text:
Johnny Keats in Hyperion
By Dan Simmons
Johnny Keats
Brawne Lamia's Detective's Tale begins like any good detective story: a dark and stormy night. Well, it might be day, but it is dark and drizzly.
Anyway, in this story, the detective is female and the stereotypical femme fatale who walks into her office is a man named Johnny. Brawne eloquently observes, "S***, this guy's beautiful" (5.185). But his being beautiful isn't just a convenient plot device. As John Keats said in his poem "Endymion": "A thing of beauty is a joy forever."
Forever, eh? Just how long is forever? Well, we're about to find out.
Fusion Cybrid
Johnny's a cybrid. We'll let Brawne explain: "Tailored from human genetic stock, they are far more human in appearance and outward behavior than androids are allowed to be" (5.226).
Ok, so he's some sort of robot-type person made from human genetic material. Got it. What about his brain? Back to you, Brawne: "His consciousness or ego or whatever you want to call it floated somewhere in the megadatasphere dataumplane of the TechnoCore" (5.223).
Got that? No? Well, he's an artificial intelligence (AI), kind of like a computer program, but he exists in a human body. It's like your Sim has come to life, but there's a backup in the cloud, just in case he's murdered or something. (Or, you know, like a cylon.) And Johnny is murdered (at least for a couple minutes), and now he wants Brawne to find his killer.
It's also important to note that he's not just any Sim. His consciousness is actually from of the Romantic poet… John Keats. Yes, that John Keats. It's all part of the personality retrieval project, which we'll get to later. Johnny has Keats's memories, or at least he remembers "what the designers thought that [Keats] felt" (5.764).
If it walks like Keats, and talks like Keats, and thinks like Keats, then it's Keats. Right?
Johnny, Can You Hear Us?
Ok, back to the murder. Who killed Johnny? And if he came right back to life, what's the big deal? He tells us that we're being insensitive: "You have no idea what a minute of... disconnection... means to an element of the TechnoCore. It is eons of time and information. Millennia of noncommunication" (5.293).
Yikes. Imagine being without Facebook for five minutes. Now, imagine being able to perceive everything being created on the Internet as it happens… and then losing connection. It would be devastating. Now we get it.
Long story short (if you want the long story, read The Detective's Tale, it's a thrilling futuristic noir yarn), the TechnoCore itself assassinated Johnny to keep him from reaching Hyperion. It's the title of the book, so we know it's a big deal. Johnny says, "Hyperion is the key mystery of our age—physical and poetic—and it is quite probable that he... that I was born, died, and was born again to explore it" (5.954). By taking on Johnny's case, Brawne might just be solving a galactic mystery, the mystery to end all mysteries.
Unfortunately for Johnny, he dies yet again before seeing Hyperion. Before he succumbs, he uploads himself into a device implanted into Brawne, so that he too may be reborn. As he dies, he says one last thing to Brawne, "Fanny..." (5.1207). Perhaps they were destined to be together, the reincarnation of Keats and this woman named after his love, Fanny Brawne.
Literature and Writing
Life, Consciousness, and Existence
The Consul
Brawne Lamia (The Detective)
Martin Silenus (The Poet)
Sol Weintraub (The Scholar)
Colonel Fedmahn Kassad (The Soldier)
Father Lenar Hoyt (The Priest)
Het Masteen
Meina Gladstone (Senate CEO)
Father Paul Duré
The Bikura, The Three Score and Ten
Rachel Sarah Weintraub
The TechnoCore
Merin Aspic
The Ousters
Sad King Billy
Tyrena Wingreen-Feif
Mike Osho
Theo Lane
A. Bettik
The Shrike
The Cruciform
The Time Tombs


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helen@helenfagan.com
Meet Helen Fagan, Ph.D.
Becoming Inclusive Book
Helen Fagan at TEDxLincoln
Diversity & Cultural Sensitivity
Developing Cultural Sensitivity and Competence
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Helen Fagan, Ph.D.
Leadership and Diversity Scholar and Practitioner
Dr. Fagan is a Leadership, Diversity, and Inclusion scholar and practitioner. She is the founder of Global Leadership Group, which provides consulting and leadership coaching to organizations, communities, and executives in the field of Diversity, Inclusion, Cultural Competence and becoming an Inclusive Leader. Since 2018, Fagan has been a faculty member and program lead for the Inclusive Community Leadership Fellows program at University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
In addition to a Ph.D. in Human Sciences with specialization in Leadership from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Dr. Fagan holds multiple certifications in Diversity, Emotional Intelligence, and is a trained Executive Coach. Also, she is a Qualified Administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory which she has used with developing thousands of leaders and healthcare providers. For the last 5 years she has also served as a faculty with the Qatar Institute for Intercultural Communication providing workshops for faculty, staff and graduate students working at 6 US universities in Education City in Qatar. Dr. Fagan's expertise in developing inclusive leaders, organizations and communities has enabled her to speak is multiple nations and at last count 4 continents. Her book, Becoming Inclusive: A Worthy Pursuit in Leadership will be released in 2021 via Information Age Publishing.
Before Academia, she created and led the Diversity and Cultural Competence Initiatives at Bryan Health, in Lincoln NE. This initiative at Bryan was considered so innovative that it gained national recognition and was featured in a Joint Commission (hospital accreditation body) publication. During that time, Helen played a key role in the recruitment and resettlement of nurses from the Philippines to address the nursing shortage in Nebraska. Helen also worked diligently to address employment and healthcare needs of refugees and immigrants; and was a strong voice for eliminating the use of children as medical interpreters in healthcare settings. As an international student from Iran, who arrived as an unaccompanied minor to the United States at age 15, just two months before the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979, Dr. Fagan has experienced a tremendous number of challenges during her life in the United States. She has used each of those challenges to inspire others, especially women, and as a result has received multiple awards for her contributions to the lives of others, including a key to the city of Lincoln.
In 2018, Dr. Fagan served as a Consulting Producer on a short film, The Healing of Harman. She consulted on the film during the writing, the filming, and editing processes. The film was directed by the Academy Award nominated Director, Seth Pinkster. This film has been used to create discussion with community leaders in relation to the process that communities can use to foster a spirit of inclusion in which people are welcomed and embraced in their healing. The film won Morehouse College's best Human Rights Short film in 2020.
