I'm David Mason. I participate in a number of projects related to linking systems, mass participation and open, re-usable data in science, government, healthcare, and human rights. I have a particular focus on practical uses of Linked Data (Semantic Web), client and server side Javascript, the participatory culture of wikis, and Free/Open Source systems.

I spent most of the 1980s messing around with the constrained but fascinating computer systems of the day, programming in BASIC and Assembler. Then I got online via bulletin board systems, and working with others wrote software that was used on a network of systems.

In 1993, working with others I started the first consumer Internet Service Provider in Canada, Internex Online. Being more of an entrepeneur and hacker than a businessperson, I sold my shares and spent a few years exploring the edges of the emerging net.

In 2003, working with Dr. Liss Jeffrey, I was technical lead of the world's first national foreign policy dialogue, recognized internationally. In 2005 I was part of a team that, within Canada's largest hospital network, put patient records online in a research environment, and established patient-provider and patient-patient communications.

In February 2011 I had the opportunity to speak before a Canadian Parliamentary committee on the topic of Open Government. The text and media are here.

I designed Deflect, a robust system to protect media, democracy and human rights web sites. I served as a senior systems developer at Concordia University, while continuing to lead and support diverse projects in the evolving health system. From 2015 to 2018, I had the first technical position to establish GovInvest.

Since 2019, I've worked in the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, developing open, policy driven systems for hiring, work practices, digital identity and information exchange.

Current interests wiki (often neglected, sorry)

Please feel free to contact me via email, or via telephone at +1-855-561-4470 (Montreal time). pgp key

My company, Systems for People, is specialized in secure participatory web development using leading open systems.