Tag Archives: local government
Shining a light on local government
October 28, 2010Recently, after long days at work, I find myself cursing the Government.
It’s not that I’m an anarchist, or because I am particularly upset about taxes or government policy. What annoys me is the streetlight outside my house.
Last month, after a brief, flickering illness, it died. Without its guiding light, fitting my key into the door to my apartment building has become an annoying game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey.
To be fair, the issue is …
Tags: crowd crowdsourcing crowdsourcing platform distributed work Fixmystreet local government mySociety Project Fosbury
crowd, crowdsourcing, crowdsourcing platform, distributed work, Fixmystreet, local government, mySociety, Project Fosbury | Leave a commentYour Country Needs You!
February 14, 2010Until recently, the options for citizens to participate in government were few and of arguable impact. Besides signing or organizing the odd petition, joining a protest, attending a town hall meeting, or writing a letter to your Minister of Parliament, influencing leadership was pretty much limited to voting during elections (assuming you are lucky enough to live in a democracy at all).
I say, “Until recently” because the times are a-changing. …
Tags: big brother CCTV crowdsourcing democracy obama participatory government
big brother, CCTV, crowdsourcing, democracy, obama, participatory government | 4 CommentsFrom millions of tasks to thousands of jobs: Bringing digital work to the developing world
February 1, 2012… Microwork is relatively disintermediated, meaning that it is not necessary to find employment at a local business process outsourcing company to tap into the market – a web browser is enough. Low labor costs moreover give a competitive advantage to workers from developing countries.
Many microworkers are indeed located in the developing world. According to one survey, 34 percent of workers on AMT are from India. Two other microwork distributors, Samasource and MobileWorks, have workers …
FixMyTransport: keep calm and carry on crowdsourcing
September 19, 2011… last year’s blog on FixMyStreet, a mySociety site where users “report, view and discuss local problems” (mostly involving potholes). Apparently, reports on FixMyStreet have led to over 65,000 street repairs (UK personal injury lawyers must be in real trouble).
FixMyTransport is very much FixMyStreet with added wheels. The site’s well-designed, calming interface is part problem-page, part social-network. You can register complaints, gather followers and campaign for new …
Life, liberty and the pursuit of crowdsourcing: Iceland’s constitutional saga
August 29, 2011… plans to crowdsource a new constitution. At first, I confess I was skeptical. In my experience government crowdsourcing projects are like Mars probes: there’s a massive launch, then six months later they mysteriously vanish without trace. But not this time. On July 29th Reykjavik declared the new constitution complete: for the people and most definitely by the people.
So how do you crowdsource a whole new system of government? Basically the same way you crowdsource anything: invite …
Tags: crowd crowdsourcing Facebook Iceland Icelanders Jedi microwork Open government Reykjavík youtube
crowd, crowdsourcing, Facebook, Iceland, Icelanders, Jedi, microwork, Open government, Reykjavík, youtube | 1 Comment← Older posts