I have been working with Dr. Helen Fagan over the past several years through Clarkson College's IDI assesssment and consultation. Dr. Fagan has facilitated the IDI assessment and consultation process for our students enrolled in the NS 799 courses. She has faced some challenges with our students (namely on the student's perspective of coordinating the assessment and consultation). Through these somewhat trying situations, she has remained courteous, and flexible, as well as helpful in facilitating the process through the uncertainities of technology. Dr. Fagan has communicated frequently with the faculty coordinating and implementing the IDI assessment. It is clear Dr. Fagan is passionate about her work, and enjoys her consultation with the student. She has been a joy to work with in coordinating this assignment for our students. I truly believe it has added to the quality of education we here at Clarkson are trying to provide to your students.
Jane Langemeier Ph.D. M.S.N. R.N.
Assistant Professor, Clarkson College
Helen has spent the majority of her life in an effort to educate and be educated on the depth and breadth of diversity and cultural competency. I had the great fortune to participate under her leadership as a member of the Bryan Health Diversity Council which Helen developed and coordinated. She successfully led the organization thru active council members, to examine and make appropriate change in policies and procedures that impacted employees and patients and the organization's ability to actively understand and appreciate the cultural differences that exist. Many positive changes resulted and many lives were impacted by her leadership. Helen is truly suited for the work she promotes so beautifully and understandably on the site. The site is a wonderful display of her journey and the strengths Helen is gifted with. Thru Helen, others will be led in their own efforts toward transformation.
Diane Green
Director of Client Services, Bright Horizons
Recipient – Chancellor's Fulfilling the Dream Award, 2021
Recipient – Excellence in Education, Women's Leadership Award, 2020
Recipient – Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow, 2019
Nominated – UNL Distinguished Teaching Award, 2018
Recipient – UNL Mortar Board, Distinguished Professor and Honorary Member, May 2017
Recipient – UNL Mortar Board, Professor of the Month, Oct 2014
Recipient – Doane College Alumni Assoc. Exceptional Service Award, 2013
Recipient – UNL Holling Family Teaching Excellence Award, 2013
Recipient – University of Nebraska Parent's Association Award, 2012 & 2013
Recipient – Doane University Keith Berlage Memorial Award, 2008
Recipient – YWCA Tribute to Women Award, 2005
Recipient – Key to the City of Lincoln by Mayor Colleen Seng, 2004
Recipient – One of "20 under 40" Leaders positively impacting Lincoln, 2002
Recipient – 2001 KZUM Radio Multi-cultural Awareness Award
Letter of Commendation – Admiral of the U.S. Navy, 1991
Learn more about what I can do for your organization!
Need help in the area of diversity and cultural sensitivity? I can conduct individual and group assessments, and provide plans and coaching designed to move you towards your goals.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This is my third day of the journey.
It started with the clear determination of losing weight. Being over 40 and a chocolate/sweets lover, would not make it easy to shed any extra pounds, but definitely qualifies me to gaining some. Actually this is exactly what happened. Slowly, slowly, the dreadful extra pounds were piling up. To the point of running out of cloths. Change the wardrobe, or lose weight? It's a no brainer, right?
The question was: what diet should I try?
In the past I have tried the low calorie diets and it did not work well. Low-calorie diets intend to be short term because you have to restrict your total calories to as little as 500 per day (to a maximum of 1000).
Do you remember the horrible 'cabbage soup diet'? Brrr.. Even pronouncing its name make my skin crawl and I dry heave. I tried the 'juice fasts': drink only fruit and vegetable juices for a few days.
Same bad result. After just one day I got dizzy, cranky, on the verge of blacking out most of the time.
My friends tried different diets and I have gained some perspective via their experience.
Two of them were on Atkins and lost lots of weight. But as soon as they resumed normal eating, and got out of Atkins diet, they gained everything back, plus extra pounds.
Although in the beginning I was tempted by Atkins after some reading I considered it too dangerous for my health- all those ketones building up into my system did not sound right.
Some people say that ketones build-up it's just a myth launched by Atkins detractors but I don't agree.
–	In order to provide the necessary energy for our body to function well, we have to use three main sources: glucose- coming mostly from carbs but it may come from proteins as well, fat – both from diet and from the body fat and ketones- which are derived from the metabolism of fats.
–	Atkins allows eating fatty meats; so ketones derived from the metabolism of body fat, adds to the ketones derived from the metabolism of fatty food, resulting in the possibility of unhealthy ketones build-up. Our body can eliminate (via urine) only that much ketones and as smart as it seems to be regulating the level of ketones, sometimes it may be too much.
Another friend of mine started the Nutrisystem diet. Well, I guess it works for somebody who likes to eat prepackaged food, which is not my case. I try to avoid as much as possible processed food and rely on fresh one, something I can cook at home and have control over it. Plus, I like to cook something I enjoy eating, something that suits my own palate not be forced to eat whatever the company is eager to provide.
Let alone the monetary issue. I still find it hard to believe that it's cheaper to buy prepackaged food vs. buying fresh from the store. As it stands right now, monthly cost can range from $250-$300 for food, not including additional groceries- you have to supplement the program with fruits, vegetables and dairy products.
After doing some research I decided to give it a try to the South Beach diet.
The first two weeks seem to be the most difficult ones, because I can't have any fruits. Normally I don't eat much fruits, and very often I have to force myself to do it. But now, I crave fruits because I know I can't have them.
Except that, I feel great.
All together so far so good. Seeing the scale going down it's a big incentive. Feeling the cloths getting looser it's even better.
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FLINT PUBLIC ART PROJECT: Neighborhood Art Parade. Photograph by STEPHEN ZACKS.
Amplifier Inc. is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation founded in 2013 that uses art and design as tools of urban transformation and city-making. Amplifier creates programs that connect public and private groups with the global art and design field to bring the most innovative work—often highly concentrated in large cosmopolitan centers—to under-served groups and smaller cities around the country, where it can have the greatest possible resonance.
FLINT PUBLIC ART PROJECT: SKART in Flint. Photograph by STEPHEN ZACKS.


