[okfn-coord] Where does my money go + UK gov competition

[Jonathan Gray]

I just found:

   http://showusabetterway.co.uk/

("Tell us what you'd build with public information and we could help 
fund your idea!")

It seems an ideal place to submit 'Where Does My Money Go?' (original 
blurb below):

   http://okfn.org/board/wiki/FundingMaterials/WDMMG

There are already several suggestions along these lines already:

   http://www.showusabetterway.co.uk/call/2008/07/where-does-my-m.html
   http://www.showusabetterway.co.uk/call/2008/07/sensible-spendi.html
   http://www.showusabetterway.co.uk/call/2008/07/value-for-money.html

Eeerily enough, one is even called 'Where does my money go'.

Is everyone happy for me to submitt WDMMG? I could also get in touch 
with some of the people who have suggested similar projects to see if we 
can put our heads together?

J.


'Where does my money go?' Promoting transparency and citizen engagement 
through interactive visualizations of government economic data

2 April 2007 / J. Gray / j.gray at cantab.net

The British public have exceptional access to official documents and 
datasets detailing the operations of the official institutions around 
them. UKOP have catalogued 450,000 post-1980 records from over 2000 
public bodies. Portals such as Directgov and National Statistics Online, 
in addition to the plethora of central, regional and local government 
department websites can furnish the layperson with a vast and diverse 
body of knowledge. However, the time and effort required to learn where 
to look for different pieces of information, and how to interpret what 
is found, may be substantial, and potentially off-putting.

A time-tested way of making large, complex bodies of ideas manageable is 
by representing them visually – whether in the form of maps, timelines, 
graphs, or charts. Visual representations, as aids, range from the 
exemplary practice of Harry Beck’s London tube map to the ubiquitous 
line graph used to supplement words in a paper or presentation. 
Visualisations combining different kinds of data are often used in the 
printed and televised media to illustrate broad patterns and trends – 
such as the animated graphics that accompany the BBC’s election coverage.

Recent developments in internet technologies over the past few years 
make it feasible to build an online visualisation service which would 
help citizens to find, explore, understand and re-use data made 
available by the government. Instead of visualisations generated by 
others to illustrate particular reports, data could be displayed in 
accordance with the interests of the user. Hence the user could see data 
from their region in national context, grasp the background to specific 
policies relevant to them more concretely and posit trends and patterns 
for themselves. The service would allow citizens to navigate through and 
engage with government information on their own terms by helping them to 
generate visual representations for themselves, by themselves.

I propose to initially focus on economic data. It would be an excellent 
basis for such a service for two reasons. Firstly, a great abundance of 
such information exists – every government office, department and 
council regularly publishes their accounts – and it is difficult to get 
an overview of where money is coming from and going. So, visual 
representations would be particularly useful in this area. Secondly, 
every citizen has economic transactions with the government, whether 
outgoing in the form of council or income taxation, or incoming in the 
form of benefits, allowances, loans or grants. So, these representations 
would have widespread tangible relevance.

Users of the service would be able to see where their own money is spent 
or where it comes from, as well as where money across government is 
spent and where it comes from. Existing government transparency would be 
built upon to help citizens discover their own part in government 
economic activity – thereby encouraging them to take a more active 
interest in, and a more thoroughly informed engagement with, the 
official institutions around them.