For the past year or so, the group at TOPP that I manage has been known as TOPP Labs. TOPP Labs was originally chosen not because it was the best or most compelling name, but because as we were dialing back work on the OpenCore project, we needed a name that was better than “The… Continue reading
Tag: topp
Making cities easier to use
I always have a hard time explaining what we do at The Open Planning Project. The front page of our website reads: “TOPP is a catalyst. We empower civil society through software, media, and smart urban policy.” While this makes sense if you think about it for a while, when I first say it to… Continue reading
Chandler and Constraints
I spent most of this morning looking back through old posts about the Chandler Project and OSAF. I’ve thought about this a lot, due to the many parallels with my work at The Open Planning Project. For newcomers, those parallels are: Massive funding from a visionary with a dream (in OSAF’s case, Mitch Kapor, in… Continue reading
TOPP @ Green Desk
This week, TOPP moved into additional, (maybe) temporary office space, to alleviate some of the crowding at our office in the West Village. We were looking for a place that was convenient, comfortable, and most of all, available immediately (backstory is that we’ve been basically sitting on top of each other at our W. 12th… Continue reading
Goodbye Fresh Direct, Hello Max Delivery
Here at TOPP, we’ve been using Fresh Direct for a while now for our office groceries (even while being critical of them on one of our blogs). It’s easy — we can order online and have food delivered right to the office. However, the packaging Fresh Direct uses is really outrageous; items are delivered in… Continue reading
Same Bat Blog, New Bat Look
This week, we launched the new, improved GothamSchools. GothamSchools is the latest media / advocacy initiative from The Open Planning Project, and our first foray into the world of education. We’ve got a great team of reporters in Philissa Cramer, Elizabeth Green, and Kelly Vaughan, and the new site website was put together by the… Continue reading
Coming soon: Park(ing) Day 2008
In the spirit of blogging all the cool stuff we’re doing at TOPP, I’d like to announce the launch of a new website: Park(ing) Day NYC. Park(ing) Day is a global event, originally conceived by awesome SF-based arts collective REBAR, where for a single day, regular parking spaces are “leased” for use as temporary public… Continue reading
New TOPP Website
Over at The Open Planning Project, we’ve always had a bit of a hard time explaining what we do. That job just got a little bit easier, with the launch of the new-and-improved TOPP website last Friday. Reactions from within the staff have been remarkably similar: something along the lines of “Phew, now I can… Continue reading
Coming soon… The Livable Streets Network
For the past several months, my coworkers and I over at The Open Planning Project have been hard at work on an important redesign and new product launch. I’m now excited to say that the final launch is, ahem, days away. Streetsblog and StreetFilms have been hugely popular since they launched two years ago, making… Continue reading
Taking it to the streets
(ok, I obviously need to work on less cheesy headlines, but for the moment…) On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of accompanying TOPP’s latest hire, Kim Wiley-Schwartz, on a pilot session for her new Livable Streets curriculum. She’s developing an education program around Livable Streets that’s debuting in several NYC public schools this spring. This… Continue reading
Wanted: Awesome web designer
Here at The Open Planning Project, we are currently looking to add to our talented design team. If you’re a web designer with visual design talent, rock-solid production skills, and a strong intuition for user experience, we want to hear from you. Download the full job description. Life is good at TOPP — we work… Continue reading
Digifesto
One of my colleagues at The Open Planning Project, Sebastian Benthall, has started blogging over at Digifesto. Seb is one sharp cookie, so keep an eye on this blog for lots of great web gems — the blog will be focusing on “how the internet and open source software can be used by civil society… Continue reading