Jonathan Brun

Liberal.ca could be better – a lot better

The Liberal Party’s website could be a lot better. Compared to Obama’s, it looks like my high school project (which won some competitions in 1998). Of course that is not saying much; Obama has infinite sums of money and the best political website ever built, so far.

At a recent meeting at Concordia, I asked Stephane Dion, “There is a “révolution tranquille” currently going on. People of my generation (25 years old) now expect to be part of the process and they are very comfortable online, what is the Liberal party doing to respond to this shift in behavior”. His answer was along the lines of, “We realize the internet is a tool we have to better leverage for fundraising and mobilization, I am sure there are many young people here today who would like to talk with you.” And that is the problem.

Dion, and his like minded friends, consider the internet a tool in the same way television ads, radio addresses or pamphlets are. The internet is completely different. Why? Really, do I need to answer that? The internet allows for a two way, contextualized, instantaneous dialogue with anyone and everyone in Canada.

I am a liberal party supporter and a fan of “The Green Shift”, but they have to do more with their online site. They do not need to reinvent the wheel or hire an ex-facebook employee to run it (Obama did), just copy Obama. Let me state that again, “JUST COPY OBAMA!”

The first page should have the following (in either French or English):

1. A clear message (read: “The Green Shift”)
2. A field to input your email
3. A field to identify your general location (Postal Code)

That’s it.

As for the main page:

1. Make the donation button easy to find
2. Make the the party leader’s blog and that of your local MP (remember the postal code) prominent.
3. Less is more – take away things that do not need to be there. More information is not necessarily better.
4. List upcoming LOCAL events (remember the postal code)

That’s it.

Also bigger text fields, bigger buttons, nicer layout etc. Web 101

I have volunteered my time to the Marc Garneau’s campaign, but they do not seem to want it. Marc’s campaign at least has some thought leadership from an individual by the name of Wendy Corn (correction, post originally read: Clark). They developed a site called “Marc’s Stars“, which attempts to bring some social networking into the fold – but the site, also, could be better.

All the things I mentioned require no (ok, little) money and probably less time than what was already put in. One last comment, the site is coded in ASP, which some of you may recognize as a Microsoft enterprise technology. My feeling (and it is just a feeling) is that some Liberal party members said to each other, “We need a website”, and another agreed, “Yes, we do”. The first liberal then replied, “Let’s ask my friend Bob to build it, he has a small tech company so he must know how to do this.” And then it was built.

Wake up Liberal party or else Harper is here to stay!

P.S. Dion and Ignatieff had pretty good websites during their leadership race, what happened?

Published on August 21, 2008

Seinfeld and Zidane: Two peas in a pod

Just watched two movies about people at the top of their game:

Jerry Seinfeld: Comedian and Zidane: 21st century protrait
Both show the respective men at the top of their game; intense, driven, passionate and focused beyond belief. Not much I can add to the films, except to say that they are the top, the best at what they do, and we can learn a hell of a lot from just watching them do their thing. I highly recommend both films. 
Published on August 7, 2008

My Business Venture – Enterprise Web 2.0

Many people have recently asked me what I am doing, by which they really mean are you employed, getting dressed in the morning, and abiding by the rules of upper-middle class society. So here is my rough explanation of what is occupying my time these days. 
Until recently, I worked for EEM, an environmental consulting group. As a small portion of their business, they sold an online database of Canadian environmental regulations and simplified explanations. The product, NIMONIK, was originally designed as an enterprise (web-based) software for large multi-jurisdiction corporations. It was a break-even operation.
Some of the shortcomings were the high price structure, the old web 1.0 technology and the static 800 x 600 design – ultimately boiling down to the product itself. Since May, we have purchased the product from the consulting group and started renewing it as a more dynamic, simpler, and richer website that will (we hope) become a community hub for Canadian environmental managers. We want to build an affordable web 2.0 application for companies – not currently a common sight.
On this project, I am working with Yves Faguy, a lawyer who was at the consulting group, and Paul Maclean, the president of the consulting group. We also have two fantastic people working on the content and the software with us.
Part of our strategy is to reduce membership fees, allow users to import/export ISO 14001 information, and upload corporate documents. Furthermore, users will be able to add comments, rate articles, and generally speaking – participate in the content to create institutional memory for their companies. The great thing about the project is that it comes with cash-flow (not much), a reputation and a lot of rich content – more than what 90% of web start-ups can claim.
Soon, NIMONIK will become a web 2.0 enterprise community driven website for Canadian Fortune 5 000 000 businesses. 
Published on July 25, 2008

The Path of the (Quasi) Vegetarian


The concept of vegetarianism has always appealed to me. Like many to-do items, I have procrastinated, but it is now clear that (Quasi) vegetarianism makes sense on three massive fronts: Personal Health, Environmental Degradation and Morality. The word “quasi” is not used as an escape root, but rather a warning. In my attempt to move towards a flesh (all animals – including fish) free diet, the most challenging thing has been the inconvience of it all. When you are at friends, a French restaurant or a seaside town – the options are limited. Even the Dalai Lama (Buddhists are vegetarians though not vegans) admits that when offered meat he accepts to avoid waste, I agree.

I try not to preach an evangelical vegetarianism, where I scorn carnivores, but rather to educate people around me to the potential benefits. Just as I think smoking is bad for you, it seems meat consumption is also detrimental to your physical, mental and moral health.

People must make their own decisions, but the corporations who control and mass market food have activly deceived the public with regards to the personal and societal costs of eating a meat rich diet. Below are a few ideas on why we should avoid (too much) meat.

