Capital City Clean Up – 15 to Clean Challenge!

Now that the snow has melted, litter is once again visible on our streets and sidewalks. That means it’s time for a big push by Capital City Clean Up (CCCU), the City of Edmonton’s year-round litter and graffiti management program.

On Wednesday, Mayor Mandel kicked off the latest CCCU initiative, called the 15 to Clean Challenge:

“The responsibility for keeping our city clean is shared by all of us. If we all took 15 minutes to clean up litter or wipe out graffiti, imagine how much of a difference we could make together,” said Mayor Stephen Mandel. “Edmontonians take pride in their city and show it by participating in events like this.”

Participating in the challenge is easy. Just take 15 minutes to pick up some litter or call 311 to report graffiti. Challenge your friends and co-workers and go as a group! When you’re done, log your clean up activities online (you have until May 16 to do so).

Photos by Raffaella Loro (see more here)

I took part in a clean up group last year and had lots of fun! Last year was a great year for CCCU. Here is 2009 by-the-numbers:

4758 – Adopt-a-Block Team Members recruited
11588 – bags of Adopt-a-Block trash collected
246 – litter tickets issued
11160 – hours volunteered collecting litter
13158 – square meters of graffiti painted/cleaned (141628 square feet)
546 – graffiti wipeout volunteers
266 – graffiti wipeout kits issued
3276 – Graffiti Clean Up volunteer hours
98 – graffiti tickets issued
27 – CCCU program partners
6458 – bags of trash collected during River Valley Clean Up
7319 – volunteer hours for River Valley Clean Up

River Valley Clean Up kicks off next week (on ShareEdmonton) – you can learn more here. If you’d like to Adopt-a-Block, you can do so here.

Fifteen minutes is all it takes! Get out and help to clean up Edmonton!

State of the Winnipeg Twittersphere – February & March 2010

Welcome to the second & third State of the Winnipeg Twittersphere, my look at the intersection of Twitter and Winnipeg, MB. You can see January’s stats here. Since I completely missed posting the February stats last month, I have included some of them with the March stats.

For information on the data, definitions, and other background, click here.

For March 2010:

# of local users: 4972
# of tweets by local users: 249553
# of tweets by local users containing #winnipeg/#ywg/#wpg: 1918 (0.8%)
# of tweets by local users that were replies: 85563 (34.3%)
# of tweets by local users containing links: 61451 (24.6%)
# of tweets by local users that were retweets: 10486 (4.2%)
# of tweets by local users that were twooshes: 6421 (2.6%)

Here are the numbers above in graphic form (combined with February’s numbers):

Here are the top clients used by local users for posting updates:

Some other interesting stats for the month:

Just under 47% of all local tweets were posted between 9 AM and 5 PM.
Local users posted roughly 5.6 tweets per minute in March, compared with 5.1 in February.
The day with the most local tweets posted was March 30 at 9226. On average, 8051 local tweets were posted each day, compared with 7397 in February.
Of the 85563 replies posted by local users this month, 17616 or 20.6% were to other local users.
A total of 973 users posted 50 times or more in January. In comparison, 799 users posted just once.

Here are the top ten most followed local users:

Here are the top ten most listed local users:

Here are the top ten most active local users:

Here are the top ten most replied to local users:

Final Thoughts

I included three hashtags in the tagged stat this month – #winnipeg (the most common), #ywg, and #wpg. Even with all three, less than 1% of all local tweets posted were tagged! Compare that to Victoria, where over 9% of all local tweets posted were tagged.

You can see that February 28 was a record day for the number of tweets, as it was in all other Canadian cities, thanks to the gold medal hockey game and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics.

Sign of progress

The new South LRT extension has been the hot topic at water coolers throughout the city this week:

When was the last time that so many Edmontonians were talking about the LRT? Nothing like a little controversy to bring a topic to the forefront. I’ve almost heard more people talking about the delays at 51 Avenue than about the downtown arena! And you know what they say, there’s no such thing as bad press…

Yes it sucks to wait at a traffic light. The City will get the issues sorted out though, I’m sure of that. In the meantime, we should capitalize on the discussions that are happening! Explain to Edmontonians that we’re forging ahead with new LRT extensions and that we’ll learn from this experience.

And wouldn’t you know it, since I started writing this post I received a notice that Bob Boutilier, GM Transportation at the City of Edmonton, will be addressing strategies and challenges associated with fast tracking the NAIT, southeast, and west LRT lines at a news conference tomorrow morning. Excellent!

State of the Ottawa Twittersphere – March 2010

Welcome to the third State of the Ottawa Twittersphere, my look at the intersection of Twitter and Ottawa, ON. You can see last month’s stats here.

For information on the data, definitions, and other background, click here.