Thaumasmus (thau-mas'-mus): To marvel at something rather than to state it in a matter of fact way.
I had no idea! You're not my wife? This isn't my car? These aren't my pants? Where did this Barbie Doll come from? Captain Morgan? I've never been in the navy!
Stop the car! I'm going to be sick!
Post your own thaumasmus on the "Comments" page!
This entry was posted in thaumasmus and tagged Captain Morgan, elocutio, example, figures of speech, rhetoric, thaumasmus, trope, wife. Bookmark the permalink.


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Kol Bailey
Bailey takes on New Castle
August 3, 2015 by kolbailey Leave a Comment
The widely renown New Castle Motorsports Park in New Castle, Indiana hosted rounds 3 and 4 of the 2015 SKUSA Fikse Wheels Pro Tour, also known as the 2015 Summernationals. Over 250 drivers from all over the country and the world traveled to this small town in Indiana to try their hand at the SKUSA Fikse Wheels Pro Tour.
After a strong showing in his Fikse Wheels Pro Tour debut in Phoenix, Kol was eager to put it on the top step this time around. The weekend got off to a good start, but quickly became a nightmare for any competitor on an OTK chassis. On Saturday, Bailey qualified 21st. In the first heat, he emerged 15th. For heat 2, they made an adjustment to the chassis which allowed him to continue up to 10th for the final. Going into the final, another adjustment was made which made the kart slower. On Saturday in the final, Kol ended up finishing 12th.
"Today was strange. We chased the set-up all day long. The kart definitely has potential, quite obviously because it's a Tony Kart. Oddly enough, all of the OTK chassis are struggling at this track. I think once we get the set up right, we will be right there. There is no doubt in my mind about the OTK chassis, because it's the best chassis around, and at Pure Karting, we have the best group of chassis tuners, so I'm feeling better about tomorrow".
On Sunday, Kol and the Pure Karting team figured out something with the set up, because the kart was a lot faster. In morning warm-up, everyone was optimistic. In qualifying, Kol put the kart 11th on the grid.
For the first heat, Kol got caught up in a melee, allowing him to finish where he started, 11th.
"The kart is very good. After 6 0r 7 laps after the tires come in, the kart is on rails. The Pure Karting guys really figured something out."
Starting 11th for the second heat, Kol was moving up when he had an accident with his teammate.
"I feel so terrible right now. That was probably one of the dumbest things I've ever done. I believe that we had a fast kart, and I totally messed it up. I feel really bad for Donnie [Whittington], I totally ruined his race as well. I just feel pretty low right now."
For the final, this put Bailey 30th on the grid. Once the race started, Kol never looked back. He made his way up to 13th, almost with the fastest lap.
"I just drove my heart out. I knew we had a top 5 kart today. Unfortunately, I messed up. In the end, that's why I'm in S2, to learn. We will learn from it, and it'll make us stronger. It was just a blessing to even be here. I just want to thank God, and my parent for that. Also, a huge thank you to everyone at Pure Karting for giving me a great kart and believing in me, the Piccini's for their help, Imune Clothing, Spy Optic, Dark Horse Pros, and Phoenix Solar Specialists. Without these people, it wouldn't be possible. I can't wait for Adams in August. I'm really anxious to get out and race again!"
RELATED: Uncategorized
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Switching roles at Calspeed
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Bailey Makes Fikse Wheels Pro Tour Debut
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Northern Cree will be the Lifetime Achievement Award recipients in the completely re-imagined 2017 Indigenous Music Awards during the Manito Ahbee ongoing event in Winnipeg May 17 to 21.
Northern Cree was founded in 1982 when the Wood brothers of Saddle Lake Cree Nation traveled to Idaho to compete in a stick game tournament. Their first night there, they lost all their funds in the tournament and found themselves unable to get home.
The only way they could earn enough money for the trip home was to sing at the Powwow the next day. One of the brothers borrowed a drum from a local museum so they could sing the many songs that they had learned from their father and uncles.
When the arena director asked the name of the group, they looked down at the faded words "Northern Cree" written on the drum and gave that as their drum group name. So began the career of the Northern Cree Singers, one of the most respected and influential groups on the Powwow trail.
Though the group originates from the Saddle Lake Cree Nation, it currently comprises members from the Treaty 6 area, including the Frog Lake, Onion Lake, Samson, Louis Bull, and the Poundmaker Cree Nations.
The group has travelled and performed throughout North America, toured Greenland and were part of a Canada Day celebration in London's Trafalgar Square.
Northern Cree has released 37 recordings spanning 25 years with Phoenix-based Canyon Records. Their recordings have won numerous awards.
The presentation will be made May 19.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Artificial Sweeteners and Pregnancy
Home / Pregnancy Wellness / Artificial Sweeteners and Pregnancy
There is a lot of concern about diet and nutrition during pregnancy. One of these concerns is regarding artificial sweeteners and pregnancy. Should these sweeteners be used during pregnancy? Many women will cut sugar out of their diet, only to replace it with foods and drinks that are artificially sweetened.
These guidelines provide information from research done on the safety of these sweeteners. As with most things in pregnancy, it is always best to consult with your health care provider about what artificial ingredients are safe for you to use during your pregnancy.
Find a Nutritionist in your area
Using Artificial Sweeteners During Pregnancy
Artificial sweeteners are ingredients that add sweetness to foods. Sweeteners are ingredients in soft drinks, desserts, candies and pastries. There are two categories of sweeteners: nutritive (contain calories) and non-nutritive (without calories).
Safety Considerations Artificial Sweeteners and Pregnancy
Nutritive sweeteners (such as table sugar) contain what is called "empty" calories. These additives contribute calories to the diet, but they contain few vitamins or minerals. When used in moderation, nutritive sweeteners are considered safe for consumption during pregnancy assuming they are not contributing to excess weight gain.
However, women with carbohydrate intolerance such as gestational diabetes, diabetes mellitus, or insulin resistance need to limit their use of nutritive sweeteners.
Nutritive sweeteners include sugars such as sucrose, dextrose, honey, corn sugar, fructose, and maltose. Sugar alcohols are also nutritive sweeteners that are often found in foods labeled as "sugar free." Technically, sugar alcohols are not sugars, but they do have calories which can be converted into fat.
