Manufacturing Intelligence

by Matt Stambaugh

It’s here!  The Utopian ideal of free education for all is closer than ever thanks to the Interweb.  While the ‘open classroom’ concept has been evolving for several years, many prestigious universities and colleges are now offering high quality audio and even video recordings online of their classes.  I’ve been taking an online physics course (I know, N-E-R-D…) from MIT for the past several weeks and the quality is exceptional.  Some great places examples include;

• MIT Opencourseware
• UC Berkley Online
• iTunesU (Includes courses from Stanford, Oxford, and many more.  To access open iTunes, goto the iTunes Store, and then select iTunesU)

This is a spectacular idea.  Education is a powerful tool and I cannot applaud the participating institutions enough for providing this content.  I highly doubt that by posting topical and freshmen courses online they will lower their enrollments, while providing information and content that other schools and students from around the world can use to enrich the quality of their courses and educations.  What’s interesting is no Canadian post-secondary institutions currently offer this service (at least not that I could find), and only two of them – Athabasca and Capilano College – are part of the OpenCourseware Consortium.

Since most schools in Canada are largely funded with public dollars, there is a strong case to be made that schools should provide these courses online for public consumption.  This would allow Canadians to appreciate the high quality of our post-secondary system and perhaps help to increase our willingness to fund our universities and colleges so that we may continue to compete globally in the ‘knowledge economy’.  Or, if our schools stink, maybe forcing them to post some of their classes online will light the fire they need to increase the quality of their education.  In any case seems like a low cost/high return program.  Let’s get on it…

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Matt Stambaugh is an Information Security Consultant who dabbles in media, primarily as a weekly national technology columnist with CBC Radio. This post is cross-posted to www.mattstambaugh.com.

Let’s Focus our Aid

by Matt Stambaugh

Successful foreign aid programs are notoriously difficult to execute, and in the past appear to be as much of a PR tool for governments as an actual attempt to provide assistance to those in need around the globe.  This is not always due to nefarious reasons on the part of our leaders, but it appears that the global foreign aid system is rather complicated and difficult to manage to say the least.

As such, in order to ensure public dollars are most effectively deployed, perhaps we as a country should focus our efforts on being the best at one or two specific niches of aid, instead of responding in a haphazard way to global issues, attempting to spread our dollars a mile-wide but only an inch deep. Our government is starting down this path by further focusing the number of countries that receive aid, but there still doesn’t seem to be a specific focus for our primary aid agency, CIDA.

To start, why don’t we pick a specific global need and strive to become the best at responding to this issue. These goals shoud be measurable and results-based.  For example we could become the most effective country in the world at providing potable drinking water to developing nations or areas affected by a natural or man-made disaster. Recent developments in nano-technology such as the Lifesaver bottle or Lifestraw allow for measurable results in an area that requires fresh water (the Lifesaver bottle is currently marketed to militaries and adventure seekers so a special ‘humanitarian’ cost structure would have to be negotiated).  The next time there is a hurricane Katrina Canada would have a repeatable process to initiate immediately that would allow for potable water to arrive in the stricken area.

Or perhaps Canada could be the world leader in providing and developing micro-electrical stations to communities, a technology that would potentially provide experience and innovations at home that could then be marketed world-wide. Basic education, micro-credit, and food security are all other areas that we could focus on developing niche expertise in.

While there are a variety of options to choose from, it’s time for our national aid strategy to focus on excellence in a specific solution, not just on what countries will receive aid. We have limited resources to spend on aid, let’s make sure that we are very, very effective when it comes time to help those in need around the world.

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Matt Stambaugh is an Information Security Consultant who dabbles in media, primarily as a weekly national technology columnist with CBC Radio. This post is cross-posted to www.mattstambaugh.com.

Schreiber’s Circus

by Matt Stambaugh

While I am sure to be missing something, why are we still hearing updates on the Mulroney/Schreiber train wreck?

Unless there is a possible outcome whereby taxpayers are able to claw back some of money awarded to Mulroney in the Airbus libel suit this form of entertainment seems better left to the arena of American Idol, where Kris vs. Adam  can keep us gossiping for at least a couple more weeks. I don’t think anyone is going to change their opinion of either individual in this case at this point, and if Mulroney broke some tax laws then let the justice system play out and we can all move on.

Amazing how we focus on his tax bill but almost no one wants to talk about the lasting impact of the failed Meech Lake or Charlottetown Accords that gave us a decade of Quebec separatist resurgence evolving into the recent awkward truce between our two founding nations.  Or the fact that the introduction of the GST may have been one of the most painful, but important modifications of our tax structure in the previous century as consumption taxes have an important role to play in regulating our economy (albeit hopefully when matched by accompanying reductions in income or payroll taxes).

What are your thoughts on the GST, should we be lowering it at all costs, maintaining it where it is, or increasing it once the economy picks up  in an attempt to keep our federal budget in the black for the future?  Is it time for Canada to have a serious look at it’s federal tax structure, especially with the movement to Harmonized Sales Taxes (HST) in more and more provinces?

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Matt Stambaugh is an Information Security Consultant who dabbles in media, primarily as a weekly national technology columnist with CBC Radio. This post is cross-posted to www.mattstambaugh.com.

No Time for Loafing

by Matt Stambaugh

As the confirmation of Micheal Ignatieff as Liberal Party leader progresses this weekend in Vancouver, I was heartened to see the media continue to push for more substance from the Liberal Party.  While I am sure that Ignatieff’s Washington connections and past experience in academia will be an asset as a potential Prime Minister,  his unique position as an acclaimed leader has given him and the Party time to solidify it’s vision for the country. Read more

The End of Ephemeral Youth

by Matt Stambaugh

Recently, a British Columbia NDP candidate decided to resign over Facebook photos displaying what some consider to be ‘lewd and inappropriate conduct’ for a future representative.   It is just the latest in a string of incidents where ‘private’ photos on Facebook have been ferreted out by the media and displayed for all to see.  This issue illustrates two important points;

1.  Nothing posted on Facebook should ever be considered private.
2.  It is much more difficult to have a foolish youth without someone placing it in the public record. Read more