For March 2010:

# of local users: 10785 (an increase of 1419 from February)
# of tweets by local users: 539860
# of tweets by local users containing #ottawa/#yow: 4457 (0.8%)
# of tweets by local users that were replies: 189236 (35.1%)
# of tweets by local users containing links: 153778 (28.4%)
# of tweets by local users that were retweets: 29274 (5.4%)
# of tweets by local users that were twooshes: 16791 (3.1%)

Here are the numbers above in graphic form:

Here are the top clients used by local users for posting updates:

Some other interesting stats for the month:

Just over 51% of all local tweets were posted between 9 AM and 5 PM.
Local users posted roughly 12.1 tweets per minute in March (compared to 11.2 tweets per minute in February).
The day with the most local tweets posted was March 23 at 20898. On average, 17415 local tweets were posted each day (compared to 16150 in February).
Of the 189236 replies posted by local users this month, 58286 or 30.8% were to other local users.
A total of 1981 users posted 50 times or more in January. In comparison, 1710 users posted just once.

Here are the top ten most followed local users:

Here are the top ten most listed local users:

Here are the top ten most active local users:

Here are the top ten most replied to local users:

Final Thoughts

First off, apologies for the late stats this month. I think the increased numbers in March reflect three more days in the month than we had in February, but also some steady growth (and perhaps some modifications I made to my code). More than 12,000 tweets were posted each day in March. The percentage of tagged tweets, while still small relative to other cities, did increase a little.

State of the Calgary Twittersphere – March 2010

Welcome to the third State of the Calgary Twittersphere of 2010, my look at the intersection of Twitter and Calgary, AB. You can see last month’s stats here.

For information on the data, definitions, and other background, click here.

For March 2010:

# of local users: 9914 (an increase of 1724 from February)
# of tweets by local users: 473003
# of tweets by local users containing #yyc: 16273 (3.4%)
# of tweets by local users that were replies: 143512 (30.3%)
# of tweets by local users containing links: 145927 (30.9%)
# of tweets by local users that were retweets: 24607 (5.2%)
# of tweets by local users that were twooshes: 15013 (3.2%)

Here are the numbers above in graphic form:

Here are the top clients used by local users for posting updates:

Some other interesting stats for the month:

Just over 49% of all local tweets were posted between 9 AM and 5 PM.
Local users posted roughly 10.6 tweets per minute in February (compared to 9.7 tweets per minute in February).
The day with the most local tweets posted was March 25 at 17829. On average, 15259 local tweets were posted each day (compared to 13937 in February).
Of the 143512 replies posted by local users this month, 39809 or 27.7% were to other local users.
A total of 1732 users posted 50 times or more in January. In comparison, 1606 users posted just once.

Here are the top ten most followed local users:

Here are the top ten most listed local users:

Here are the top ten most active local users:

Here are the top ten most active local users using #yyc:

Here are the top ten most replied to local users:

Final Thoughts

State of the Victoria Twittersphere – March 2010

Welcome to the third State of the Victoria Twittersphere, my look at the intersection of Twitter and Victoria, BC. You can see last month’s stats here.

For information on the data, definitions, and other background, click here.

For March 2010:

# of local users: 2466 (an increase of 707 over February)
# of tweets by local users: 81649
# of tweets by local users containing #yyj: 7476 (9.2%)
# of tweets by local users that were replies: 23855 (29.2%)
# of tweets by local users containing links: 27881 (34.1%)
# of tweets by local users that were retweets: 6301 (7.7%)
# of tweets by local users that were twooshes: 3042 (3.7%)

Here are the numbers above in graphic form:

Here are the top clients used by local users for posting updates:

Some other interesting stats for the month:

Just under 56% of all local tweets were posted between 9 AM and 5 PM.
Local users posted roughly 1.8 tweets per minute in March (compared with 1.5 tweets per minute in February).
The day with the most local tweets posted was March 4 at 4438. On average, 2634 local tweets were posted each day (compared with 2150 in February).
Of the 23855 replies posted by local users this month, 7043 or 29.5% were to other local users.
A total of 388 users posted 50 times or more in March. In comparison, 227 users posted just once.

Here are the top ten most followed local users:

Here are the top ten most listed local users:

Here are the top ten most active local users:

Here are the top ten most active local users using #yyj:

Here are the top ten most replied to local users:

Final Thoughts

First off, apologies for the late stats this month. I think the increased numbers in March reflect three more days in the month than we had in February, but also some steady growth (and perhaps some modifications I made to my code). I’m still impressed by the relatively high percentage (relative to other cities) of tagged tweets in Victoria!

State of the Edmonton Twittersphere – March 2010

Welcome to the third State of the Edmonton Twittersphere of 2010, my look at the intersection of Twitter and Edmonton, AB. You can see last month’s stats here.

