Railtown: the Nelson and District Chamber of Commerce (NDCC) in the CPR Station on the right - a Cottonwood Falls Market (CFM) on the left. Whatever else makes money in between.

NDCC - Tom Thomson
Clearly - the NDCC has seen itself as the centre of that universe since acquisition of the CPR Station. Strings pulled, favors called-in, tax-dollars tapped - it materializes. And there we now have a very costly Disneyland version of heritage. Tasteful color-harmonies; geraniums waiting to happen! Nice - but not swoon-worthy.



 
Not particularly novel either: a trend today in BC is to redo train-stations, still in actual use or as commercialized paeans to a sanitized heritage. Easy on the mud! For tourist-consumption - more directly: tourist money.
Which is what the NDCC is all about.
They now have more space than they could ever possibly, reasonably need - justifying it all with a Nelson Visitor Centre and the Nelson Star moving in to fill the void.



Less Visible Heritage
Several years ago, my interest in local history/politics becomes decidedly activist as the direct result of a visit to the Visitor Centre in its Hall/Lake quarters.
Discovering the decisive Chinese component in the making of Nelson, I ask for officialised written info on this. The person I speak with neither has anything nor is even aware of this local significance. Nothing of significantly participatory color on their history-website: white-on-white-in-white. While - drum-roll! - the location of the Visitor Centre then is in what used to be - Chinatown!
Aiyoh! - as we groan in Chinese disbelief!

Yet to be mentioned down by the tracks: the majority of workers building the Kootenay & Columbia Railway - therefore the CPR Station - are underpaid/overworked Chinese. Specifically brought in for their expertise and solid work-ethic hint-hint. Chinese then also running market-gardens close-by in the CPR flats, keeping Nelson healthy with bountiful, cheap produce.

Seemingly there are no plans for making the building culturally significant in real-time.

A power-base. 


     


CFM - David Reid
Rumored to have political ambitions - David Reid decides to create a brand-new market on his own - in his own image, so to speak. This on the left, in the very prime-location close to Cottonwood Falls and Japanese Park. With his very own very spacious parking-lot. We must wonder what further use - if any - Reid is planning for market-plus-parking during the rest of the week, month, year. Whatever it may be: his impressive superciliousness and relationship with Cormack should make it happen without a hiccup.
Disregarding what a development-plan for Railtown may develop into next year: Reid's exploratory plan now for his own market-design is funded with tax-dollars - while without us: the tax-payers.


Asked how this Railtown Plan will be coordinated with the development of a plan for the Cottonwood Market stalls which appears to be on a faster track to be completed by spring, Mierau said the timing is perfect and the two plans mesh well.

Neither timing nor plans mesh make sense. Separate realities. What's clear though is that we are not to know what the initiates know and do.
One possible explanation - with Reid also a member of the supergroup: the CFM may become primary focus, more so than (secondary?) Railtown proper.

Anyway - there it is: 
1. Scenario 
Thomson on the right, Reid on the left. 




2. Scenario
THE HEART
Is a multi-purpose meeting-place of exceptional design and function in Railtown.

Among others - it facilitates:
Easily convertible meeting-, class-, in/outdoor performance-space
Rental/lease based on specific need/time.
Easily convertible recording-, exhibit-, gallery-space
Rental/lease based on specific need/time
Easily set-up/taken-down Cottonwood Falls Market
Lease permanent part-time
Cafe
Lease permanent part-time/full-time

Nelson lacks spaces such as these: offering/combining them all centrally provides cultural focus, makes THE HEART a continuous draw for locals and tourists: users and visitors. It gives Nelson generally and Railtown specifically just that - a heart! 
Major plus: the infra-structure is simplified; parking is fully utilized at all times.
There is a symbiotic affinity with the Visitor Centre.

Of course it may be said: there's no money for this - predictably putting money before vision. Really meaning Nelson still is not ready for prime-time.
Possibly never will be unless.

Additional undertakings - commercial or otherwise - are supplementary, orbital.




