OpenToAll

FROM: Scott

What NEED does this meet?
Aiming to help local residents findout about local development schemes in their local area, such as building projects and council initiatives.

What is the APPROACH?
I like the idea of the Map function, so this could be tied into such a system, where by a user could enter a location and find out about local government, development and initiatives. Users could post information on new projects, and spawn public discussion forums.

What I'm proposing could include local governemnt, and authority input, so that the public have a more direct access to the policies, beyond the scope of local government and authorities' sites.

Proposed building projects could be explained and opened to public debate, providing useful resource to local developers as much as local government.

Going further subjects could be linked to allow users to see how other comunities have dealt with their issues and how their authorities responded.

e.g. it took two years of presure to persuad my local authority to repair the aged and broken drainage system in my area and it still hasn't begun.

What are the BENEFITS to people?
Making people feel more connected, and empowered encourages them to be more proactive towards politics. Uniting comuntities, strengthening their relationship with their government, and more importantly having a more accessible means of shaping their comunity.

By including everyone, nationaly a much broader perspective could be achieved, offering far more diverse debate.

Including local government immediatly allows them to gauge opinon more immediatly and offer far more immediate response.

To encourage authorities to cooperate without neccessarily being bound to any information or opinion would be vital as only in an unihibited enviroment can democracy really prosper.

Legal issues would potentially discourage input, and inhibit democracy.

That was kinda' idealistic wasn't it? Head in the clouds?!

What is the COMPETITION?
I haven't heard of any, so I wouldn't know of other schemes beyond discrete local activists.

I'm proposing a far more diverse and expansive approach that incorparates other concepts.

If it does exist already then it should be well known, otherwise its already failing.

What BUDGET & LOGISTICS are required?
This is more of a foundation, a medium for others to build on, so I wouldn't expect it to be that expensive beyond initial development and implementation.

Or I could be completely wrong, who knows?