Examples of sugar alcohols include: Sorbitol, Xylitol, Isomalt, Mannitol, and Hydrogenated Starch.
Non-nutritive Sweeteners are added in very small amounts to foods for a significant sweetening effect and have been approved for use in dietetic or reduced calorie foods and beverages. Research is limited on the safety of the use of non-nutritive sweeteners during pregnancy.
The following are non-nutritive sweeteners that are considered safe during pregnancy:
Rebaudioside A: (Stevia)
This is a new and common sweetner that is frequently used in soft drinks and juices. The FDA deems Stevia as safe during pregnancy; it has been give the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) rating by the FDA.
Acesulfame Potassium: (Sunett)
This sweetener is added to baked goods, frozen desserts, sugar free gelatins, puddings and beverages. Acesulfame Potassium has been deemed safe to use in moderation during pregnancy by the FDA.
Aspartame: (Equal or NutraSweet)
Aspartame is not effective in heat nor for long periods in liquid form. It is often found as an additive to soft drinks, gelatin, desserts, pudding mixes, breakfast cereals, beverages, chewing gum, dairy products, and other foods and drugs. According to the Food and Drug Administration(FDA), Aspartame is safe for use during pregnancy and lactation.
It is recommended to limit consumption to a moderate level.
Aspartame should not be used by anyone with PKU (a rare metabolic disorder), rare liver disease, or by pregnant women who have high levels of phenylalanine in their blood. Phenylalanine is a component of aspartame, and it may not metabolize correctly in anyone who has these conditions.
Sucralose: (Splenda)
This is non-caloric sweetener that is made from sugar. Sucralose has been approved for use in baked goods, baking mixes, non-alcoholic beverages, chewing gum, coffee and tea products, confections and frostings, fats and oils, frozen dairy desserts and mixes, fruit juices, sugar substitutes, sweet sauces, toppings and syrups. It can also be used as "table-top sweetener."
Sucralose has no effect on blood sugar, offers no calories, and is deemed safe during pregnancy and lactation. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), sucralose is safe for everyone to consume, including pregnant women.
Artificial Sweeteners that are NOT safe to use during pregnancy
Saccharin: (Sweet 'N Low)
Although it is not used as much today as in the past, it still appears in many foods, beverages and other substances. The FDA does consider saccharin to be safe to use for the general public. Former studies that had linked saccharin to an increased risk of developing bladder cancer have been dismissed by the National Toxicology program.
But studies do show that saccharin crosses the placenta and may remain in fetal tissue, so its use for pregnant women still remains in question.
Cyclamate:
Cyclamate is currently banned for use in the U.S., and there is insufficient data regarding the safety of its use during pregnancy. If you use artificial sweeteners and are pregnant, it is always best to talk with your health care provider regarding which sweetener you use and how much you consume. Last Updated: 07/2015
The Cleveland Health Clinic https://www.clevelandclinic.org/ U.S. Food and Drug Administration, https://www.fda.gov/ Weiner, C. P., & Rope, K. (2013). The Complete Guide to Medications During Pregnancy & Breastfeeding.
Tags: Food And Beverages, Is It Safe While Pregnant
Pregnancy Wellness Food And Beverages,Is It Safe While Pregnant editor


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2499 - 03 July 2021
Tribal highlights: mask and figure at Woolley & Wallis
The best-performing lots in the tribal art sale at Woolley & Wallis (25% buyer's premium) in Salisbury on June 8 were these two pieces: an Ibibio mask (idiok ekpo) sold at £30,000 and a Nicobar standing male figure (kareau) that brought £34,000.
Roland Arkell
Expressive idiok ekpo represent spirits and were used in the dances of the Ibibio, who live east of the Niger Delta in south-east Nigeria.
Finely carved with a particularly 'strong' face, this 10in (25cm) example is painted black with white pigment to the teeth within an articulated jaw.
It was thought to be late 19th or early 20th century in date: the British Museum has a mask from the same group it acquired in 1899.
Guided at £600-800, it came for sale from the estate of Peter Mactaggart (1931-2020) whose family ran an antiques shop in Welwyn, Hertfordshire, from the late 1940s to the early 1970s.
Kareau were placed inside the entrance of huts to scare away the spirits on the islands of Nicobar in the Bay of Bengal.
This particular model standing 2ft 6in (76cm) high, with remains of burnishing to the coiffure and pigment to the face, would have held a spear in the right hand to ward off unwelcome intruders.
Estimated at £2000-3000, it had a provenance to the antiquarian Edward Croft-Murray (1907-80), keeper of the prints and drawings department at the British Museum from 1954-73 and one of the so-called Monuments Men who worked in Italy during the latter stages of the Second World War.
Wonderful ways to wine and dine at Suffolk sale
Rare Steiff 'hot-water' bottle bear makes special appearance
Auction Reports
Maltese coffee pot at Salisbury auction shows appeal of island life
Mr Brainwash convinces the bidders
Asian art: Look through a lens of Tibetan Buddhism
Hiroshige took a stand for the vertical format
Single-owner sauce: vinaigrettes on offer


text:
The Exhibits
Edge of Government 2017
Human, Machine or Animal?
Can governments get better at understanding and predicting?
Can a barber help prevent suicides? UK
Can a vulture help map illegal waste dumps? Peru
Zooming in or Zooming out?
Can governments manage the micro and the macro?
Do you have a molecular view of your cities? 70 cities globally
What if you could count every cigarette butt in the world? Japan
Can a whole country help decide on the national budget? Portugal
Back office or front?
Can you challenge the machinery of government?
Releasing budgets before disasters happen Togo
Steal with pride! Denmark
Are you experimenting fast enough?
Can governments keep up with the speed on the outside?
Where experimentation in government is embraced and encouraged. Finland
Learning from the energy blockchain experiment. USA
Citizens: part of the problem or the solution?
Can governments redefine expertise?
The chatbot lawyer: trouble maker or valuable resource? UK
Citizens: part of the problem or the solution? Brazil
Mass services or customised?
Can governments get personal?
