As I’ve spent a lot of time recently banging on about visual representations of policy issues, this post on the GOOD website is something of a feast.
Posts under ‘Design’
If you watch one video this week, make it this one
Further to my previous post on why visualisation of data matters – and what the potential abuses are in the hands of pressure groups.
I’ve just seen this video by an American pollster and data visualiser @alexlundry – he covers the deceptive use of visualisations and the way that lobbies use them.
He covers the reasons why this [...]
Illustrating data (again)
It’s Christmas. That means that you have to indulge bloggers in their little obsessions.
Mine is an interest in the way that data can be presented in a way that changes our perception of an issue and clarifies a problem.
This one, for instance from Good Magazine:
You can zoom around and explore it here. (Via Information is [...]
Going to extremes. ‘Whataboutery’: polarisation v ‘the hive mind’
I’ve been reading Cass Sunstein’s ‘Going to Extremes‘ lately – it’s worth a look.
Sunstein’s conclusion – that when we are filtered into like-minded groups that we reinforce each other’s prejudices and tend to reach more extreme conclusions than we would if we were on our own – is not a particularly startling one in [...]
Visualising population shifts
I’d like to show you this video for two reasons.
Firstly, it’s an interesting talk that I found very instructive. It is worth watching it right to the end.
Secondly, it shows how a creative use of illustrative tools can help to improve policymaking. If all evidence given to elected representatives was of this quality, I suspect [...]
Visualising public spending
Further to the occasional series here looking at ways that people are using open data and visualisation tools to help clarify complex issues, here is the ‘where does my money go‘ application:
The authors say that it’s not finished yet and you can look at their underlying data – they’re looking for feedback.
In terms of the delivery, for [...]
Usability, council websites and the obligation to promote democracy
It seems that The Electoral Commission have decided that it is a basic human right for us to have ballot papers that make sense to us. Usability – not just regulatory box-ticking is, it seems the key here (I posted on ballot design here a while ago)
Measuring usability may also be the key to ensuring [...]
Designing your environment
Just a short observation, in the light of Matthew Taylor’s post about the RSA’s work in Chelmsford that is being launched today.
“….a vision for the town centre must be based on a rich understanding of how people see and use the area and how they might be willing to change that view if the centre [...]
Participative policymaking, design and eavesdropping
In preparing for a session at PICamp / Reboot Britain on Policymaking in the future, my friend Logan Wilmot (who I’m attempting to persuade to speak) sent me these YouTubes – examples of how the scale of change can be rammed home to an audience that may not be able to conceptualise what is being [...]
Schools design a new Parliament
If you’re hanging around Westminster between 7 and 17 July, pop into Westminster Hall to check out what sounds like a fun exhibition. The Royal Institution of British Architects have run a competition for schools to design a new Houses of Parliament. The nine shortlisted entries will be on display in the oldest part of [...]
A blog about representative democracy, social media and a conversational politics. How will peer-to-peer communications change local democracy? How is representation changing? 
