England is a great hotbed of community-oriented action sites that rely on data to make them go. Here’s Fixmystreet:
- What is FixMyStreet for?
- FixMyStreet is a site to help people report, view, or discuss local problems they’ve found to their local council by simply locating them on a map. It launched in beta early February 2007.
- Can you give me some examples?
- Sure. Graffiti, unlit lampposts, abandoned beds, broken glass on a cycle path; anything like that that could be usefully reported to your council to be fixed.
- How do I use the site?
- After entering a postcode or location, you are presented with a map of that area. You can view problems already reported in that area, or report ones of your own simply by clicking on the map at the location of the problem.
- How are the problems solved?
- They are reported to the relevant council by email. The council can then resolve the problem the way they normally would. Alternatively, you can discuss the problem on the website with others, and then together lobby the council to fix it, or fix it directly yourselves.
- Is it free?
- The site is free to use, yes. FixMyStreet is run by a registered charity, though, so if you want to make a contribution, please do.
Built by great people who are pushing the limits in what it means to be involved w/o being a whiner:
built by mySociety, in conjunction with the Young Foundation. mySociety is the project of a registered charity which has grown out of the community of volunteers who built sites like TheyWorkForYou.com. mySociety’s primary mission is to build Internet projects which give people simple, tangible benefits in the civic and community aspects of their lives. Our first project was WriteToThem, where you can write to any of your elected representatives, for free.
Abandoned bicycles – Viewing a problem – FixMyStreet
Reported in the Abandoned Vehicles category by Tom Coady at 16:43, Wednesday