Wonks and War Rooms

Season: 2 Episode: 6 Etienne Rainville of The Boys in Short Pants podcast, former Hill staffer, and government relations expert chats with Elizabeth about liquid modernity. They chat about the fast-paced nature of politics, how political actors learn about the issues, and the role of Twitter in Canadian politics and policy making. Additional Resources Chapter 4 in the book Political Communication and Social Theory by Davis is a great place to start to understand liquid politi

Season: 2 Episode: 5 Co-founder of CivicTechTO and self-declared certified nerd, Anowa Quarcoo chats with Elizabeth about the idea of citizenship. They talk about legal and cultural definitions of citizenship before jumping into a discussion of what counts as a citizen in a digital era. From civic leaders, to publics, to users, to citizens - they talk about how some terms can be empowering while others can be exclusionary. Key take-away? Context matters. You need to ask why y

Season: 2 Episode: 4 Mor is a self-described data geek, she chats with Elizabeth about what open data actually is, how it can be used, and why it isn't always the perfect fix (but still helpful) for increasing government transparency and accountability. Hear about examples from government and philanthropy in Canada, Israel, and the UK. Additional Resources Two useful websites for defining open data are: open.canada.ca and opendefinition.org. In the episode, Mor mentions a McK

Season: 2 Episode: 3 Megan Beretta is a public servant who is dedicated to digital government. She and Elizabeth chat about the evolution from e-government to digital government, where we find digital gov efforts in Canada (also, who can actually get stuff done), and opportunities for increased accessibility. Additional Resources We've mentioned the Citizenship in a Connected Canada book before - it is the one Elizabeth co-edited. It is available open access (that means free!