Health Implications

It is very, very, very, established that eating red meat and other meat in excess is bad for you. Notice how young girls and boys are hitting puberty earlier? Scientists agree that it’s linked to the hormone injected chicken nuggets in their happy meal. Need I cite heart attack rates in the West? The list is long and deep, but eat more fruits, vegetables, and a little organic meat and you will live longer and better – guaranteed.

A solid TED Talk on the general reason for eating less meat – by a well-known chef.

Environmental

If we assume that everyone is in agreement on the current situation: global warming, the non-sustainable exploitation of resources and the rising cost of food, then we can also agree that too much meat is being grown and consumed. The UN warns that the oceans’ will hold little more than jellyfish by 2050. Chew on that!

Here is a very scary report on the largest porc producer in the United States. Another interesting article on the rising cost of meat from the International Herald Tribune and another one on the discrepancy between your government sanctioned diet and farm subsidies.

Meat is a tremendously inefficient way of getting protein: imagine everyone showering in Evian water, hunting polar bears and driving hummers. Not the best use of resources you say?

Morality

This one is probably the toughest sell. But ask yourself this: do you regularly kill, clean and cook an animal? If so, you are in the very small minority of the developed world.

I think everyone can agree that factory farming is wrong. Therefore, eating meat from a factory farm is wrong, yes? Vegetarianism is a form of protest against the exploitation of animals (see great article here).

Religion, the moral compass for many, is fairly clear on this issue. The ten commandments (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity) state, “Thou Shall not Kill” – it does not say “Thou Shall not Kill Humans”, it says “Thou Shall not Kill”. Buddhism is even clearer and preaches not harming sentient beings. We should do as little harm as possible to others implying leaving our fellow animals to their pastures.

If only schoolchildren were taken on a hunt. Buying chicken breasts at the supermarket is not the same thing as taking a live chicken in your hands, ringing it’s neck, and turning it into dinner. I have nothing against hunters, in fact I support them, they are often ardent conservationists and have a great respect for nature.

If we all touched the source of our food – perhaps we would choose a different way.

The concept of vegetarianism has always appealed to me. Like my other to-do items, I have procrastinated; but it is now clear that (Quasi) vegetarianism makes sense on three massive fronts: Personal Health, Environmental Degradation and Morality.
The word “quasi” is not used as an escape root, but rather a warning. In my attempt to move towards a flesh (all animals – including fish) free diet, the most challenging thing has been the inconvience of it all. When you are at friends, a French restaurant or a seaside town – the options are limited. Even the Dalai Lama (Buddhists are vegetarians, though not vegans), admits that when offered meat he accepts to avoid waste. I agree.
Mine is not an evangelical vegetarianism, where I scorn carnivores – no more than I think it unwise to smoke cigarettes.
People must make their own decisions, but the corporations who control and  mass market food have activly deceived the public on the costs of eating a meat rich diet. Here are a few ideas on why we should avoid (too much) meat.

Health Implications

It is very, very, very, established that eating red meat and other meat in excess is bad for you. Notice how young girls and boys are hitting puberty earlier? Scientists agree that it is linked to the hormone injected chicken nuggets in their happy meal. Ever hear about a movie “Super Size Me”? Need I cite heart attack rates in the West? The list is long and deep, but eat more fruits, vegetables, and a little organic meat and you will live longer and better – guaranteed.
A solid TED Talk on the general reason for eating less meat – by a well-known chef.

If we assume that everyone is in agreement on the current situation: global warming, the non-sustainable exploitation of resources and the rising cost of food – then we can also agree that too much meat is being grown and consumed. The UN warns that the oceans’ will hold little more than jellyfish by 2050. Chew on that!
Here is a very scary report on the largest porc producer in the United States. Another interesting article on the rising cost of meat from the International Herald Tribune and another one on the discrepancy between your government sanctioned diet and  farm subsidies.
Meat is a tremendously inefficient way of getting protein: imagine everyone showering in Evian water, hunting polar bears and driving hummers. Not the best use of resources you say?
Morality
This one is probably the toughest sale. But ask yourself this: Have you ever killed, cleaned and cooked an animal? If so, you are in the very small minority of the developed world.  
I think everyone can agree that factory farming is wrong. Therefore, eating meat from a factory farm is wrong, yes?
Religion, the moral compass for many, is fairly clear on this issue. The ten commandments (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity) state, “Thou Shall not Kill” – it does not say “Thou Shall not Kill Humans”, it says “Thou Shall not Kill”. Buddhism is even clearer, and preaches not harming sentient beings. We should do as little harm as possible to others implying leaving our fellow animals to their pastures.
If only schoolchildren were taken on a hunt. Buying chicken breasts at the supermarket is not the same thing as taking a live chicken in your hands and turning it into dinner. I have nothing against hunters, in fact I support them. They are often ardent conservationists and have a great respect for nature.
If we all touched the source of our food – perhaps we would choose a different way.

Published on July 15, 2008

The Seeds of the Housing Market Bubble

The graphic above provides a quick overview of the magnitude of the tech bubble in the late nineties. And the following – a very similar graphic for the housing market.

The housing crisis is obviously dominating the news right now and is likely to continue to do so for the forseeable future. To get a quick background on how (and why) this happened, I suggest the following resources.

The begining of the end of Fannie Mae – A Consultant at Fannie Mae

How we go from one bubble to another – Harpers

Published on July 12, 2008