Mapping service design and policy design
UK Policy Lab: “…Over the summer in the Policy Lab we have started mapping different policy options, showing the variety of ways policy-makers might use their power to influence people’s actions and behaviours. We have grouped these into seven categories from low level to large scale interventions.
Carrots or sticks
These styles of intervention include traditional law-making powers (sticks) or applying softer influencing powers (carrots) such as system stewardship. In reality policy-making is much more complex than most people imagine. From this starting point we’ve created a grid of 28 different ways policy-makers operate at different stages of maturity. This is still work in progress so we would very much welcome your thoughts. We are currently building examples for each of the styles from across government. The design choices for policy-makers early in policy development shape how a policy is delivered and the kind of results that can be achieved. We have played around a lot with the language, and will continue to test this in the Lab. However, it should be clear from the array of possibilities that determining which course of action, which levers will deliver the outcomes needed, in any particular circumstance requires great skill and judgement…(More)”.
Google Gets Serious About Mapping Wheelchair Accessibility
Google Maps already indicates if a location is wheelchair accessible—a result of a personal project by one of its employees—but its latest campaign will crowdsource data from its 30 million Local Guides worldwide, who contribute tips and photos about neighborhood establishments in exchange for points and small prizes like extra digital storage space. The company is calling on them to answer five simple questions—like whether a building has accessible entrances or bathrooms—when they submit a review for a location. In the coming weeks, Google will host workshops and “geowalks” specifically focused on mobility across seven cities, from New York City and London to Tokyo and Surabaya, Indonesia.
But as simple as the questions seem—Is there wheelchair-accessible seating? or Is there a wheelchair-accessible elevator?—answering them requires careful attention to detail. That’s why Google even sent out a nifty tip sheet to help its physically abled members answer those questions….(More)”.
How Blockchain Is Kickstarting the Financial Lives of Refugees
Mike Orcutt at MIT Technology Review: “Finland’s digital money system for asylum seekers shows what blockchain technology can offer the unbanked….
For a refugee in a new country, identity—at least in the official sense—can be among the hardest things to recover. And without an official ID it is nearly impossible to advance in society.
Finland, which like many European nations has recently seen a large influx of asylum seekers, is using a cryptographic ledger called blockchain to help them get on their feet faster.
For two years the Finnish Immigration Service has been giving asylum seekers who don’t have bank accounts prepaid Mastercards instead of the traditional cash disbursements, and today the program has several thousand active cardholders. Developed by the Helsinki-based startup MONI, the card is also linked to a unique digital identity stored on a blockchain, the same technology that underpins the digital currency Bitcoin.
Bitcoin has demonstrated how blockchain technology can be used to transmit value between individuals without the need for corporate middlemen. Core to the technology is a software protocol that creates a permanent record of every single Bitcoin transaction. Anyone can access this record, called the blockchain, by downloading the Bitcoin software. Computers running the software all over the world maintain the blockchain, and use it to verify new transactions.
Blockchains are seen as a promising avenue for opening new financial opportunities to people who don’t have access to modern financial services. Besides eliminating the need for a traditional financial institution to mediate transactions, they provide a means for creating and securely storing a digital form of identification that can’t be corrupted and is easily accessible from anywhere….
In Finland, a MONI card can help address several challenges facing asylum seekers, says Jouko Salonen, director of the Finnish Immigration Service. Most importantly, a MONI account functions like a bank account, removing a major barrier to gaining employment. People can use their accounts to buy things, pay bills, and even receive direct deposits from employers. Meanwhile, every transaction is recorded in a public, virtually incorruptible database maintained by a decentralized global network of computers. That enables the Immigration Service to keep track of the cardholders and their spending….(More)”
Voice or chatter? Making ICTs work for transformative citizen engagement
Research Report Summary by Making All Voices Count: “What are the conditions in democratic governance that make information and communication technology (ICT)-mediated citizen engagement transformative? While substantial scholarship exists on the role of the Internet and digital technologies in triggering moments of political disruption and cascading upheavals, academic interest in the sort of deep change that transforms institutional cultures of democratic governance, occurring in ‘slow time’, has been relatively muted.
This study attempts to fill this gap. It is inspired by the idea of participation in everyday democracy and seeks to explore how ICT-mediated citizen engagement can promote democratic governance and amplify citizen voice.
ICT-mediated citizen engagement is defined by this study as comprising digitally-mediated information outreach, dialogue, consultation, collaboration and decision-making, initiated either by government or by citizens, towards greater government accountability and responsiveness.
The study involved empirical explorations of citizen engagement initiatives in eight sites – two in Asia (India and Philippines), one in Africa (South Africa), three in South America (Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay) and two in Europe (Netherlands and Spain).
This summary of the larger Research Report presents recommendations for how public policies and programmes can promote ICTs for citizen engagement and transformative citizenship. In doing so it provides an overview of the discussion the authors undertake on three inter-related dimensions, namely:
- calibrating digitally mediated citizen participation as a measure of political empowerment and equality
- designing techno-public spaces as bastions of inclusive democracy
- ensuring that the rule of law upholds democratic principles in digitally mediated governance…(More. Full research report)
Data Sharing Vital in Fight Against Childhood Obesity
According to UNICEF, solving some of the most complex problems affecting children around the world will require access to different data sets and expertise from diverse sectors. The rapid rise in the availability of quality data offers a wealth of information to address complex problems affecting children. The charity has identified an opportunity to tap into this potential through collaborative working, prompting the development of DataCollaboratives.org in partnership with The Governance Lab at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, and the Omidyar Network. The aim for DataCollaboratives is to encourage organisations from different sectors, including private companies, research institutions, government agencies and others, to exchange and share data to help solve public problems.
