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Saved by William Perrin
on June 5, 2008 at 10:06:02 pm
 

The Power of Information - An independent review by Ed Mayo and Tom Steinberg

 

See Tom's post here about the review and the Government's response to the review here

 

The  best way to explain the power of information work is to demonstrate it in action.  This wiki is simply a rolling list of sites that illustrate some of the principles of the power of information: people reusing public information in new ways and people coming together in online communities to help each other with a public purpose.

 

There are quite a few authors for this wiki - apologies if is gets a bit messy at times (William page owner)

 

 

Re-using public information

 

http://farmsubsidy.org/

Superb site pulling together many farm subsidy data from the EU to present in a clear and transparent way who gets our farm money.  Farmsubsidy.org uses freedom of information law to force European governments to release detailed data on who gets what from Europe's €55 billion Common Agricultural Policy.  It then makes this data available in an online database on this website. The data released is highly variable both in quality and completeness.  Some countries have refused to release any data.

 

http://www.spindifferent.com/

Compare what the Whitehouse, the UN and Downing Street Say

 

http://www.iquango.org/news

iQuango.org looks at what International Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisations are doing and saying. They look at what Quango's are doing everywhere, and see what they can do to have one big picture. For example, Does the IMF or World Bank say something different about a topic or country than the Red Cross?

 

http://www.directionlessgov.com/

A cheeky search comparison tool between the DirectGov search took and Google - search more than 6 million pages of UK government info, instantly! Using direct.gov.uk and Google search

 

http://www.downingstreetsays.com/

A rework of the daily posts of the UK prime ministers official spokesman.  Makes the information far more accesible than the official site.

Downing Street Says... is an unofficial site that lets you read summaries of Prime Minister's Spokesman's daily briefings with a small group of political journalists. You may add your own comments.  Arguably the first government Web 2.0 mashup dating from Spring 2004 - does anyone know of any earlier ones?

 

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/

Brings transaprency to voting patterns of uk parliamentarians with some clever graphics

 

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/

The daddy of web2.0 democracy sites - remarkable reworking of the UK Hansard information

 

http://www.upmystreet.com/

To find out everything you could want to know about an area - from actual property prices to the neighbourhood's favourite newspaper - enter a location in the required box and start browsing.

 

http://backstage.bbc.co.uk

The BBCs API and experimentatino area - allowing people to reuse bbc data

backstage.bbc.co.uk is a pilot for open innovation, and was announced in the BBC's response to the Graf Review of BBC Online: backstage.bbc.co.uk will provide data, resources and support for users who wish to build prototypes and proofs of concepts using BBC material. BBC encourages people both inside and outside the BBC to share knowledge, ideas & prototypes with each other. 

 

http://www.undemocracy.com

This site has nothing to do with the real UN website or any part of the United Nations itself. It is a private attempt to provide Web 2.0 compliant access to many of the important official UN documents (eg Security Council Resolutions and General Assembly votes) which feature in the news.

 

http://www.londonprofiler.org

UCL-created google maps mashup of london crime, census, house price data etc etc.

 

 

Professionals solving problems

 

http://www.rightsnet.org.uk/dc/dcboard.php

Benefits advisors from all over the UK exchange hints and tips on how to help anonymous clients and weave a way through the uk benefits system

 

http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/forum/lofiversion/index.php/

History teachers unite to exchange information, tips etc

 

http://forums.ukgovernors.org.uk/

UK school governors unite to exchange information, hints, tips etc - an unexpected side effect of the official site run by DCFS was to create this far better site run by governors themselves.

 

http://www.criminalsolicitor.net/forum/default.asp

m'learned friends in a candid information exchange.  This site provides an online resource to UK criminal solicitors and includes a forum area to discuss the ever changing world of criminal law, and criminal contracting.

 

http://www.sermo.com/

A practicing community of 65,000 physicians who exchange clinical insights, observations, and review cases in real time

 

http://managerdiary.blogware.com/blog

Wonderful, wholly unlikley blog by the manager of a crematorium

 

 

http://arrse.co.uk

The Army Rumour Service is the unofficial British Army community website - it covers a wide range of material, from how to break assault boots in to all sorts of esoteric stuff

 

Platoon Leader

Platoon Leader - an American site and professional forum. PL connects leaders IN the experience to leaders WITH the experience, and enables future platoon leaders to PREPARE to lead more effectively. Also profiled in this excellent New Yorker article about the use of the net to help professionals.

 

TES Teachers Classroom

The TES website offers in depth teaching news, teaching & educational resources as well as many active forums - all to help UK teachers.

 

 

Community of interest - public service delivery areas

  

Education, families, young people

 

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/

The Student Room is a huge, superb student discussion forum, where students share academic and social knowledge and experience. They help with the big decisions and the fun stuff.

 

http://www.patientopinion.org/

Patient Opinion is all about enabling patients to share their experiences of health care, and by doing so help other patients. As well as allowing everyone to see what patients are saying about their services, it also offers a way to feed the experience of patients back to the NHS so that their insights and ideas can be put to good use.

 

Mumsnet

Mumsnet  is a popular UK-wide meeting point for parents.  You need to join Mumsnet to see local listings in your area and meet local mums.

 

The Site

TheSite puts you in direct contact with expert advisors across a range of topics.

 

another site on the trials of having children

 

Younglivin’

A Kingston project providing young people online advice across a broad range of personal and social issues. Content is moderated four times a year by local young focus groups. Provides contact with social services.

 

Get Connected

A helpline and webchat service for young people, offering confidential advice and support for under 25’s to make their own decisions about how to deal with problems

 

Greatschools

GreatSchools, a US-based intiative, helps parents choose the best school by providing comprehensive profiles for more than 120,000 schools nationwide.  Parent-friendly features include exclusive ratings, parent reviews, powerful search and compare tools, and helpful advice.

