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As a result of research conducted by bloggers and contributors of Technology for Transparency Network an interesting report was published recently. “Global mapping of technology for transparency and accountability” contains specific case studies of projects related to transparency, but also interesting trends and insights. If you download the report from this site you will find that Sejmometr and KohoVolit projects are included in sections about our region. We are looking forward to similar reports and if you think that there are projects that should have been included in the above mentioned report (we have talked to a few already and hope to feature them here), do let us know!
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Sejmometr.pl team is currently working on iPad and iPhone version of the portal. While working on this part of the project the team has asked a Polish blogger, Krystian MacKozer Kozerawski to post about this initiative and encourage readers to share their input as to how the applications should look like.
Some of the commentators of this partucular blog post share their overall feedback on the idea, like Tomasz:
“I really like the idea of the app, I am going to use it (I hope it is going to be free ).”
Some comments contain valuable input for Jakub, who is promptly responding to it too:
Qba: “I am not sure how realistic that is but apart form the overall results of votings I would like to be able to view how (or it at all) voted a particular MP (unless it’s doable on the website).”
Jakub: “It’s possible on the website and we will add it to the apps. Thx!”
Others suggest solutions that might prove useful for the portal itself:
Marcin: “In stats of particular MP’s we could do with 4 lists of acts they have voted on, I meanW statystykach danego posła przydałyby się 4 listy ustaw za jakimi głosował tj. za, przeciw,wstrzymał się i lista ustaw na których głosowaniu się nie stawił.”
Jakub: “@Marcin – dobre! Wstawimy tez pewnie do normalnej wersji!”
As you can see, posting about your planned developments in the right channels can generate a bit of valuable feedback and promotion! Do share your work with your regional audiences and let us know how you have benefited from it!
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Sejmometr.pl team submitted the website to the Polish bookmarking engine Wykop. As a result of it the traffic to the site increased drastically as below (data from 4 and 5th of April):
The original Wykop page contains really positive responses. Maniaks posted:
“Generally mega useful website, one can realyl easily check what MP’s are up to. Bookmarked.”
VitQ aded:
“O_o really?!… Maybe it’s time for democracy to work? Man (meaning the one behind the site), this is a brilliant tool!”
Content of comments proves that users test the features, flag up potential issues (and praise Daniel’s prompt response to those) and look forward to more developments on the site. Team’s reaction?
“We are even more motivated to work on this further. Thank you!”
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Sejmometr.pl has just introduced search for MP’s based on postal addresses and regions of Poland. It looks like this in practice:
Here is how the team managed to put this together:
“In order to make this search happen based on postal addresses we have combined the data from three sources:
- „The Registry of Postal Addresses” (Polish Post)
Database of all postal addresses and regions in Poland. - Using this website (official website of National Voting Committee), we have built a database of regions connected to voting areas.
- Using this website (official website of Sejm), we have built a database of MP’s connected to voting areas.”
Great work!
- „The Registry of Postal Addresses” (Polish Post)
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Veronika Sumova has published two videos documenting eDemocracy Day we have recently posted about.
First one is a general overview of the event:
eDemocracy Day – barcamp-like event 12th March in Prague! from KohoVolitEU on Vimeo.
Second is their interview with Jakub Górnicki from Sejmometr.pl:
Jakub Górnicki from Sejmometr.pl on eDemocracy day in Prague (March 2011) from KohoVolitEU on Vimeo.
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Following the example of Facebook’s wall, Sejmometr.pl has introduced “MP’s wall” this week:
“On Sejmometr every MP has their own wall, where all recent updates are featured. This functionality is independent from MP’s will or activities meaning that the updating of the wall does not require any actions from MP’s themselves”
Users can subscribe to MP’s wall though RSS feed at the moment but as the next step in development of this particular functionality Sejmometr’s team is planning to introduce portal specific notification system – once again using Facebook notifications as original idea.
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Today Sejmometr.pl has introduced RSS feeds to Polish Parliament’s work they feature on this project’s portal:
“You can subscribe to all or only few types of projects entering Parliament, but also track the work on various projects. More info here: http://sejmometr.pl/rss”
It’s a short update, but very important one. We will talk to the team in near future to see how this new functionality affects the traffic to and popularity of the site.
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Sejmometr.pl has also posted about their presentation at eDemocracy 2011 in Prague. The team really enjoyed presentations of other projects too and suggested those to Polish audience to check out too.
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About a week ago Sejmometr.pl team was invited to a meeting of few organisations and individuals aiming to build a Polish version of FixMyStreet. Based on the post published on Sejmometr’s blog it looks like the discussion had no final result as of yet – attendees presented their ideas and technologies they would like to use, shared their experiences.
This is exactly what Sejmometr team did too. They used the meeting as a new opportunity to present the project:
“During the meeting we have also presented Sejmometr and while doing so, we have discovered that the the portal grew so much that it is quite a challenge to present it in 10 min.”
Great news for the team! We also hope to hear more about potential FixMyStreet clone in Poland.
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Veronika has posted the photos from eDemocracy Day 2011. Here is a short photo story from the event: