Distributed Democracy: SeeClickFix.Com for Crowdsourced Issue Reporting
20 Pages Posted: 29 Jan 2012
Date Written: January 27, 2012
Abstract
This document explores one case of the growing Government 2.0 eco-system in the United States of America. SeeClickFix.com (SCF) is a web-based service designed to help citizens report non-emergency issues in their neighborhood. The submissions can be submitted via a web interface, by iPhone, Blackberry and Android reporting apps and a Facebook application. Local government officials receive alerts about submitted issues or can track issues that citizens submitted via the so-called 'Watch Area' they are responsible for. The platform allows for direct feedback mechanisms: Local government officials assign a work order number and can change the status of the repair (from open, in progress, to fixed). Citizens are automatically informed about changes in the status of their reported issues allowing for a full feedback cycle. The service is integrated into the social networking services Twitter and Facebook and provides map-based reporting widgets for government and newspaper websites.
Keywords: crowdsourcing, social media, SeeClickFix.com, distributed democracy
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