John Kenney
@johnrkenney.bsky.social
Digital governance, music, footy, Halisky, stuttering pride
Reposted by John Kenney
Tree for Boston has arrived! 🎄
Every year, Nova Scotia gifts Boston a tree in gratitude of our support after the 1917 Halifax Explosion.
This 54 year tradition was extra special this year as @mayorwu.boston.gov helped cut down the tree in Nova Scotia.
Join us Dec 5: boston.gov/holiday-lights
Every year, Nova Scotia gifts Boston a tree in gratitude of our support after the 1917 Halifax Explosion.
This 54 year tradition was extra special this year as @mayorwu.boston.gov helped cut down the tree in Nova Scotia.
Join us Dec 5: boston.gov/holiday-lights
November 18, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Tree for Boston has arrived! 🎄
Every year, Nova Scotia gifts Boston a tree in gratitude of our support after the 1917 Halifax Explosion.
This 54 year tradition was extra special this year as @mayorwu.boston.gov helped cut down the tree in Nova Scotia.
Join us Dec 5: boston.gov/holiday-lights
Every year, Nova Scotia gifts Boston a tree in gratitude of our support after the 1917 Halifax Explosion.
This 54 year tradition was extra special this year as @mayorwu.boston.gov helped cut down the tree in Nova Scotia.
Join us Dec 5: boston.gov/holiday-lights
Reposted by John Kenney
I’m back, birches.
November 15, 2025 at 2:00 PM
I’m back, birches.
Reposted by John Kenney
If you go to a ceremony today, please remember why you're there.
Remembering to forget
Editor’s Note: Matt Stickland has been in the military for 10 years and deployed to Libya in 2011 on HMCS CHARLOTTETOWN. On November 11, as a country we will gather and remember…
dalgazette.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:27 AM
If you go to a ceremony today, please remember why you're there.
Reposted by John Kenney
There is no such thing as neutral technology because technology by definition exists in the context of humans, and humans are not neutral by any means.
As soon as there is a desire for other people to use a technology - which is pretty much given in our economic state - neutrality is impossible.
As soon as there is a desire for other people to use a technology - which is pretty much given in our economic state - neutrality is impossible.
I keep catching strays from "technology is neutral" people, so let's set things straight.
1) Technology is not neutral, especially the subset of technology called "algorithms"
2) The form-factor that makes a technology into a tool is not neutral
3) How tools are productized is not neutral
[rant]
1) Technology is not neutral, especially the subset of technology called "algorithms"
2) The form-factor that makes a technology into a tool is not neutral
3) How tools are productized is not neutral
[rant]
April 29, 2025 at 4:45 PM
There is no such thing as neutral technology because technology by definition exists in the context of humans, and humans are not neutral by any means.
As soon as there is a desire for other people to use a technology - which is pretty much given in our economic state - neutrality is impossible.
As soon as there is a desire for other people to use a technology - which is pretty much given in our economic state - neutrality is impossible.
Reposted by John Kenney
Crystal Palace secure their place in this season's FA Cup final, beating Aston Villa 3-0 at Wembley.
April 26, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Crystal Palace secure their place in this season's FA Cup final, beating Aston Villa 3-0 at Wembley.
Reposted by John Kenney
"Government should be run like a business" okay fine, let's be specific then. Do you mean the kind of business that:
- has hidden fees, like airlines, so the price they advertise is way less than what you actually pay?
- makes you jump through hoops to unsubscribe?
- denies most of your claims?
- has hidden fees, like airlines, so the price they advertise is way less than what you actually pay?
- makes you jump through hoops to unsubscribe?
- denies most of your claims?
February 8, 2025 at 10:56 PM
"Government should be run like a business" okay fine, let's be specific then. Do you mean the kind of business that:
- has hidden fees, like airlines, so the price they advertise is way less than what you actually pay?
- makes you jump through hoops to unsubscribe?
- denies most of your claims?
- has hidden fees, like airlines, so the price they advertise is way less than what you actually pay?
- makes you jump through hoops to unsubscribe?
- denies most of your claims?
Reposted by John Kenney
one of my biggest beliefs about tech in government is that it simultaneously needs to
- stop being sidelined
- stop being idolized
it is currently both, & we now have a stunning example how vulnerable this makes governments to bad technology actors - but less dire vulnerability is there every day
- stop being sidelined
- stop being idolized
it is currently both, & we now have a stunning example how vulnerable this makes governments to bad technology actors - but less dire vulnerability is there every day
February 8, 2025 at 6:12 PM
one of my biggest beliefs about tech in government is that it simultaneously needs to
- stop being sidelined
- stop being idolized
it is currently both, & we now have a stunning example how vulnerable this makes governments to bad technology actors - but less dire vulnerability is there every day
- stop being sidelined
- stop being idolized
it is currently both, & we now have a stunning example how vulnerable this makes governments to bad technology actors - but less dire vulnerability is there every day
Reposted by John Kenney
1/ Here's my take on what's happening with DOGE.
