Thanks again for all of the feedback on those open data posts recently. Just to recap, I’m helping to organise an open data project for some school pupils within the a London borough in the new year. One of the big tasks is to flush out all of the data that may be available. I’m [...]
Posts under ‘Democratic renewal’
Why would school pupils want to mix data up?
Firstly, a big thank-you to everyone who commented on the previous posting here on local data sources. Aside from the comments, I’ve been given loads of really useful pointers via email and Twitter, some of which I’ll acknowledge here, and some will come in subsequent posts. But here’s an overarching question to start with: If [...]
Finding all of the interesting data within one local authority area
A while ago, I posted here giving reasons why I thought it would be a good idea to start involving school pupils in the processing of public data. There are strong democratic arguments for doing this – ones that aren’t immediately obvious. There are also good ‘transparency’ arguments (but I’d make my usual point here [...]
Will networked representation reduce the power of political parties?
“The secret of acting is sincerity. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” George Burns Over the next few weeks, my MP (a newly-elected Tory) will go through the parliamentary lobby in support of a range of bills that he knows little about. Sure. He may have a few reflexive opinions on the [...]
Politicos meeting gamers – a few preliminary thoughts
Through the Political Innovation project, I’m helping to promote a meetup tomorrow evening between people who have experience and interests in gaming, and those of us who are very focussed on political issues. As I’m one of the hosts, I thought it worth dropping a few conversation-starters in the mix. Issues where politicians seem to [...]
Douglas Rushkoff on transparency
It’s late on Friday afternoon – here’s some brain-candy to chew on over the weekend. Here’s Douglas Rushkoff – one of the most established commentators on interactive communcations explaining the cost of transparency. It’s liberating stuff – yet a lot of it seems so straightforward in Rushkoff’s hands. It often reads like the bleedin’ obvious. [...]
Should local Councillors be given iPads?
It’s a good question that tells us a lot about some of the bigger issues in local government. The London Borough of Havering are doing it, and the argument for this is that it will cut printing costs. The good people at one of my favourite blogs We Love Local Government have done some sums: “…over [...]
Towards a local authority-wide schools data-hack project
It’s a regular theme of this blog that transparency and open data – while undoubtedly being good things – can often create situations in which democracy is diminished rather than enhanced. The other day, for example, I posted my misgivings about guerilla webcasting of council meetings. (Shorter version: can result in selective reporting, poorer press [...]
Council meetings – blogging and web-casting
The news that a blogger who filmed a meeting of a local council in Carmarthenshire was arrested for “breaching the peace” raises an interesting question that could have a slightly unfashionable answer. My friend, David Allen Green, writing in the New Statesman has a supplied a detailed trawl of the legal evidence along with some [...]
Why ‘Microparticipation’ is so important
My friend Mick Phythian picked up a very useful motto/warning for anyone promoting e-government projects a while ago. To government, your time is worth £Zero – and this is why e-government fails. This explains why a very sharp idea that Dave Briggs has been working on recently – promoting the notion of ‘Microparticipation’ with a [...]