 



There has never been visionary movement towards the exceptional, towards excellence in Nelson - with Nelson Commons an opportunity missed. This is the time! Whatever Railtown becomes will in large part determine Nelson's future. We can't afford to blow this simply for the short-term benefit of special interests.

A superficially heritage info-centre and a part-time market-extravaganza for whose benefit are good enough is not good enough.
    







Some may think this reality-check too blunt - so why should anyone pay attention to my 2. Scenario wish-list. Well, I have a vision of how good Nelson could be - and apathy of the greater whole - while comfy - won't get us there. But only further under control of a muscular segment - consistently favored by City Hall - and their ho-ho-ho all the way to the bank!





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Wednesday 9 December 2015

Wi/WiNotFi



In the Regular Council Meeting (RCM), 7 Dec, 2015
Staff proposes to Council a
Request for Decision
Topic: Permit public WiFi at various public places



WhoFi
Staff is asking for approval after they conducted a simple informal - in a word: shallow - 2 question survey on the City's Facebook Page, with the majority of 168 respondents in favor of such service - any service that makes them feel countable.
While going this route may seem the logical - and simplest! - way to get a sampling of public opinion: this opinion may also be lopsided, what with many computer-users not automatically, rather deliberately not being Facebookers and an ever-growing number of such leaving the fold. Thus their opinion clearly of great and needed value in deliberations on how to possibly fashion-or-not a contract agreeable to all between the City and Shaw.

In the RCM Councillors are asked verbally only to approve a first-step contract between Shaw and the City. A copy of this contract is not provided. Which is regrettable, because ultimately Council approved what? Are they clear on that? As now we hear/read that Council approved installation of tower-to-tower zappers in our parks (my image - while to the point). Neither is true: seeing that this first-step contract - as told - is only an initial official response to Shaw's offer, no obligation in this - just one non-binding step towards possible negotiations aiming at later acceptance of Shaw service-installation.
The Nelson Star is a step ahead of this first-step contract with Nelson council backs Shaw's free Wi-Fi: it backs in principle but not in intent!


So the public must know - as Council must remember - that the City supposedly won't be obligated to open negotiations past this first-step door-opener. But what do we/they know: they only having voted based on verbals.





HowFi
In essence: free Shaw GoWiFi - in yet to be decided local locations - is to be available to those opening an account with Shaw - but also those having a contract with a different Internet Service Provider (ISP) already: as a sideline - literally.

What with Shaw seemingly totally prepared for whatever this may be(come for them) -we are not: possibly naively reaching for the apple, the golden egg - a free lunch. But as today there simply is no free corporate lunch: this service and process towards Nelson accepting it needs careful step-by-step scrutiny and deliberation. 
Not just giving predictably boring fine-print a quick going-over - but taking enough time to understand it - in detail/total - to avoid unpleasant surprises later.

With Council in charge of contract-terms!

 
   


IfFi
When asked for more detailed info, Frances Long, Director of Corporate Services, says: that will not be provided by Shaw until the first-step contract has been signed. Even though she every so often drops factoids coming from being informed. If she is - why isn't Council?

Councillor Purcell raises 2 points - paraphrased here - crucial among many. 

Q: Will Council get to participate in further steps of this process, following that of signing-off on opening negotiations?
A: That would usually not be the case but could be.

With bells going off in a big way - Purcell does not pursue, Long does not volunteer: while Council's presence in determining the content of an ultimate agreement is crucial. This is happening on their watch, is their responsibility to the electorate - with Staff's general position in relation to Council supposedly largely to implement their decisions.
This particularly in view of Staff's 3 recent disturbing decisions without Council's knowledge or consideration or consultation or approval:
Cottonwood Market; the Panhandling Bylaw; the 300 Block Hall.

Q: Will those signing-up for the service be able to cancel it when they wish to?
A: This will be looked at later. But cancellation clauses will be favorable.