I've got fed experience through contracting with Health & Human Safety, Head Start, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and DOD. I get brought in when people need to get shit done. Other people here have way more experience than me.
I've got fed experience through contracting with Health & Human Safety, Head Start, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and DOD. I get brought in when people need to get shit done. Other people here have way more experience than me.
does anyone _really_ want any more opinions about DOGE and what it's doing and how from someone like me
February 5, 2025 at 9:16 PM
1/ Here's my take on what's happening with DOGE.
I've got fed experience through contracting with Health & Human Safety, Head Start, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and DOD. I get brought in when people need to get shit done. Other people here have way more experience than me.
I've got fed experience through contracting with Health & Human Safety, Head Start, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and DOD. I get brought in when people need to get shit done. Other people here have way more experience than me.
Reposted by John Kenney
There's such a tone of sadness to the CBC reporting right now. Adrienne Arsenault says, “I feel like the whole country, all of us, are getting both a history lesson and a politics lesson and an economics lesson and a lesson in heartache.”
February 2, 2025 at 1:47 AM
There's such a tone of sadness to the CBC reporting right now. Adrienne Arsenault says, “I feel like the whole country, all of us, are getting both a history lesson and a politics lesson and an economics lesson and a lesson in heartache.”
Reposted by John Kenney
🗞️ Our latest @theglobeandmail.com opinion piece: Will artificial intelligence really fix Ottawa’s troubled Phoenix pay?
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/46b24b2...
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/46b24b2...
Opinion: Will artificial intelligence really fix Ottawa’s troubled Phoenix pay?
Public Services and Procurement Canada has been testing a virtual assistant tool that uses AI to speed up the backlog-clearing process for Phoenix pay
www.theglobeandmail.com
January 31, 2025 at 7:18 PM
🗞️ Our latest @theglobeandmail.com opinion piece: Will artificial intelligence really fix Ottawa’s troubled Phoenix pay?
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/46b24b2...
www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/46b24b2...
Reposted by John Kenney
This week I sat down and wrote some thoughts down on the Blueprint for Modern Digital Government. Tldr? : Exciting, bold, and hugely ambitious. Bring it on. www.laurayarrow.net/blog/theres-a-lot-to-be-excited-about-in-the-blueprint-for-modern-digital-government
There’s a lot to be excited about in the blueprint for modern digital government — Laura Yarrow
Last week was quite the ride. We kicked the week off with our Secretary of State (SoS), Peter Kyle, announcing the new Digital Centre, and blueprint for modern digital gov at the GDS office in Londo...
www.laurayarrow.net
January 26, 2025 at 2:22 PM
This week I sat down and wrote some thoughts down on the Blueprint for Modern Digital Government. Tldr? : Exciting, bold, and hugely ambitious. Bring it on. www.laurayarrow.net/blog/theres-a-lot-to-be-excited-about-in-the-blueprint-for-modern-digital-government
Reposted by John Kenney
Today's column is a loving ode to the smoked meat sandwich of Montreal, and their literary bard, the Canadian-Jewish novelist Mordecai Richler: buttondown.com/theswordandt...
Notable Sandwiches #121: Montreal Smoked Meat
Welcome back to Notable Sandwiches, the feature where I, alongside my intrepid editor David Swanson, move through the fragrant boughs of the variegated grove...
buttondown.com
January 24, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Today's column is a loving ode to the smoked meat sandwich of Montreal, and their literary bard, the Canadian-Jewish novelist Mordecai Richler: buttondown.com/theswordandt...
Reposted by John Kenney
ICYMI:
"Almost without exception, Survivors talked about the places they were born and raised. They described the Land that nurtured them and their relationships with Land." - Crystal Gail Fraser and @jdunkin.bsky.social
niche-canada.org/2025/01/09/h...
#envhist #cdnhist #indigenous
"Almost without exception, Survivors talked about the places they were born and raised. They described the Land that nurtured them and their relationships with Land." - Crystal Gail Fraser and @jdunkin.bsky.social
niche-canada.org/2025/01/09/h...
#envhist #cdnhist #indigenous
How I Survived: Land and Northern Histories of Residential and Day Schooling
In spite of the distance from familiar people and places and the structured and colonial world of residential and day schools, institutionalized children found ways to sustain relationships with Land,...
niche-canada.org
January 11, 2025 at 8:36 PM
ICYMI:
"Almost without exception, Survivors talked about the places they were born and raised. They described the Land that nurtured them and their relationships with Land." - Crystal Gail Fraser and @jdunkin.bsky.social
niche-canada.org/2025/01/09/h...
#envhist #cdnhist #indigenous
"Almost without exception, Survivors talked about the places they were born and raised. They described the Land that nurtured them and their relationships with Land." - Crystal Gail Fraser and @jdunkin.bsky.social
niche-canada.org/2025/01/09/h...