Customising for special needs, innovating for all? Poland
Can a porch rich with memories be recreated in a nursing facility? USA
About the Edge of Government
What does it feel like to be at the edge of government innovation, navigate unchartered territories and experiment with new solutions to society's complex problems?
The Edge of Government innovation experience will challenge visitors to think in new and often counter-intuitive ways about how to solve the most pressing public challenges of our time. The main purpose of the exhibits is to inform, trigger new thinking through an interactive experience, and most importantly inspire visitors to connect with the innovators behind the case studies showcased. To this aim, this year's Edge of Government experience is centered around open questions that policymakers need to be able to successfully navigate to break new grounds. Throughout the immersive journey, visitors will be presented with new approaches that provide governments with answers but at the same time open up new questions. Exhibits will cover a landscape of solutions that are rapidly emerging and continuously evolving, raising the question of how governments can effectively explore and keep abreast of an increasingly wide array of tools and options. The Edge is a place of intellectual curiosity and willingness to experiment. Visitors will walk out of this immersive journey with a desire to move to action and turn the "edge" into mainstream.
Visitors will experience leading government innovations from across the globe
The global exhibits were evaluated across three key criteria and will only be showcasing innovation practices that go beyond "the usual suspects" typically "below the radar".
Degree of newness and uniqueness associated with each innovation
Magnitude and scope of improvement to government attributable to each innovation
Potential for replication in other countries and regions
The OECD's Observatory of Public Sector innovation (OPSI) has worked in partnership with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation (MBRCGI) to conduct a global review of the ways in which governments are transforming their operations and improving the lives of their people through innovation. This process has included extensive research into innovation trends in OECD member countries and non-members alike, as well as an open Call for Innovations to surface examples of innovative practices in governments worldwide. 161 innovations were submitted from 46 countries.
The Edge of Government builds on this research project and integrates it with additional experiences from the private sector and civil society that are challenging innovative governments to reframe their purpose and the way they deliver their services. The tensions emerging from this dynamic interplay are translated into interactive exhibits for the World Government Summit.
Being at the edge means successfully navigating ambiguity, having a higher level of tolerance for uncertainty and being open to exploring non-obvious solutions. Rather than presenting the case studies as recipes to be followed, therefore, the research frames them as open questions that are meant to engage visitors in a dialogue and encourage them to question well established practices.
The digital version of "Embracing Innovation in Government" report in partnership with OECD along with the Edge of Government brochure highlighting the experiences displayed at the pavilion can be downloaded here. Both reports are developed in conjuction with the World Government Summit 2017 and are based on the research thinking.
Understand. Act. Predict. The increasing speed of change means that governments need to be ever faster in moving from analysis to action. The default is often to rely on algorithms for better prediction. But is there more you can add to your toolkit? Governments at the edge employ creative strategies and enlist new helpers (yes, that includes animals!) to be able to pick up early signals and move to effective action.
New tools are opening up, quite literally, new ways of seeing for governments: we can now see what was invisible just a few years back. These opportunities, however, create also new challenges: can you manage the extra small? And can you harness new tools to tackle what has often been government's Achilles heel – scale? Governments at the edge are able to "go small" and "go big" with equal ease. Here's a few examples to get you thinking.
Can you change the default on deeply ingrained habits– "the way we do things around here"? Lots of what keeps the machine of government going occurs backstage: where contracts are signed, where budgets are approved, where incentives and human resources are allocated. Changing the default in these operations "behind the scenes" is often daunting. And yet… could this unglamourous side be where the edge really is? Let's take a look under the hood….
What will it be today? Implementing the blockchain, regulating the sharing economy, preparing for industry 4.0? New concepts, new technologies, new challenges. All the time. How do you keep up and minimize your risks? What if you could make lots of small bets before committing to the big thing? And what if these experiments were happening outside of government first? Governments at the edge are embracing a culture of experimentation, and taking a close look at outside experimenters.
Do you really know your experts? Dealing with increasingly complex challenges means redefining expertise as we knew it. You cannot expect to have all necessary knowledge within the walls of your office. You need to be able to tap into a diverse, broad pool of expertise and quickly mobilise it, regardless of where it sits. Governments at the edge don't view citizens as a problem (as has often been the case in the past), but as part of the solution. Citizens have unique skills and expertise to bring to the table. This distributed knowledge can be effectively leveraged by the public sector - to mutual benefit.
Can government services be personal? As business services become more and more personalized, the bar for governments is set higher and higher. Citizen expect more than "one size fits all". Empathy, design, technology are opening up new opportunities to innovate and customize government services based on a deep understanding of individual needs. Catering for specific needs is often opening up opportunities to innovate for the majority. Are you ready to go personal?
About The Mohammed Bin Rashid Centre For Government Innovation
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation was established to stimulate and enrich the culture of innovation within the government sector through the development of an integrated innovation framework. The goal is for innovation to become one of the key pillars of the UAE government in line with the vision of H.H. Sheikh Mohamtmed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, which aims to develop government operations and enhance the UAE's competitiveness, making the UAE one of the most innovative governments around the world.
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation aims to make innovation an everyday practice by experimenting with new approaches, enabling people with the right capabilities, networks and resources, thereby enriching the culture of innovation.
Innovative ideas make a real difference in government work, and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation provides a world-class, multifunctional space for testing, creating and spurring innovation locally, regionally, and internationally.
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation works on building the innovative capabilities of government employees, through the development of an integrated framework of innovation tools to develop a highly skilled government innovators.
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation aspires to promote an innovation culture in the UAE Government Sector through building international partnerships and becoming a global hub for innovation and best practices. In order to deploy innovation concepts within the government sector.
Can a barber help prevent suicides?
How can governments understand and prevent phenomena that are very difficult to talk about – sometimes stigmatised – like mental health? In the era of big data and smart sensors, are we forgetting the power of "human sensors"?
Suicide is being recognized as the biggest killer of men under 45 in England and Wales. In 2014, 74% of all suicide victims in the UK were male. 75% of the people who take their lives have never approached the mental health services.