Meaning what? On whose terms? This is a key-point: what with - for example - the difficulty of cancelling Facebook subscriptions, after those blatantly shopped around to anyone from commercial to political interests.
A double-whammy with this Shaw subscription: not only does it enable Shaw to mine info from parttime subscribers - but also from their fulltime ISPs. What with everybody's IP Address (IP) forever branded on their forehead.



RealityFi
According to Long: Shaw's intent with this freebie is getting users to switch to Shaw permanently. But why would they, how could they even: if locked into a contract with another ISP? Even those not bound to a contract - while with a free account! - would find moving their entire history from one ISP to another expensively daunting and most likely not do it. With a signing-their-life-away contract: just to have WiFi access on the occasional bench. Nattering away in the park. Irritating the crows.
Sooo ... the harvest of switchers would surely be minimal - particularly in contrast to the effort Shaw seems to be willing to make at great cost. Are they just stupid?

Or what's really going on here, planned for later!





       
JustiFi
Such as - alarming in the Request should be: Maintenance of the service will include the need to upgrade equipment as technology continues to advance. This sounds like a statement-of-fact - not just a possibility down the line. Rhetorical question: Upgrade for what purpose? What could/would that mean to an uninformed hapless subscriber and the City?

Leading to: what exactly are potential parttime subscribers to sign? What rights do they have exactly, and what exactly is their recourse if? We know that new fulltimers will look at a lengthy contract: their problem if that obtuse.
The parttimer-situation in turn leading to the City - approving signatory with Shaw - probably liable for unexpected weirdness arising later.
Ultimately the City must make the contract-to-install available in total to potential subscribers - before signing it. As - conversely - the City must be comprehensively aware of agreements to be signed between Shaw and subscribers to GoWiFi.



 
WhereFi
It's doubtful that tourists will be enticed with WiFi-in-the-park to come to Nelson, or if they happen to come to feel an itch to use their devices in the park: they will probably go to the park to park their brains a bit. Just as it's doubtful that locals must go there to diddle with their electronics. 

On one hand we profess deep involvement with/in our natural environment and having to protect it at all costs - on the other Council has no qualms over giving that shop away to emotional plug-ins, encouraging them: they absolutely must transmit the most do-or-die info ever to someone/anyone right now! From a park!
Lakeside Park is a declared tobacco-free zone; much of it is declared dog-free - both for good reason: so why not have a zone for once! unpolluted by electronic addictions?
Councillors Warmington and Cherbo are to be commended on wanting to keep stuff human!

Having WiFi downtown is a different matter, may be useful to some. Although the Nelson Library, Touchstones, Capitol Theatre and Youth Centre becoming reliant-then-dependent on a corporate freebie is inviting trouble down the road. 
How about Shaw Street, Shaw Arena, Shawtown?



  

WhyFi
It is for their constituency that Councillors - as people, individually - need to look at variables - coming from being electronics-users themselves - to be thoroughly familiar with and decisively prepared for Staff's next presentation of the topic: ostensibly and finally! the first-step hard-copy contract. Probably unfortunately after the fact by then. To possibly follow that independent-minded step after step. The more-often-than-not at-arms-length paper-push won't do!

This is not about opposition to Shaw GoWiFi per se: but being respectfully selective about locations for it and contract-provisions bullet-proof for the City in general and users in particular.
The willingness to look a gift-horse in the mouth.







Let's not have to figure all these things out in the field again.
Ever!




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Tuesday 1 December 2015

Users That Are Comprised Of You And I






Busyness
Talking with someone from the Columbia Basin Alliance for Literacy (CBAL) about today's deteriorating use of the English language on electronic devices - from there spilling over into online/hard-copy news-publications - particularly readers' commenting! - even academic papers OMG! Seeping into verbal communication as truncated snippets LOL! With editing to keep it clean frequently gone. I figure she would be the one to talk with about it: she's teaching (computer-)literacy. Her immediate response: Today everybody's sooo busy. Why would everybody's routine be busier today than it used to be, I ask. 
So busy with what OMG!




