Tom McCauley

  • Beyond slacktivism: Samaritan and the rise of app-tivism

    Beyond slacktivism: Samaritan and the rise of app-tivism

    “Walk with, not by.” So goes motto for Samaritan, a mobile app that helps users fight homelessness through direct, case-managed giving. It’s a slogan that rejects slacktivism for what could be called “app-tivism”—the use of consumer apps to generate meaningful social action. More than just sharing news of a cause or signaling one’s ethos with…

  • Against “work theatre”: a case for the 32-hour workweek

    Against “work theatre”: a case for the 32-hour workweek

    This is an op-ed by SPN’s interim managing editor, Tom McCauley, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Silicon Prairie News or its advertisers. On New Year’s Eve, I listened to a story about the push for a four-day workweek in America. It was eye-opening and provocative. While we may consider the five-day workweek…

  • Jackson Pollock, Zoom fatigue, and flexibility: key takeaways from three tech leaders

    Jackson Pollock, Zoom fatigue, and flexibility: key takeaways from three tech leaders

    This afternoon, three of Omaha’s tech leaders convened to share their insights virtually at the AIM Institute’s Self-Management and Team Empowerment Leadership Panel. Moderated by Zac Samson—manager of business technology infrastructure at Omaha Public Power District and member of the AIM Leadership Academy Steering Committee—the panel focused on how companies are staying innovative while responding…

  • Hip, hip, hippocampus: how driving games can build your brain

    Hip, hip, hippocampus: how driving games can build your brain

    I lead a reasonably stressful life. Sometimes by choice, sometimes not. In addition to a challenging full time job and occasional freelance work, I try to quadrangulate my hobbies—writing, music, comedy, art—to the best of my ability. It’s not easy. It’s not supposed to be.  Stress can be good. When it kicks in hard, it can help…

  • Marina Brown, honored by CIO Magazine as “One to Watch,” is truly a tech champion (in both senses of the word)

    Marina Brown, honored by CIO Magazine as “One to Watch,” is truly a tech champion (in both senses of the word)

    Technology was not Marina Brown’s first choice of profession. Originally from Bulgaria, Brown is the daughter of medical professionals who urged her to become a doctor. She wasn’t interested in medicine, however. And as high school slid toward college, she began noticing how new technology was coming out all the time—and that programmers had fairly…

  • Brand agency Daake infuses passion, community spirit and design thinking into every. single. project.

    Brand agency Daake infuses passion, community spirit and design thinking into every. single. project.

    This is a sponsored post paid for by Daake and written by SPN. The day he launched his eponymous branding agency Daake in 2001, co-founder and CEO Greg Daake grabbed pen and paper, sat down in the rented duplex in midtown Omaha that doubled as an office and drafted a guiding purpose for the company.…

  • Women in IT: Shelly Blakeman, MSOL, CSM, builds stable bridges between business and tech

    Women in IT: Shelly Blakeman, MSOL, CSM, builds stable bridges between business and tech

    Shelly Blakeman thrives on knowledge-sharing, curiosity and drive.  She can code (she earned a B.S. in computer information management). She can execute (certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt and Agile Scrum Master). She can teach (instructor in the AIM Institute Emerging Leaders Program). She can write (currently working on her first book). And she can…

  • First-gen college student and entrepreneur AnhPhu Nguyen lands scholarship to Harvard

    First-gen college student and entrepreneur AnhPhu Nguyen lands scholarship to Harvard

    AnhPhu Nguyen is going to Harvard. The 2021 Papillion La Vista High School graduate and entrepreneur recently received a full-ride scholarship to the university, where he’ll study computer science and economics. (He was also offered a full scholarship from Stanford, but opted for the Cambridge institution instead.) Getting to this point has been quite a…

  • GiftAMeal continues to expand reach of hunger-fighting app with new chain restaurant partnership

    GiftAMeal continues to expand reach of hunger-fighting app with new chain restaurant partnership

    GiftAMeal, a mobile app that helps people discover new restaurants and provide meals to the food-insecure, announced today that it has teamed up with Lion’s Choice, a St. Louis-based regional chain (with locations throughout Missouri, Illinois, and Kansas City) that has been serving roast beef sandwiches since 1967. Beginning today, Lion’s Choice customers are eligible…

  • Retail Aware shows no signs of slowing growth despite pandemic

    Retail Aware shows no signs of slowing growth despite pandemic

    Keith Fix, co-founder and CEO of Retail Aware, learned to code during a brief stay with his mother at a homeless shelter.  The 10-year-old aspiring entrepreneur’s parents had recently separated, and young Fix needed money for clothes and the after school programs he wanted to attend. A family friend needed a website built. Fix convinced…