Citizen driven stats

rdkallman's picture
Submitted by rdkallman on 18 October 2009 - 11:36am
What's this idea about?
In less than 100 words, what is your idea?: 
Enables Australian citizens and non-profit organisations to suggest ideas for new types of statistics, openly evaluates the potential and supports the idea through to reality by providing a platform for collaboration. Independent experts inform the discussion, but are not approvers. Government can choose to fund an idea, or a partnership of individuals and non-profits can move forward on their own supported by a micro-funding model.
What is the social need or challenge your idea could address?: 
Individual citizens, academic researchers and non-profit organisations often have difficult finding specific information that will inform their strategies and policy positions. It will help create an environment for informed debate and discourse and provide an approach that gives a larger agenda to the individual. It would reduce cynicism that the Government is manipulating statistics. It will encourage the random collision of ideas. It will improve the efficiency of the data collection process through removing duplicated efforts and providing a base platform and structure.
What’s really new about your idea?: 
Flips the current focus of innovation in how to get data out of government on its head. Instead, it focuses on creating a vibrant ecosystem in which the Government empowers individuals and organisations to drive the information agenda, whilst fostering innovation and collaboration in the collection of new information. Allows for voluntary support of specific projects by individual Agencies, rather than relying on a centralised decision model inside the government.
Stage of development
What inspired you to come up with your idea in the first place?: 
The lack of data on very basic things. How noisy is it to live in specific places. How do we feel as we walk around the city. What is stressing us out, etc. The idea that open participation by Government, rather than a Government run program is a better way to foster innovation and genuinely new types of data in a more responsive manner. Also based on a UK researcher who strapped heart monitors and had people walking around.
From 1-5, what stage of development would you say your idea is in? - Explain further: 
1
What can we do for you?
Select which are the one or two most important things that you need to help the development of your idea: 
Developer - to help you create your software
Funder - to give you some initial cash
If Social Innovation Camp is able to help push your idea forward, do you have the time or desire to take ownership of it?: 
No, but I would be happy for someone else to take your idea forward
Anything else you want to tell us?: 
The idea was based on a collaboration with Harriet Wakelam at a Melbourne Ideas Generation event. Harriet took notes, but any errors in interpretation are mine alone.
2 individuals signed up
dougj
1 anonymous
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donmacca's picture

Re: Citizen driven stats

by donmacca - 9 Feb 2010 - 12:49am
May want to check out 'Oregan Shines' - a hugely successful public benchmarking project in the U.S. state of Oregan.
jcarrigan's picture

Re: Citizen driven stats

by jcarrigan - 20 Jan 2010 - 4:40pm
This idea creatively addresses a real need. I work with small, community-based NGO's in outer-suburban Sydney. They have difficulty getting statistical evidence to establish levels of need or assess the impact of their programs. This is because most sources of statistical information aggregate data at units of measurement (often whole of LGA or suburb) which mean the data is not useable or relevant to them. The other challenge is that what is being measured is often not what they need or want to know. I have done preliminary work with networks of such agencies and with local governments to establish data-collection processes which agencies drive themselves. What Rdkallman has suggested here provides a structure and a process for doing this. It also demonstrates an understanding that what's really useful knowledge to individuals and communities is not always reflected in the choice of things which are currently measured statistically. Finally, it also fits nicely with what Marcus has described elewhere as 'Mighty Mashups for mindful service targeting'. After all, the purpose of getting better information is to deliver better services and have a greater impact. I wonder if there's some way these two ideas could be married into a proposal that's even more powerful?
rdkallman's picture

Re: Citizen driven stats

by rdkallman - 28 Jan 2010 - 4:35pm
Good feedback and worth exploring as an action. In general I feel that too often the measures we use are constructed from a top-down control perspective, rather than to enable accountable individuals to improve performance. This was just one approach.
totocol's picture

Re: Citizen driven stats

by totocol - 4 Nov 2009 - 9:57am
I guess this would be more like a space for conversations around the things that people care about in terms of data and that governments could use when designing what they want to measure? - I imagine it would play an activist role?
fxl's picture

Re: Citizen driven stats

by fxl - 22 Oct 2009 - 11:48pm
I don't understand the idea. Does it say that citizens/non-profits can make suggestions on particular statistics that need collecting? At present, I think that anyone can collect just about data they want and publish it. Are you saying that the government should prevent that? Or that any data that's published should have a public forum for discussion? Or, is, perhaps the suggestion something to do with having a collaborative space where government (ie, Australian Bureau of Statistics) statistics can be discussed? PS: What's the deal with focussing on non-profits? What about other sorts of agencies, there can be for-profit community groups that could benefit from data and collaboration.
rdkallman's picture

Re: Citizen driven stats

by rdkallman - 7 Nov 2009 - 5:45pm
Thanks for your comments fxi. The idea is primarily around defining a new set of measures and supporting statistics by which the broader community determines its level of success. The literature about the current limitation of important 'performance' measures based around GDP is growing significantly. In Europe (Sarkozy) we see Government driven initiatives to broaden out the measures of performance for a nation. Books such as 'Capitalism: as if the World Matters' are serious efforts to define broader categories of measures. This idea is to give such efforts momentum and legitimacy in Australia by engaging a grass-roots community to work in collaboration with Government to say how they want 'performance' measured.

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