Times, they are a’ changing…

Those of you who visit here regularly will have noticed there have been a few changes. The site name has changed - no longer, “Lynne Pope, City Councillor”, the site is now “discourse and data”. The words are self-explanatory. I did not seek a third term as a city councillor so on 13th October, my time as an elected public figure came to an end. I continue to serve my community, but no longer within the council chambers. For a long time I have kept my public life and outside interests separate and used this site to keep in contact with the people I represented. Now that I am just me, citizen again, I am going to use this blog to talk about the other things I work with.

There are a few things I will miss about council, but not many. My life is richer for meeting very many people from the different sectors of our community, and for a greater awareness of what makes my city tick. I’ve gained a lot from the experience, but also gave up a lot (such as privacy, sound sleep, and most of my personal life). Time now to move forward.

So, welcome to my new site. I designed the site to reflect this new stage in my life and, for a bit of fun, I added a “web 2.0″ badge to it. This badge simply says “2.0″ and has several meanings. The site is about discourse and data too (2.0 - get it?), it is also the second incarnation of my blog. And, ten years after first getting involved in local body politics, this is a time for me to bring to the fore the things that were previously secondary in my life. I may still comment on civic matters (old habits are hard to break!) but the focus of my writing here will be web site design and development, with a special emphasis on open source software. I hope you enjoy the new site and find my articles useful.