My MP

Team Name

Zero c00l

Team Members

Project Description

Imagine if your politicians were more data driven. Imagine if you could make sure your needs and your preferences were right there in front of your MP so every decision they made were backed by facts and evidence instead of being influenced by lobbyists and personal biases. This app puts your needs in the middle of the political process.

Data Story

Welcome to My MP.

We believe that politicians don't like dirty business any more than we do. So we want to provide them the evidence they need to be able to tell friend from foe. We understand these are busy people, constantly having to make quick decisions and think on their feet. My MP is the information superweapon that will give the truth a fighting chance.

There are two main interfaces to My MP, the MP dashboard and the citizen view. The MP dashboard is like Wikipedia, only better. By adoping a standard information template, every topic or question is presented in a familiar and easy-to-read format, linked directly to the demographics of their area of responsibility. The relationship between a topic or issue and the people in their constituency is displayed as a summary for them to refer to.

With this kind of quick information display, we are raising the bar on anyone trying to "pull a swifty" with sweeping statements and generalisations.

They also get a view into the concerns and interests of the people living in their electorates so that they are always connected to the current needs of the people.

The citizen dashboard is a way for individuals to safely and anonymously interact with their MP. My MP allows politicians to engage more effectively with the people of Australia while keeping their eye on the big picture. The citizen dashboard includes based information about your local member of parliament so people will always be able to know who is representing them, and what they are currently engaged in. The current activity of the MP is shown in a simplified display which allows people to discover new information about current activities. MPs can put our polls, surveys or general questions when they would like to get rapid feedback on the views of their electorate.

Let's look at how this will contribute to the challenges laid down at GovHack and the datasets presented. Consider how valuable it would be to make sure that the data from your organisation or department made its way directly into the hands of key decision makers at just the right time. Rather than focusing on implementation of the technology, I have chosen to highlight how powerful this kind of information summary can be. Nothing is more important than empowering a decision-maker in the moment they are making a choice, and that is really the story to tell here.