The initiative is now being promoted in Scotland through UNICEF’s partnership with The Data Lab, who will work together to deliver a Data Collaboratives hub in Scotland where data scientists and strategists will work on some of the most important issues facing children around the world. Finding solutions to these problems has the potential to transform the lives of some of the most disadvantaged children in Scotland, the UK, and around the globe….(More)”.
Internet of Things tackles global animal poaching
Springwise: “ZSL (Zoological Society of London), one of the most famous zoos in Europe, has teamed up with non-profit technology company Digital Catapult to support the development of anti-poaching technology. The partnership will use the Internet of Things (IoT) and Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technologies to create a sensor and satellite-enabled network that will be able to help conservationists monitor wildlife and respond to poaching threats on land and sea in some of the world’s most remote national parks.
Up to 35,000 African elephants were killed by poachers in 2016, and black rhino and mountain gorilla populations continue to be at high risk. LPWAN could help prevent poaching in game reserves by enabling remote sensors to communicate with one another over long distance while using only a small amount of power. These connected sensors are able to detect activities nearby and determine whether these originate from wildlife or poachers, creating immediate alerts for those monitoring the area.
Digital Catapult has installed a LPWAN base station at the ZSL headquarters at London Zoo, which will enable prototypes to be tested on site. This technology will build on the revolutionary work already underway in areas including Kenya, Nepal, Australia, the Chagos Archipelago, and Antarctica.
The practise of poaching has been the target of many technology companies, with a similar project using artificial intelligence to monitor poachers recently coming to light. One of the many devastating impacts of poaching is the potential to cause extinction of some animals, and one startup has tackled this potential catastrophe with rhinos by producing a 3D printed horn that could help the species avoid being a target….(More)”.
These 16 companies want to make technology work for everyone
MIT Sloan School Press Release: “One company helps undocumented people create a digital identity. Another uses artificial intelligence to help students transition to college. Yet another provides free training to budding tech pros.
These organizations are just a few of the many that are using technology to solve problems and help people all over the world — and they are all finalists in the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy’s second annual Inclusive Innovation Challenge. During a time of great technological innovation, many people are not benefiting from this progress. The challenge is recognizing companies that are using technology to improve opportunities for working people…..
Here are the finalists:
AdmitHub
Did you know that of the students who have been admitted to college each spring, 14 percent don’t actually attend come fall? Or that of those who do attend, 48 percent haven’t graduated six years later. Boston-based AdmitHub created a virtual assistant powered by artificial intelligence to help students navigate the financial, academic, and social situations that accompany going to college, and they do it all through text messaging, communicating with students on their terms and easing the transition to college.
African Renewable Energy Distributor Ltd.
This company has developed solar-powered, portable kiosks where people can charge their phones, access Wi-Fi, or access an intranet while offline. Using a micro franchise business model, the Rwanda-based company hopes to empower women and people with disabilities who can run the kiosks.
AID:Tech
More than two billion people worldwide have no legal identity, something that is necessary for accessing public and financial services. Aid:Tech aims to end that, by providing a platform for undocumented people to create a digital ID using blockchain so that every transaction is secure and traceable. Aid:Tech is based out of Dublin, with offices in New York and London….(More)”
How are Italian Companies Embracing Open Data?
Are companies embracing the use of open government data? How, why and what data is being leveraged? To answer these questions, the GovLab started a project three years ago, Open Data 500, to map and assess — in a comparative manner, across sectors and countries — the private sector’s use of open data to develop new products and services, and create social value.
Today we are launching Open Data 200 Italy, in partnership with Fondazione Bruno Kessler, which seeks to showcase the breadth and depth of companies using open data in Italy.
OD200 Italy is the first and only platform to map the use of open data by companies in Italy. …
Our findings show there is a growing ecosystem around open data in Italy that goes beyond traditional open data advocates. …
The OD200 Italy project shows the diversity of data being used, which makes it necessary to keep open data broad and sustained.…
“The merits and use of open data for businesses are often praised but not supported by evidence. OD200 Italy is a great contribution to the evidence base of who, how and why corporations are leveraging open data,” said Stefaan Verhulst, Co-Founder of The GovLab and Chief Research and Development Officer. “Policy makers, practitioners and researchers can leverage the data generated by this initiative to improve the supply and use of open data, or to generate new insights. As such, OD200 Italy is a new open data set on open data.”…(More)”.
The Death of Public Knowledge? How Free Markets Destroy the General Intellect
Book edited by Aeron Davis: “...argues for the value and importance of shared, publicly accessible knowledge, and suggests that the erosion of its most visible forms, including public service broadcasting, education, and the network of public libraries, has worrying outcomes for democracy.
With contributions from both activists and academics, this collection of short, sharp essays focuses on different aspects of public knowledge, from libraries and education to news media and public policy. Together, the contributors record the stresses and strains placed upon public knowledge by funding cuts and austerity, the new digital economy, quantification and target-setting, neoliberal politics, and inequality. These pressures, the authors contend, not only hinder democracies, but also undermine markets, economies, and social institutions and spaces everywhere.
Covering areas of international public concern, these polemical, accessible texts include reflections on the fate of schools and education, the takeover of public institutions by private interests, and the corruption of news and information in the financial sector. They cover the compromised Greek media during recent EU negotiations, the role played by media and political elites in the Irish property bubble, the compromising of government policy by corporate interests in the United States and Korea, and the squeeze on public service media in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the United States.
Individually and collectively, these pieces spell out the importance of maintaining public, shared knowledge in all its forms, and offer a rallying cry for doing so, asserting the need for strong public, financial, and regulatory support….(More)”