When Chief Charles Bordeleau started a Twitter feed just minutes after being sworn in earlier this week, it was largely celebrated, including by yours truly.

Other city officials have come onboard in recent months, including deputy city manager Steve Kanellakos and more recently Alta Vista Coun. Peter Hume.

Then there was a kinda/sorta drive to get other non-tweeting councillors to join the craze.

What do we want from “officials” on Twitter?

Personally, I’m looking for information, but I’m more interested in candid observations. Just having a presence on Twitter can impress people. For that reason alone, I don’t understand why more city politicians don’t take advantage of it. What we really want, I suppose, is to know that the people whose names are on those Twitter accounts are actually the ones sending the tweets.

The press pays a lot of attention to tweets from the usual newsmakers. Heck, there was even a news story today that was pretty much one councillor’s tweet!

As for Bordeleau, police staff today told me he — after learning the ins and outs of the broadcast tool — is now sending his own tweets.

So, what should we expect from Bordeleau on Twitter? What do people want to hear from the police chief? Former chief Vern White, who didn’t take to Twitter, made it his thing to respond to emails from the public with a phone call back. Maybe Twitter will be Bordeleau’s thing.

Still, I’m not expecting many unreserved tweets from Bordeleau, who comes across as someone keenly aware of the weight of his words as chief of police.

(Right: Power tweeter Mayor Jim Watson chats with rookie tweeter Chief Charles Bordeleau before Friday’s swearing-in ceremony at City Hall. Photo by Tony Caldwell)

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Follow City Hall reporter Jon Willing on Twitter at @JonathanWilling.

At the beginning of this term of council I published a list of council members on Twitter. Here is a revised list. I’m only including council members who are either superusers or somewhat using Twitter. Non-public accounts or unused accounts don’t get a mention here.

As always, if you think I’ve missed one, feel free to add as a comment.

Mayor Jim Watson (@JimWatsonOttawa)
Kanata North Coun. Marianne Wilkinson (@Marianne4Kanata)
Bay Coun. Mark Taylor (@Go_Taylor)
Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Diane Deans (@DianeDeans)
Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney (@TimTierney)
Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury (@MathieuFleury)
Rideau-Goulbourn Coun. Scott Moffatt (@ScottMoffatt21)
Cumberland Coun. Stephen Blais (@StephenBlais)
Capital Coun. David Chernushenko (@Chernushenko)
Kitchissippi Coun. Katherine Hobbs (@Katherine_Hobbs)
Gloucester-South Nepean Coun. Steve Desroches (@SteveDesroches)
Barrhaven Coun. Jan Harder (@harderja)
West Carleton-March Coun. Eli El-Chantiry (@Eli_ward5)
River Coun. Maria McRae (@CouncillorMcRae)
Kanata South Coun. Allan Hubley (@AllanHubley_23)
Orleans Coun. Bob Monette (@BobMonette1)

The city is still working on the back-end production of the new ottawa.ca, but this is what the homepage will look like next summer. There will be a modified homepage launched possibly by the end of the year to dovetail with the new Service Ottawa portal, but the city wants to move to the three-tab design in the months that follow. The design and new search functionality cost $260,000.

What do people think of the new look?

An update to our last discussion on QR codes…

The city’s information technology staff have written to the IT subcommittee explaining they probably won’t look at QR codes until next year, mostly because they want to make sure the new city website is tuned for mobile phones.

The new ottawa.ca is expected this month, but I’m a little surprised a mobile site also isn’t being launched at the same time. The response from staff says a “mobile strategy” will begin in 2012 with a mobile website ready in 2013. The city is aggressively moving toward a web-based service model will allow residents to send requests and book facilities online.

Anyway, we likely won’t see city signage covered in QR codes in the next year. But you’ll probably see them printed everywhere else. I bought a bag of grapes recently with a QR code on it!

Do many people use “quick response” (a.k.a. QR) codes?

I don’t think so, but I stand to be corrected.

Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney would be the first to correct me, I suspect.

Tierney, chairman of the city’s IT subcommittee, is pretty sure it will take off. He has the city’s IT department looking into it for city signs and publications.

At this point, you might be wondering what a QR code is. Back in May, Tierney and I chatted about QR codes and he sent me this one he created for the Sun & The City blog:

You essentially “scan” it with the camera on your mobile phone and it opens a website in the browser.

I was reminded about QR codes twice recently: Once in this OpenFile piece, and another this morning during breakfast. With our bill came an advertisement with several QR codes, so I pulled out my Android phone and gave it a try. Turns out I didn’t have a QR code scan app (but there are several free apps in the Android Market).

Up until now I had never bothered trying QR codes. I see why they might be attractive, especially in situations where you want to disseminate lots of information in a small space. Or, in situations where the web address is long and scanning the QR code is easier than typing it out. That’s why QR codes are increasingly creeping into print advertising.

I’m lukewarm about ideas that force people to invest in technology to participate. We’ll see if the IT and corporate communications departments think it’s worth using them at the city. Part of the challenge is looking into a crystal ball to see if QR codes have any legs.