[wdmmg-discuss] WDMMG Phase II (next steps now Phase I is done!)

Tue May 25 12:42:30 UTC 2010

Dear All,

Having just completed Phase I (Phase 0 being the prototype), I think
it is worth outlining plans for our next steps (Phase II and beyond).

## Recap of basic aims and progress so far

First, a quick recap of our basic aims and our progress against them:

  1. Help people to understand how the UK Government spends our taxes
    * Reasonable start
  2. Create useful data sets on Government spending that individuals
can relate to
    * Progressing well
  3. Provide interactive visualisations of tax spending that appeal to
a mainstream audience
    * Progressing well
  4. Develop and foster community and developer involvement with the
data and build a steady and growing level of usage of and linking to
"Where Does My Money Go?" data
    * Limited progress

## Phase II

For phase II our biggest priorities are:

1. (Re-)Develop the visualization app to be personalized ("my money"),
more interactive and have a new look

2. Support for contribution of "data" by the community
  * Integrate this site generally and especially the visualization app
  * Sharing information between users and over time (e.g. the palette,
share this, comments etc)

The second item, in particular, seems absolutely crucial to the
longer-term aspect of the project. I would also like to emphasize that
"data" should be interpreted broadly to include:

  * core data: adding/correcting basic data e.g. adding new
transactions (e.g. GLA paid Vodafone £X); new attributes such as
(Vodafone account is owned by Vodafone PLC)
  * comments and annotations: e.g. "is this all of public debt", "this
screen/number/time-series/etc is interesting/wrong/worth investigating
..."
  * classifications: using "controlled" or semi-controlled vocabs to
classify spending. e.g. tagging, applying cofog codes. More on this in
follow up email.

I think it is important to consider all of these as data because
they're all (equally) important. In particular, comments and
annotations are often what allow you to find what data is important --
often as important as the data itself. Furthermore, a) it is easier
(and more fun) to add, say, comment and annotations and b) they lead
into the other, more "precise" data.

How does this sound to people? Suggestions, comments?

Rufus