For information on the data, definitions, and other background, click here.

For March 2010:

# of local users: 8095 (an increase of 1624 from February)
# of tweets by local users: 416919
# of tweets by local users containing #yeg: 27538 (6.6%)
# of tweets by local users that were replies: 144491 (34.7%)
# of tweets by local users containing links: 105599 (25.3%)
# of tweets by local users that were retweets: 20345 (4.9%)
# of tweets by local users that were twooshes: 14367 (3.4%)

Here are the numbers above in graphic form:

Here are the top clients used by local users for posting updates:

Some other interesting stats for the month:

Just over 52% of all local tweets were posted between 9 AM and 5 PM.
Local users posted roughly 9.3 tweets per minute in March (compared to 8.3 tweets per minute in February).
The day with the most local tweets posted was March 26 at 15986. On average, 13449 local tweets were posted each day (compared to 11933 in February).
Of the 144491 replies posted by local users this month, 47407 or 32.8% were to other local users.
A total of 1573 users posted 50 times or more in March. In comparison, 1296 users posted just once.

Here are the top ten most followed local users:

Here are the top ten most listed local users:

Here are the top ten most active local users:

Here are the top ten most active local users using #yeg:

Here are the top ten most replied to local users:

Final Thoughts

Notes for 4/25/2010

Here are my weekly notes:

This weekend marked the 20th anniversary of the launching of the Hubble Telescope. It’s pretty amazing when you think about all we’ve learned from it.
Love Lady Gaga? Here are 50 covers, choreographies, and parodies on YouTube.
David Carr wrote a great overview of how Gizmodo monetized the iPhone spectacle.
An update on the planes vs. volcano visualization I linked to last week.
Nice: Announcing the first free software Blu-ray encoder.
From comScore: State of the digital media universe in Canada.
Roger Ebert says video games can never be art.

Edmonton Notes for 4/24/2010

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

It rained a little over the last couple of days, finally, but because of high winds and extremely dry conditions the fire marshal had issued a city-wide partial fire ban.
The Katz Group started the week by submitting rezoning and other applications to the City for its proposed sports-entertainment district. You can download the documents here.
The typical Edmonton homeowner will see property taxes rise by $149 this year, which translates to a 6.5% increase.
Recaps from yesterday and today: Edmonton Public Library’s MP3 Experiment, and the South LRT Grand Opening. The Journal has more on the LRT here.
I really like this idea – the City will try to stop the concentration of poverty in the inner city. Healthy neighbourhoods have a good mix.
MacEwan president Paul Byrne, 63, announced that he’ll be retiring next spring from the role he took over in 1997.
Congratulations to Transcend Coffee on the opening of T2 (the new Garneau location).
Good write-up on FC Edmonton, the soccer squad that will join the NASL in 2011.
The Edmonton Public Library launched its new branding this week. Spread the words!
Northlands had its AGM recently, and issued this release outlining its major achievements throughout 2009.
Making Sense of Social Media in Education, Government, and the Enterprise starts tomorrow and runs through Monday (on ShareEdmonton).
Also tomorrow is the Edmonton Police Foundation Half Marathon (on ShareEdmonton).
The final Connections 2010 event, your chance to connect with more than 40 City of Edmonton departments and services, happens Thursday evening at the Alberta Aviation Museum (on ShareEdmonton).
The Royal Bison Craft & Art Fair runs next Saturday and Sunday (on ShareEdmonton).

Edmonton’s South LRT Grand Opening

Today was the grand opening of the Southgate and Century Park LRT stations (see my previous coverage here). A joint news release issued by all three levels of government declared that “a new era in Edmonton’s transportation history has begun.” Edmonton’s LRT now extends 20.3 kilometers from Clareview Station in the northeast to Century Park in the south.

A number of distinguished guests were on hand for the two ceremonies today, one at Southgate Station and one at Century Park Station. Among others, MP Laurie Hawn spoke on behalf of the federal government, Premier Stelmach surprised many people by appearing himself to congratulate Edmonton, and Mayor Mandel was joined by his Council colleagues.

Here are some of MP Laurie Hawn’s remarks:

Here is Premier Ed Stelmach:

Here is Mayor Stephen Mandel and City Councillors:

After the ceremonies ended, everyone joined the fun already underway at the ETS Community Fair! There were information kiosks, activities for kids, and some of the City Centre Market vendors providing a preview of the upcoming market season.

I’m very happy that our LRT now extends to Century Park, and I was glad to see so many Edmontonians out to celebrate today. Now we need to move on to the next extension, to keep the momentum going. The LRT system map looks a little odd without any “future LRT station” nodes!