Project Democracy
Blog Post
Friday 5th September 2008, 11:56am
by TimNorton in
We've spoken before about some of the great Web 2.0 projects that are bringing attention (and much needed excitement) back into politics. Now there is another fantastic tool available for anyone wanting to better engage with their Parliament - GetUp's Project Democracy.
From their site:
GetUp! has developed a range of tools for you to use here on the site. They're all designed to help you engage more closely with the people who represent you, and the institutions of your democracy. You can use them to:
- Find news and information about individual senators
- View senators' Senate speeches, their bios, media reports and blog posts about them.
- Scan news and information about your State
- Contribute blog posts or comment on other people's.
- See the Senate chamber at a glance with our interactive "Your Senate" model.
It seems this new approach to 'watching your representatives' is catching - from the TheyWorkForYou site in the UK, to OpenAustralia, to Project Democracy (which is built on the OpenAustralia engine), and we have even heard that the Parliamentary Library is about to go Web 2.0, with a whole range of added functions and features making it easier to keep up to date with Members and Senators' activities.We've even got some pretty spiffy plans for GreensMPs as well, so stay tuned on that front. If there are any requests or ideas about how better to keep you informed about the Greens Senators, please feel free to contact us, or tell us in the comments below.
You can keep track of our Greens Senators here:
Bob Brown, Christine Milne, Rachel Siewert, Sarah Hanson-Young, Scott Ludlam
It's great to see clean, interactive, informative projects like Project Democracy. As we all know, the Senate is sometimes forgotten in the wide world of politics. It's only when conflict or major news flares up that the attention swings over to the red carpets here at Parliament House. It's our hope, and one that is shared by the developers of Project Democracy, that with no one major party having complete control of the Senate, it can be restored to a proper house of review.
By keeping the public better informed, perhaps the importance of the Senate can be a little better understood in the wider community.
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Great stuff.
This site was really good. I feel sorry though for Australias poor who have no decent access to a computer and internet.
Too poor for Web 2
Hey Daniel,
Obviously you are not a person who uses their local public library.
Go and visit it sometime soon. Public libraries are really cool with their mini internet cafes, and computers in the library. The Librarians of Australia have done a great job of ensuring that everybody has access to information, even on the web. So if you are poor you don't miss out.
In the USA the poor and homeless who go to the library to keep warm have become the teachers for those who are not familiar with computers.
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