Describe your idea:
Enter your details and get a complete list of benefits and help you could be entitled to. Generate letters/emails for the agencies (local and central) and the ability to create perhaps an XML for the agency to import into their systems.
Once benefits and allowances are entered, the system may be heuristic in the awards given and have the ability to generate “question” letters/emails so that if the system thinks that a benefit should be paid, or the award higher then the claimant can send these too.
What problem does it solve?:
The overly-complex, means-tested and time-tested benefits system is overbearing for some people and if they had a simple way to list and generate relevant letters, with follow-ups and result-checking, will allow claimants a better chance of getting all they are entitled to.
A what-if function can assess various scenarios to effect the “best” result based on the current details.
When changes to legislation is released, then everyone that is on the system could be notified if it has a material effect on their benefits.
Type of idea: A brand new project
Describe your idea:
The Sixty Seconds Project is a microsite aimed at providing a a single-page simple-to-use download option to allow people to sign up to the World Community Grid. The site is to be promoted by ISPs who would send out an email to all of their home customers on the same day in a specific country, starting with the UK, the volume making it newsworthy.
Full proposal can be emailed at your request.
What problem does it solve?:
The WCG aims to use the spare processing time of computers to number-crunch data that can be used to find drugs to treat cancer, HIV, TB, find clean energy solutions and end world hunger, to name but a few (more details at www.worldcommunitygrid.org).
The Grid only has 145,000 active users globally and the software has some usability issues; so I’ve already written up a proposal for IBM on how I’d like this to work, including usability improvements and with identified contact at BT, Virgin (prospective route, through one of your members), and additional contacts with design, hosting and CDN.
Type of idea: A campaign or PR drive
Describe your idea:
site to report Public Sector Waste (of money) to public authorities
A lot of the WhatDoTheyKnow code could be used and some of the data.
You suggest a way to cut waste [for a specific public authority],
estimate a saving, explain basis of estimate. You say what the loss
of service might be. This then gets sent to the authority.
Perhaps savings could be expressed more meaningfully as £2m (or
£200,000 library books …)
Nothing personal, illegal, offensive would be allowed.
Even the poorest in society pay VAT and we all suffer if money is wasted.
What problem does it solve?:
- waste in the public sector
- lack of accountability of some public authorities (e.g. quangos)
- lack of money for things that really matter
- no need to make a profit in the public sector can mean costs are not looked at in the same way
Type of idea: A brand new project
Describe your idea:
This would be a website that assists people in making complaints about public bodies and possibly banks and utility companies. Like WhatDoTheyKnow in some ways, it will provide advice to complainants on making the complaint – possibly through templates – and maintain a log of complaints made to each authority, including resolutions, rejections and those still outstanding.
What problem does it solve?:
At the moment a lot of this information is hidden within internal process and the ability to monitor satisfaction and effectiveness is left to the authority that the complaint is being made against.
This will helps citizens make effective complaints to public authorities and externally monitor the process. Provides an external reporting mechanism on numbers of complaints each authority receives and their effectiveness and efficiency in dealing with them.
Type of idea: A brand new project
Describe your idea:
1- I have a current social issue regarding health, environment, crime, taxation, energy etc
2- I put this my wishes, concerns etc into an online letter and select which governmental department or area I want it to be sent to in the future
3- It will ONLY be sent in 4 years time or beyond to the NEXT person in charge of a certain area. For example, if I have an issue with how the current Mayor of London is doing – I can write a future letter to his successor outlining my current concerns and what I want to be done when he arrives in that period
4- Whoever succeeds the current people in power will then be able to read these concerns sent to them from the past
What problem does it solve?:
It proposes the idea that things will get better in the future.
People can write an email or online letter to the future members of government that will be in power in the next 4 years and beyond.
I could write a future letter to the PM of the year 2109 and tell him how I hope he will change things for the better.
It will be nostalgia mixed with elements of prophecy. Can what we hope for now affect the future of the next 100 years ?
All correspondence sent online to the future will be stored as a digital archive time capsule.
Future leaders of society can look back and see if they have delivered on what the letters from the past asked for.