#envhist #cdnhist #indigenous
Reposted by John Kenney
DHS Unveils Playbook for the Deployment of Artificial Intelligence by the Public Sector. See www.dhs.gov/news/2025/01...
DHS Unveils Playbook for the Deployment of Artificial Intelligence by the Public Sector | Homeland Security
DHS released the “Playbook for Public Sector Artificial Intelligence Deployment,” an innovative guide designed to help government officials improve the delivery of services through the responsible and...
www.dhs.gov
January 7, 2025 at 10:56 PM
DHS Unveils Playbook for the Deployment of Artificial Intelligence by the Public Sector. See www.dhs.gov/news/2025/01...
Reposted by John Kenney
What are you doing to support the music you love?
Thanks to everyone who suggested ideas and improvements to my initial list
#music #independentmusic #gigs
Thanks to everyone who suggested ideas and improvements to my initial list
#music #independentmusic #gigs
25 Ideas to Keep Your Music Scene Alive in 2025
A list of ways music fans can support the music we love and the grassroots ecosystem it relies upon.
www.drownedinsound.org
January 5, 2025 at 11:11 AM
What are you doing to support the music you love?
Thanks to everyone who suggested ideas and improvements to my initial list
#music #independentmusic #gigs
Thanks to everyone who suggested ideas and improvements to my initial list
#music #independentmusic #gigs
Reposted by John Kenney
The impact of AI: Why I have no idea what it'll be, and neither do you! www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBCS... (my talk from last November at @aifortherestofus.live)
The impact of AI: Why I have no idea what it'll be, and neither do you! | Dave Rogers
YouTube video by AI for the rest of us
www.youtube.com
January 2, 2025 at 4:41 PM
The impact of AI: Why I have no idea what it'll be, and neither do you! www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBCS... (my talk from last November at @aifortherestofus.live)
Reposted by John Kenney
🥰🙏 I don't promote my book as much now that I work in government, but I did write one & I believe it's still pretty useful as we enter a time of major shifts & messy information in both government & tech
www.goodreads.com/book/show/55...
www.goodreads.com/book/show/55...
January 1, 2025 at 10:19 PM
🥰🙏 I don't promote my book as much now that I work in government, but I did write one & I believe it's still pretty useful as we enter a time of major shifts & messy information in both government & tech
www.goodreads.com/book/show/55...
www.goodreads.com/book/show/55...
Reposted by John Kenney
get a headstart on tomorrow's awards ceremony with this comprehensive playlist of all my favorite songs from 2024
#shoegaze
#shoegaze
best shoegaze of 2024
open.spotify.com
January 1, 2025 at 4:16 AM
get a headstart on tomorrow's awards ceremony with this comprehensive playlist of all my favorite songs from 2024
#shoegaze
#shoegaze
Reposted by John Kenney
The Godfather Part II is a New Year’s Eve movie
January 1, 2025 at 12:40 AM
The Godfather Part II is a New Year’s Eve movie
Reposted by John Kenney
I’ve received three complaints about this playlist
January 1, 2025 at 3:42 AM
I’ve received three complaints about this playlist
Reposted by John Kenney
Are there people in other countries named Gord, or are all Gords Canadian?
January 1, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Are there people in other countries named Gord, or are all Gords Canadian?
Reposted by John Kenney
The January transfer window is now open.
January 1, 2025 at 1:11 AM
The January transfer window is now open.
Reposted by John Kenney
The haunting beauty of fireworks in the fog.
December 31, 2024 at 11:39 PM
The haunting beauty of fireworks in the fog.
Reposted by John Kenney
I’m busy for the rest of the night. Knitting to stop me from biting my nails
#WorldJuniors
#TeamCanada 🇨🇦
#ItsOnlyAGame
#TheyreJustKids
#WorldJuniors
#TeamCanada 🇨🇦
#ItsOnlyAGame
#TheyreJustKids
January 1, 2025 at 1:19 AM
I’m busy for the rest of the night. Knitting to stop me from biting my nails
#WorldJuniors
#TeamCanada 🇨🇦
#ItsOnlyAGame
#TheyreJustKids
#WorldJuniors
#TeamCanada 🇨🇦
#ItsOnlyAGame
#TheyreJustKids
Sitting in the dark with a glass of wine listening to 'The End's not Near' by The New Year 🎶
This is (actually) fine 😅
youtu.be/WqZzFvONbIs?...
This is (actually) fine 😅
youtu.be/WqZzFvONbIs?...
"The End's Not Near" by The New Year
YouTube video by Touch and Go Records
youtu.be
December 31, 2024 at 9:15 PM
Sitting in the dark with a glass of wine listening to 'The End's not Near' by The New Year 🎶
This is (actually) fine 😅
youtu.be/WqZzFvONbIs?...
This is (actually) fine 😅
youtu.be/WqZzFvONbIs?...