The Lions Barber Collective was created to take advantage of the fact that men often open up when they chat to their barbers. A bespoke mental health awareness and suicide intervention training program called BarberTalk (certified by the UK National Health System) helps barbers recognize the signs of different mental health issues as well as teach them how to talk about mental health issues and the art of non-judgmental, active listening. Started in the UK, the group has now spread internationally to the Netherlands and Ireland. The Lion Barber collective recently met with Northern Ireland Health Minister to discuss an all-Island approach to the training.
A recent survey revealed that 53% of men are more likely to discuss private issues, such as depression and other mental health issues, with their barbers. 78% also make a conscious effort to regularly visit the same barber. The subsequent relationships that are built from these visits highlight that 71% of men have good, or in some cases a very good relationship with their barber. Meanwhile, 59% rated their patient to doctor relationship as just average or worse still, poor.
What role could "humans sensors" like barbers play to rethink government services?
Contributors and partners
The Lions Barbers Collective
View next exhibit in cluster
In Illinois a new law requires hairdressers to take one hour of training every two years to recognize the signs of domestic abuse and assault and refer women to specialized assistance.
In Indonesia, vendors that roam around rural villages where there is no medical presence have been trained to spot the early signs of problematic pregnancies.
In Namibia, San bushmen have been tapped into to help interpret drone images and identify endangered animals.
Can a vulture help map illegal waste dumps?
It is difficult for a government to keep track of informal activities, such as, for example illegal waste dumping. Can enlisting unusual helpers (such as vultures) help map the size of the phenomenon and raise awareness among citizens? With just four landfills in a city of nearly 10 million inhabitants, there are many illegal dumps in Lima. A fifth of the rubbish ends up there and run-off from the waste contaminates Lima's main water source. And yet, the exact extent of this phenomenon is unknown and the level of awareness among the population is low. To help raise awareness of this issue, 10 vultures in Lima have been kitted with GoPro video cameras and GPS trackers and let do what they do best: sniff out rubbish around town. Each vulture got a name and citizens were able to follow their movements around the town and encouraged to report illegal waste dumps. The GPS coordinates were shared with municipalities. The associated awareness campaign reached 4 million people. As sensors become more and more widespread, is human, animal and machine collaboration an option for governments?
In the UK, sensors have been strapped to pigeons to create the "Pigeon Air Patrol". They helped monitor nitrogen dioxide in a city with some of the highest levels of air pollution in the world.
In a test trial in Chad, sensors have been attached to dogs to map animal-human disease transmission.
Do you have a molecular view of your cities?
70 cities globally
We have standards for the measurement of temperature, air pressure, wind and use them to inform our design of buildings, transit systems and public infrastructure. But what about creating standards for measuring the microbial ecosystem of a city? What is, for example, the impact of a major international event like the Olympics on a city's genetic and microbial profile ?
The Metagenomics and Metadesign of the Subways and Urban Biomes (MetaSUB) is a global consortium of 70 cities around the world that is pioneering an unprecedented study of urban mass-transit systems to create the world's first-ever metagenomic profile across seven continents. The novel data is being used by public health officials, geneticists, and microbiologists to characterize the microbes present on public surfaces and track the spread and distribution of potentially harmful pathogens. Projects are under way in 40 cities around the world, with more than 10,000 samples collected to date.
In MetaSUB's first demonstration study, samples were collected in 468 subway stations in the most densely trafficked transit system in the United States located in New York City. Nearly half of the DNA isolated couldn\'t be traced back to any known organisms. Recognising the importance for policymakers of better understanding and managing microbiomes, the White House announced last year a National Microbiomes Initiative. "Essentially, America has decided to point half a billion microscopes at the planet, and look through them" - noted the Atlantic.
Metasub International Consortium
White House Microbiome Initiative
China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention
With support from Kuwait, the MIT is prototyping Underworlds, a platform that mines sewage for real-time information that can inform policy makers, health practitioners, designers, and researchers alike
In the Netherlands, the government provides major backing for NanoNextNL, an umbrella organization that researches nanotechnology development
What if you could count every cigarette butt in the world?
Can new technologies help governments "zoom in" and quantify even the smallest type of litter, such as cigarette butts? And can these new data inform more precise waste collection services, making a zero-litter city a reality?
Many efforts have been made over the years to clean up Japan through legislation, manual labor/volunteerism and litter education campaigns. However, governments to date were unable to assess how bad the problem was or measure the impact of any anti-litter efforts due to the absence of any measurement method or standards.
Takanome is an artificial intelligence program that can analyze litter captured on video. This has made it possible to conduct cost-effective litter research and analysis with consistency over a wide area. Local governments in Japan are now able for the first time to assess their local litter problems and measure the impact of their anti-litter efforts Early tests indicate that municipalities could increase efficiency of their waste collection efforts up to 50% and generate savings of up to 30% of through use of the system.
7 municipalities across Japan are using Takanome, covering 39 areas for litter research. The system has been tested also in New York, Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Chongqing.
Takanome builds on the experience of Pirika SNS, an anti-litter smartphone app, that has over 40,000 individual users and over 300 corporate and government across 77 countries. Over 60 million pieces of litter have been picked up through Pirika SNS
Pirika, Inc & Takanome
Minato-city(Tokyo), Itabashi-city(Tokyo), Kawasaki-city(Kanagawa), Yokohama-city(Kanagawa), Maeabashi-city(Gunma), Osaka-city(Osaka), Fukui-city(Fukui)
In Brazil, a proof of concept ran by startup Premise proved 25 days faster than monthly releases in predicting food prices in rural areas. The approach uses machine learning to analyze crowdsourced pictures of food items.
Can a whole country help decide on the national budget?
Portuguese Republic
If you wanted to open up your national budget to get input from all citizens in your country, how would you go about it?
Participatory budgeting has become increasingly popular around the world, but it has so far been confined to cities and regions. Towards the end of last year, Portugal, a country of 10 million people, announced the world's first nation level participatory budgeting exercise, with the aim of building trust between citizens and the federal government.
In an effort to reach the poorest and most rural areas, the government is trialling the use of mobile phones to allow people to have their say and get involved even in the most remote locations. You can see here – in world exclusive! – a first prototype of their concept.
