Keeping this as it's a popular idea with the Education lot for Engage. If we do something similar on the new/updated site, it could be an exemplar? Does Delib have something similar to offer?
In a world where web services can make real-time data accessible to anyone, how can the government leverage this openness to improve its operations and increase citizen participation and awareness? Through a collection of essays and case studies, leading visionaries and practitioners both inside and outside of government share their ideas on how to achieve and direct this emerging world of online collaboration, transparency, and participation.
WIMPS stands for "Where Is My Public Servant?". It is a project run by and for young people. We started (way back in 2004!) with an idea - how do we make politics more relevant to young people? We decided one way of doing this was to remind politicians that they work for us - the citizens. We have created this space for young people like you to discuss and debate issues. We also want to do more - to get organised, to campaign and to bring our views directly to politicians and others, and to influence the decisions that affect our lives.
"The open-source world has learned to deal with a flood of new, oftentimes divergent, ideas using hosting services like GitHub - so why can't governments? In this rousing talk Clay Shirky shows how democracies can take a lesson from the Internet, to be not just transparent but also to draw on the knowledge of all their citizens."
The Citizens Foundation is a non-profit based in Reykjavik, Iceland. The mission of the Citizens Foundation is to bring people together to debate and prioritize innovative ideas to improve their communities.
We want to challenge this traditional way of operating elections.
We've already started building a prototype for an online voting platform, designed to operate a policy-based election. With Kickstarter's help, we will launch our platform at the time of the 2015 general election campaign. Participants will vote on ideas, and not just the narrow field of polarised ideas often dictated by political parties and the media. Voters will consider policies, the results will be captured and visualised, with national data being updated as the election progresses. Data and trends can then be used as part of a national debate.
Participatory budgeting in Vallejo, California and how it's not going so well. 'Elected officials can feel like they're supposed to be governing but they're contradicted and their ideas or leadership are not affirmed.'
This Guide aims to become one of the best sources of useful examples, tools and practical advice about how UK public sector organisations can engage online.
"In February this year, eight Junior Digital Media Producers from Bristol arts charity Knowle West Media Centre (KWMC), were set a challenge to engage their community and encourage community activism. The project was called Data Patchwork and the team's response to the brief was a fascinating exploration of innovative ways to collect and represent data. One of the outcomes was an exhibit called 'The Cardboard Living Room.' As you might glean from the name, the exhibit was a room filled with 3D cardboard furniture, but perhaps less expected is that every piece of furniture was connected to a computer which reacted to movement."
" Your Priorities is a powerful eDemocracy web application designed by the non profit Citizens Foundation to help groups of people speak with one voice."