Policybrief
Location
About You
Location
Project Street Address
54 Churchfield Avenue
Project City
London
Project Province/State
Project Postal/Zip Code
N12 0NT
Project Country
United Kingdom
Your idea
Will you launch your idea as a business or non-profit?
Business
Web site (url)
Name Your Project
Policybrief
Describe Your Idea
Innovation
What is your idea? What makes it innovative? Why is it important?
The internet can make a huge improvement to representative democracy if it fosters a valuable conversation about policies among the general public. However, think tanks and policy institutes make no effort to market their products to the general public, preferring to aim them solely at senior politicians and civil servants. My idea is to crowdsource people who will build up an accessible database of good policy materials that have already been published, market them to the general public and foster high-quality discussions. This idea is innovative because - even though it's an obvious one to do, no-one is doing it.
Impact
What will be the impact of your idea?
A large number of people - including many lower-level elected representatives - will have direct access to primary materials for the first time. They will find it easy to trace suitable data to help them form policy. Currently, most primary materials are viewed through the prism of either the commercial media or pressure / lobby-groups. This idea should empower elected officials at the expense of unelected ones, and at the expense of media owners and pressure groups.
This Entry is about (Issues)
People: We are looking for ideas from people who can make them happen.
I am collaborating on this idea with Mick Fealty - the editor of Slugger O'Toole - the UK's most influential political weblog. My 'team' will mostly be a distributed group of volunteers. This is how all projects like this should be run. The project will be built to a high standard of usability with the intention of recruiting a large number of collaborators.
Sustainability
How much will it cost to launch your idea?
I have achieved £15,000 worth of funding so far. I have spent this prototyping the idea using proprietary software. I believe that this project should be moved into an open-source environment, and I need funding to pay for this development. I have around 15 volunteers who have agreed to prototype the idea, but the long-term stability of the project requires that it be re-built in a more future-proof technology. The development and initial administration will cost in the region of £40,000 sterling.
 | 161 weeks agoPolicybrief has been chosen as a finalist in The Power of Us: Re-Imagine Media . |
| 162 weeks agoPaul Evans said: Greg, Thanks for the continued interest. No - I mean a general area of policy. So 'public parks' or 'democratic renewal' - I'm ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 162 weeks agoGreg Schnippel said: Paul - By public policy, do you mean a specific proposed bill or resolution, or is this for examining broader questions? Can you give ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 163 weeks agoPaul Evans said: Tito, On the open-source question, I don't have a preference at the moment. I've been looking at a few options and I've had a few ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 163 weeks agoTito Llantada said: Paul, have you identified the type of open-source platform/software you would like to switch to from your current propriety software? ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