Ministry of Administrative Modernisation
In India, nearly 1.3bn citizens are now enrolled in the Aadhar biometric ID system
Releasing budgets before disasters happen
Togolese Republic
Many devastating natural disasters in recent years were forecasted before they caused impact. However, governments could not put in place adequate preventive measures because they struggled to mobilise resources before the state of calamity was declared, especially when there was no absolute certainty of a disaster happening and there was a risk of acting in vain. The norm is still to make funds available after the disaster has happened. Can this be changed?
Triggered for the first time ever by the Togo government in 2016 (in collaboration with international partners), forecast based financing is an innovative financial mechanism that enables government bureaucracies to release funds for early action based on appropriate forecasts identified in advance. To date. more than 7,000 families have benefited from the activation of FbF pilot interventions, in Uganda, Peru, Togo and Bangladesh. Results show that losses incurred by the population are substantially reduced because everyone has cash in hand at the time of the emergency.
In Togo, in an area plagued by floods, the forecast based financing mechanism has been enabled by an innovative flood prediction tool which 'learns' by integrating both hydrometeorological data and humanitarian impact data. The FbF methodology of anticipating when a danger level is likely to be reached led to innovative flood preparedness measures supported by the Ministry of Environment's National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction - including early dam releases which not only reduced flood impact but also gave Togo Red Cross time to prepare vulnerable communities before the flooding began.
Togolese Red-Cross
Red-cross/Red crescent climate centre
German red-cross
Communaute electrique du Benin
GFDRR
Code for Resilience
Cooperation allemande
Citymart is working with 50 cities around the world to overhaul their procurement practices so that they can maximize their chances of sourcing truly innovative solutions
In the US, the 18F Digital Service team has turned government procurement rules on their head by launching the Micro-Purchase Platform, a reverse-auction system to obtain software development through simple credit card purchases.
In Chile, the national procurement regulator is working with Laboratorio de Gobierno to develop new procurement guidelines that define the space available for innovation procurement within existing regulations
Steal with pride!
Kingdom of Denmark
The common perception is that, just like any other bureaucracies, governments are preservers of the existing. If they do venture into innovation, they tend to suffer from "the not invented here" syndrome. The norm – so the stereotype goes – is that government is made up of silos competing for the novelty factor. Reinventing the wheel is ripe.
Interested in debunking this myth, the COI conducted a study across the Danish public sector. It showed that over 70% of governments innovations are directly copied or inspired by other people's solutions. In addition, it uncovered interesting examples of local governments proactively working to changing the norm. For instance, in one municipality they found that Zorro masks were given out as awards to employees who "stole with permission" ideas from others. Another municipality was handing out "Copycat of the year" awards.
The COI identified an opportunity here to accelerate the rate of innovation by facilitating dialogue between sharers and re-users. The Spreading innovation Guide became a first attempt to systematise this new way of working in all levels of government.
National Centre for Public Sector Innovation (COI)
In Singapore, the government is trialling Facebook to create a skills marketplace across the public service, thereby breaking traditional silos and providing an alternative to more onerous secondments. Public officers with certain professional skills are able to lend those skills to another agency for a limited period of time. Both agencies and users are rated based on their performance.
In France, the Pathfinders program encourages public servants to imagine "the administration from tomorrow" through a video which is reviewed by colleagues and experts. The ideas thus gathered are tested through a scenario which is taken "on a tour" to interested government entities to assess feasibility and encourage cross-pollination.
Where experimentation in government is embraced and encouraged.
How can government speed up the learning in a new field before (rather than after) developing a policy on it?
Finland is the first country in the world to set up an experimentation unit (Experimental Finland) at the PMO level. The government believes that experiments are an efficient means to gain concrete evidence on how policies and operational models should be developed. The country has just launched their first major experiment using this process: thousands of randomly selected unemployed citizens will receive a guaranteed basic income. Another experiment is exploring the impact of the arts for social welfare.
To accelerate the pace of grassroot experimentation on public services, the government has recently launched Place to Experiment, an online platform that funds small trials initiated by citizens. The platform also enables users to obtain conclusive evidence on how initiatives work in practice and to disseminate their benefits more effectively. Ultimately, the goal is to shift the method of developing services from a top-down dictated process to a more co-created process for public sector innovation.
Prime Minister Officer
In the US, Citizenscience.gov is an official government website designed to help federal agencies accelerate innovation through public participation. The site includes a catalog of federally supported citizen science projects, a toolkit to facilitate citizen-led experimentation and a gateway to a community of hundreds of citizen science practitioners across government.
Learning from the energy blockchain experiment.
Hardly a day passes without an announcement of a government planning to explore the uses of the blockchain. But how do you experiment fast enough on such a technology, learn about its potential effect on, say, the energy market and test its acceptance by citizens?
Imagine a world where citizens produce and sell energy to each other.
The world's first peer to peer energy transaction recorded on blockchain took place in Brooklyn. Run as a community-driven effort, the Brooklyn Microgrid is made up of 40 solar panel owners and hundreds of consumers geared to buy the solar power from each over. It's an experiment in trading energy peer to peer among citizens (with less reliance on traditional energy suppliers) through a new way of recording and contracting transactions (with little human intervention). It is estimated that up to 35 million transactions on the blockchain will be recorded this way by 2017.
The advantages are potentially numerous: transparency, resilience (a self-healing grid), and the ability to determine local, real-time price for energy. Value generated by the community stays in the community.
Regulators are watching this experiment closely: what can they learn from it and how can they foster more innovation of this type? Is running small scale pilots the best way to go?
Brooklyn Microgrid
In South Korea, the government has designed two cities where local and foreign companies developing businesses related to Internet of Things (IoT) technologies can test products and services and get consumer feedback
In France, the France Expérimentation initiative allows companies to request for a temporary suspension of regulations to test innovative projects or services that clash with current restrictions.
In order to give expatriates a voice in the 2016 Peace Referendum and test the potential of blockchain technology in electoral processes, the tech non-profit Democracy Earth Foundation in Colombia set up a digital referendum that allowed expats who were not able to vote through the official process to weigh in.
In Bangladesh, a pilot "swarm electrification" program enables the residents of Shakimali Matborkandi to trade solar energy among themselves, free of any contact with a local utility, through a mobile wallet.