Type of idea: A brand new project
Describe your idea:
Enables you to see how society lived and functioned during the past 100-200 years and who were the people in charge – their laws and it’s effect upon society and overall progress and change.
I could see how areas of the UK have changed for the better or worse over the past 200 years. This could be in terms of crime, health, wealth, environment etc.
Did the people in power make a difference or took away the difference ?
What problem does it solve?:
If you do not know where you came from you will not know where you are going.
It enables you to compare how society was during the past 100-200 years with current conditions.
Was society better during the 60s or was it better under Queen Victoria in the 1800s ?
How has society moved on and WHAT were the defining turning points over the past two centuries?
Finally it enables you to figure out WHERE and WHAT year would you choose to live in society ?
Type of idea: A brand new project
Describe your idea:
Well, would this just pander to my paranoia or do other folks have their suspicions too.
Is there a connection between:
increase in rape seed crops
and
the amount of us now suffering from hayfever/asthma?
living next to power station
and
the amount of us now suffering from hayfever/asthma?
living next to small electric sub station
and
diseases affecting around the hypocampus area of brain e.g. diabetes, pituatary gland tumours, chemical imbalances in brain, epilepsy etc
this would somehow get the data from relevant database/statistics and compare with statistics/database of what it could affect.
Might be a tall order to implement though
Could start with just disease incidences and Google maps for Uk
What problem does it solve?:
It shows folks fears are unfounded or otherwise
Type of idea: A brand new project
Describe your idea:
A clear way to understand public budgets in human terms. You can only have FOI if its understandable. Most budgetary information is hard to read and does not give the cost of individual services. Reports use gross figures (and are often wrong!). So a way to compare the typical cost of going to visit a local GP (£15?) or A&E (£1000?). Or if my council spends lots more on bin collection than another. How much goes on admin? If more people knew it typically costs £8,000 a week to keep a youth in prison, they might decide to invest in cheaper preventative youth work. Exactly how much does my local traffic warden cost? Is privatising a service really going to be cheaper? Where’s my tax going? Is it being well spent? I want to know!
What problem does it solve?:
We’re making decisions based on mis-reading the true cost of providing a service. Public consultation is useless if only trained accountants can understand the figures. Citizens, councilors and MPs are often left in the dark. Having a simple way of breaking down the gross figure into the ‘unit’ costs or ‘per resident’ is easy to understand, and easier to compare. It would bring more transparency to what is actually happening in public finance. So helps to reduce waste, empower citizens, expose corruption, and spot good practice! I think we’d spend more on preventing problems before they happen. Citizens could hold politicians and public officials ‘to account’ better if they had relevant useful comparative information.
Type of idea: A brand new project
Describe your idea:
There are now so many services available to us that finding the best one that meets our needs takes time. We could find it ourselves by chance, word of mouth, recommendation, advertisements etc.
People are looking to make their lives quicker, faster, cheap, expensive, value for money etc.
My idea enables people to contribute the many wide ranging alternatives available of a popular service.
This could be in areas such as health, travel, finance, social issues, education, community etc.
I could type in that I need a alternative school to place my child in and what are my best options within 5 miles ?
People would suggest best and alternatives options available to me.
What problem does it solve?:
The issue of monopoly – that there are many alternatives to a service. This could be options that are cheaper, quicker, faster, affordable, recommended, efficient, time saving etc.
It enables people to come together and share their recommendations of alternative options available to one another.
Also it gives people a choice knowing that if one route doesn’t work try these alternatives suggested by others.
Type of idea: A brand new project
Describe your idea:
Having just realised that I’ve managed to miss an idea similar to the one I submitted, I did see from comments on some ideas that quite a few ideas are on matters which apparently already have been covered, or are in fact being progressed (though not necessarily by MySociety).
How about a searchable database of “civic webby ideas/projects”, in one place? With links of course.
What problem does it solve?:
Avoid duplication/repetition; allow people interested in helping or getting help to find info easily on projects.
Don’t know if this idea is itself a duplication, already!
Type of idea: A brand new project
