It isn't every day you open your favourite newspaper and see an article that validates absolutely everything you've been prattling on about for the last few years. But there it was, on the front page of the business section in last Sunday's New York Times: "World Bank Opens its Treasure Chest of Data", and it's the most powerful case study of using digital as a catalyst to renew a tired institution that I've come across in years.

You see it wasn't merely the story about another government group embracing open data, which, as exciting as that is, is only a policy wedge to get at the juicier stuff. This was a story of an institution in transition, being humbled by how difficult it is to make change in this complex, interconnected world, and realizing the limits of the "we're big enough to go it alone" approach it's taken for 67 years.

I am proud to live in a city that has a bold vision, relevant for our challenging times. Most people know Vancouver's agenda is to be the greenest city in the world. What you may not know is the civic government also wants to among the most open, collaborative, and community-minded in how it does governing. And they are willing to try out new ways to get there.

Vancouver's innovative crowdsourcing project — Talk Green To Us, launched this summer. The goals are twofold:

• Share the goals and themes their blue ribbon sustainabilitly panel came up with (education)
• Ask citizens to suggest new ideas, and vote for and comment on others, to help us get there (engagement)

Many members of my extended Toronto community were profiled in a Globe and Mail article today, "Open Source Politics Breathe Fresh Life into the Big Smoke ". The extensive story covered three movements we're also at the focal point of: "open", "unconferences", and web activism.

Long time friends Mark Surman and Tonya Surman opened the story. Mark has been a leading non-profits and technology thinker for a decade, and now runs the Mozilla Foundation, creators of Firefox. Tonya, among other things, founded the hotbed of connection and community in Toronto, the Centre for Social Innovation (where we still maintain a virtual office...OK they're a client too we built their website, too many interconections to list).