4iP Blog

You may have clocked from our 4iP guidelines that 4iP is extremely interested in ideas which use the power of digital networks to scratch important itches for public good. So here’s a big itch, a huge interest of ours and something we’re pretty sure has a web based solution. 
Public accountability! Who is formally responsible for dealing with and resolving your housing, planning, education, transport, health, tax, legal, political or any issue of public concern at local, regional or national level?  Developing a service which points in exactly the right direction at that simple level deals with one of the primary barriers for us engaging in, challenging, and contributing to the re-design of public services. The ‘Where’ to even start barrier. 

It’s also the obvious place to start if we want to find a way of enabling participation around the next challenge, how does our contribution make a difference?  It’s the Who is Accountable architecture which we can build on to enable the What? Where? When? Why? And How collaboration about public service delivery.
 
We have no doubts that this particular call to action is a pretty big challenge.  There’s a whole host of stuff in this domain already out there.  Some of it nothing more than a very expensive search engine with no opportunity to engage and therefore little sense of why it’s needed in addition to Google (See http://www.direct.gov.uk and http://www.directionlessgov.com), to the perfectly formed and locally focused http://www.fixmystreet.com/ where people can report, view, or discuss local problems like graffiti, fly tipping, broken paving slabs, or street lighting.

So we’d love to hear your suggested solutions.  Ideas which are native to digital networks and help to enable an eco-system in which we help turn government, national and local, inside out and allow people not just to engage but to challenge and change.
Answers on a 4iP Proposal form by May 25th.