Unless it's because you're making yourselves available - and expecting others to - at all times, in any situation: through smart phones, pads and laptops. Im/compulsively swapping largely emotional Spam.
While without this 24/7 superficially convenient availability you would be far less busy than you are today. More rested, less fragmented, better organized: more productive. Not to forget less dead LOL from driving into stuff!

When all gets to be too too much, messages waiting and all: your portable just may spontaneously combust - which supposedly happened to a guy in South Korea. I can see it! Exploding brains! Yes! LOL!

The smaller (more portable) the device - the greater the probable distraction: expressing itself in often unfocused back-and-forth. Tiny screens with info in tiny bits - in a field of vision inescapably filled with a lot of world around them. Surely necessitating much clarification-but-no: much too busy you need to choose and simply do not reply - even delete - game over!


  


BTW worth mentioning and never before: what with these portables doable anywhere and the toilet a favorite refuge of relative calm from life as you know it: you wash your hands after, but do you wash your portable? In fact - do you ever? 
No shit EW!

Anyway - in generally connecting electronically - you're not talking (in) much depth any longer - and few expect it. OMG! Becoming an issue on PCs as well - even though there having enough space to expound. Dumbing-down each other - this usually facilitated by your smarter-than-you minders' structural strings attached.
And apps!



Be appy!
On and on you go - not so much busy as prompted-busy. While promising to help organize your busyness: the clutter of always more must-have apps now possible to be managed with apps specific to managing just your apps-clutter. Like by a big brother who really really understands you LOL!

Flying thumbs tapping buttons in endless sequences. With more and more of you lining-up to buy the latest. Hooked on it, them - and signing-up on yet another site to be please-look-at-me noticed. Neediness among an astonishing multitude cleverly imprinted, nourished with promises of belonging. Friends, Likes, Thumbs Up - especially only just for you! And others similarly challenged. Killer-games simulating personal power - take-that! revenge a favorite. All living within the same illusory support-system. 
How comfy is that LOL!

While your tiny-print agreements signed, sealed and delivered you to the same very Big Brother's now-and-future wiles. You are on sale and resale down the rabbit-hole!




As one teensy price to pay for all this: invisible, untouchable, unfeelable-so-far rays nudge your brain while you're in Sorry-but-I-really-must-get-this! mode OMG!

At Stanford University computer sciences are the top: every upstart wants to start a start-up to give specifically you and only you more app-choices: appealing to anyone from silliness-geeks to medical-care providers. There are about 97.000 apps for the latter alone.
For many of these upstarts there's the - purely coincidental, of course - buy-out billionaire-overnight thing LOL.




In The Beginning ...
There were specific times and places for electronic info-transfer of word, image, motion and sound. The proverbial time and place for everything. The fixed location of a very heavy desk-top; a large screen for graspability in total; fingerpad-size keys; a comfortable chair.
Power on - get it done - power off - walk away - time-out!
In time-out you had a sociable network. With less time now because the desk-top shrank/morphed dramatically to become movable: much of your sociable network has flat-lined into the so-called social network OMG!







Listening/Reading-Comprehension
Back to CBAL. Years ago I took their training to become a language-mentor for newcomers. Most important - to me - in this training was looking at two kinds of listening/reading-comprehension:
knowledge-based and information-based.


Knowledge-Based
Material presented in a two-way (on devices, too) filters through the receiver's prior familiarity with it: actual or imagined, guessed - pretended. Possibly limited, probably subjective. With a response then from within those parameters - not necessarily rooted in the material as presented, not to-the-point OMG! Miscommunication. Ships passing in the night. Misunderstanding. Stuck.
Reading "static" information - as reader coming from the same place - leads you to superficial absorption/digestion of it and ultimately inappropriate decision-making.
Look familiar?
EW!



Information-Based
You are open to the material/opinion presented. Wanting to understand fully - then communicate appropriately. Objectively. With intention, focus.

And all the time it takes!

 








You have 1 new message: 
Affective/effective communication of constructive information




 LOL!



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