The chatbot lawyer: trouble maker or valuable resource?
Just like it is happening in the private sector, chatbots for government services are predicted to become increasingly popular. But are governments keeping up with the expectations and skills of their citizens? Tired of getting parking tickets that he believed to be unfair, 19-year-old Stanford student Joshua Browder created DoNotPay, what he calls the "world's first (and free) robot lawyer". The bot has taken on 250,000 cases and won 160,000, giving it a success rate of 64% appealing over 4 mil. USD of parking tickets. Building on this success, DoNotPay aims to expand its services to provide free legal bot aid to people facing homelessness. Initially met by suspicion by government officials, Browder has now been approached by a number of governments who are interested in adopting bots to simplify access to their services. This has led him to recently launch a platform for governments to create their own chatbots. What about your government – what plans and processes do you have to harness the tech skills of citizens in your country?
After realizing that they did not have a way to accept in kind contributions from citizens interested in improving public services, the city of Bologna (Italy) developed a protocol for citizen/government collaboration. This led to the signing 245 government/citizen "collaboration pacts" and the creation of a permanent Office of Civic Imagination.
The UK's National Health is to begin trialing a chatbot app for dispensing medical advice, with the aim of reducing the burden on its 111 non-emergency helpline.
As part of its Shareable City initiative, the city of Seoul (South Korea) has developed sharing policies and designated a total of 64 citizen driven initiatives that foster sharing of goods and services
Switching seats, when citizens train public servants.
Federative Republic of Brazil
What if you were to invert the seats, as it were, and put citizens in charge of training civil servants?
In Sao Paulo, every one of 12 million residents is eligible to apply to become an ""open government agent"" and provide training to civil servants in any of 4 subject areas: open and collaborative technology; transparency and open data; networked communication; and mapping and collaborative management. The only requirement is that a would-be trainer commit to offering the course 10 hours per month for six months for 40 people per class. Since only half of Brazil's population has Internet access, the training is done in person.
Around 15,000 people (among them civil servants and local councillors) have been trained through this program through 1,200 workshops, proving to be an extremely cost effective solution. The municipality provided credits to public employees who took courses from the agents that could be accumulated towards eventual promotions. Average rating of the trainers was very positive (90% good or very good). In addition, the geographical distribution was much greater than traditional training offering, reaching out to poorly served areas.
Agents of Open Government Sao Paolo Government
In Australia, "citizens' juries" have been formed to provide government with independent policy recommendations on issues such as nuclear policy or strategies to tackle obesity.
In Sweden, the National Tourism Agency lets a different citizen take over the country's official Twitter account (@Sweden) every week in an effort to promote citizen driven branding of the country.
Indonesia's National Citizen Feedback dashboard visualizes citizen's feedback and enables public officials to prioritise trending issues based on enhanced data analysis.
Customising for special needs, innovating for all?
Republic of Poland
Can developing customized services for citizens with special needs be a source of innovation also for the broader population?
Tasks such as catching a bus to work or going to a museum with friends are often taken for granted. However, they are not for the 40 000 residents of Warsaw residents with visual impairment. About 85% report having a strong sense of dependency on others in order to live their lives, and over 80% are unemployed. A major factor is that it takes about 65-95 hours of work with an individual trainer to learn how to move safely about the city, per place.
To cater to these needs, the City of Warsaw launched "Virtual Warsaw", a virtual smart city based on Internet of Things (IoT) technology that gives eyes to those who have trouble seeing. The city is deploying a network of hundreds of thousands of beacon sensors equipped with Bluetooth to help visually impaired residents move independently about the city with assistance from their smartphones. It is expected to be rolled out to 24 regional municipalities by 2021
Although the focus for the present is on the visually impaired, this is just the beginning. The beacons being deployed around the city are multi-functional, and Warsaw has plans to leverage the citywide network for other purposes, including as guides for tourists, gauges for air quality and meterless parking spaces
An indirect benefit is that the government has learned through this process that user-centred design can be highly successful, resulting in this model spreading to other government offices
Warsaw Municipality
After realizing that people with cognitive disabilities did not access government services because they were "too dull" , InwithForward (Canada) worked with community living associations and community members to create Kudoz. It is a catalogue of hundreds of learning opportunities (provided by the local community) that people with cognitive disabilities can pick and chose from based on their interests and personal development objectives.
In New Zealand, the government has announced that it is about to launch its first predictive service targeting new parents. It will give each parent personalised information from government agencies on childhood services..
In Japan, the government is partnering with convenience store companies to provide added senior'focused services.
Can a porch rich with memories be recreated in a nursing facility?
Can you redesign a service around such a personal experience as memory, to make it more effective?
An estimated 5.4 million Americans of all ages have Alzheimer's disease in 2016. The number is expected to grow nearly three times this amount by 2050. Alzheimer and dementia patients live very connected to their memories. They therefore get confused when they are moved to a caring facility that looks very different, with many 'unknown' people around.
The Lantern nursing home is designed around its patients memories. Instead of rooms or units, each resident gets a ""home"" on a quiet little indoor street reminiscent of the neighborhoods many of them grew up in the thirties and forties. These time capsules are inclusive of smells, sounds and a digital sky to recreate the natural sun cycle, thus activating all 5 senses.
By avoiding conflicts with natural environments and schedules, the facility reduces the need for antipsychotic and anti-anxiety medications. An 8 months study showed significant gains basic cognitive functions of patients, along with significant gains in activity of daily living functions. Some elderly clients maintained their activity of daily living function for a longer time.
After testing the concept in Madison, Ohio, Lantern has expanded to 3 new locations.
Lantern of Madison
One example of hyper-customisation in practice in government today is the US Precision Medicine Initiative. Currently, most medical treatments are designed for the "average patient". However, treatments that are successful with some patients may not work with others. The initiative takes into account individual differences in people's genes, microbiomes, environments and lifestyles, making possible more effective, targeted treatments for diseases such as cancer and diabetes.
In Singapore, the Transport Authority used themed trains to cater to different interests of passengers. In one instance, a metro car was turned into a fooball pitch while in another occasion metro cars were customized to celebrate different religious fesitivites.
12th – 14th of February 2017
Copyright © 2017 World Government Summit