 

 

http://www.wikivorce.com/divorce/ a divorce wiki - fascinating resource

 

 

Health

 

Revolution Health 

From AOL co-founder Steve Case. Online communities and web 2.0 tools for health. Some commerical content but exciting ideas,

 

is a personal information and healthcare organiser that provides easy access to high quality information and support and a range of resources supporting patients' self management & care.

 

fertility friends provides advice and information on female and male fertility and infertility
 

Julie’s Joint  provides friendship, support & inspiration for people with Multiple Sclerosis
 

provides information on treatments which work and don't work, based on up-to-date medical research. BMJ BestTreatments also rates thousands of health and medical treatments, based on how well they work.

 

Connecting with others who are going through the same medical condition can make a difference. HealthBoards.com is a place where you can make those connections with people dealing with a similar medical condition. They provide a peer support community with over 150 message boards on various diseases, conditions, and health topics. And through a partnership with WebMD, they provide a comprehensive Health Guide with health information and tools for managing your health. To participate in the boards, you'll need to register, it's free, quick, and easy.
  

Contact a Family is the only UK-wide charity providing advice, information and support to the parents of all disabled children - no matter what their disability or health condition. They also enable parents to get in contact with other families, both on a local and national basis. Each year they reach at least 275,000 families.

 

Community of interest - emphasis on mutual self help and support

 

for people who have hearing disabilities 

 

uk consumers unite

 

information for people struggling with noise issues in their neighbourhood

 

 

Community of interest -  regional or local

 

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=231115 (links to page on response to the floods)

 

BigBarn

 

London21 Green Map

 

City Wildlife

 

Greener Futures

 

The Freecycle Network made up of many individual groups across the globe. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own town

 

Citystat

 

New River Village  small scale but good example of a residents association having an online forum that involves residents who otherwise probably wouldn’t talk to each other and so helps build social capital

 

Environment Agency Maps Very useful EA site where you can find out information maps about flood plains, or local sources of polution.

 

MAGIC Interactive Map An interactive map of the UK that brings togther information on environmental schemes being run by different public sector agencies, facilitating access to rural and environmental management information.

 

Hackney GIS A corporate geographic information system that provides useful environmental, economic and social information for both the local authority and the public

 

www.winterhighland.com  Winter sports site focused around outdoor enthusiasts who live and enjoy the leisure opportunities of highland Scotland, the Lakes and Pennines. Aside from discussing the sports there are well formed debates around tourism and environmental policy, rural issues, development subsidies to projects in remote areas. volunteering,  media bias etc.  Look in Forum for the debates. Interesting to note that the self-generated weather forecasts, snow reports, and webcam pics offer a better service than that funded by the official Scottish tourism body.

 

Very innovative looking site run by Brighton council. 

A web-based project that enables local residents to record their observations about the local environment, improving record keeping and raising awareness of local conservation issues.

 

A project that employs internet technology to provide local information on activities and resources that can help people to live more sustainably.

 

A virtual farmers’ market with an interactive map highlighting local food producers and providing postcode-specific news and offers

 

 

Transport/Geography

 

Speedcameramap Google maps + speed cameras

 

The man in Seat 61 officially the best train website anywhere

 

Skyscrapercity People talking about skyscrapers

 

OS Openspace

Ordnance Survey's own API to reuse their data

 

Platial “Now Anyone Can Map Just About Anything: Places, People, Video, Photos, Stories, Feeds and put it all on your blog or website!

 

Frappr “Frappr. The most social maps on the Web.”

 

Google Green Summer of Green – Google Mash up Google has launched its first mashup — a map-based Web site with information about earth-friendly locations in five of the US’s top travel destinations. The site, at maps.google.com/green, features information on and video tours of spots in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York and Orlando, Florida, as well as tips for “travelling green” during the summer using Google Maps.

Government

 

http://www.redbridge.gov.uk/ outstanding use of web2 techniques for a government website

 

 

 

 

Politics and democracy

 

http://www.notapathetic.com/

 

Comment on this http://www.commentonthis.com/

 

 

Commercial sites

 

Craig’s List

 

Gumtree  A bit like Craig’s List for London. Very Popular. Very Good.  “Gumtree.com was started in March 2000 as a local London classified ads and community site, designed to connect people who were either planning to move, or had just arrived in the city, and needed help getting started with accommodation, employment and meeting new people.”

 

Moneysavingexpert Martin Lewis runs the site: “The aim is to help you save money on anything and everything by finding the best deals and beating the system.”

Joe Sunderland’s(SU) comment:”Unlike Money Supermarket, and other niche review/customer advisory services (like uSwitch), Money Saving Expert spans both private and public sectors, providing pretty sound information and advice, much of which has been provided by consumers and private citizens (with chat forums). I used it recently to get a simple step-by-step guide to reviewing my Council Tax band, and have used it for information on banking, insurance and utilities in the past. Unlike industry ombudsmen, I think the benefit of such a website is its simplicity and its completeness (a bit of a one-stop-shop).”

 

Quidco “What if savvy consumers received referral commissions for their own informed shopping decisions? What if the referral commissions that fund so much spam were given to the informed consumer rather than the aggressive advertiser?”

 

Zillow Zillow.com is an online real estate service that allows people to get a quick free valuation for most homes in the US and then builds a specific webpage around it with data and maps and layered with publicly available information such as comparables and tax information.

It also allows owners and their agents to edit and add information, create their own estimates, upload photos, and post homes for sale.

 

Pricescope Comparing diamond prices and quality

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