At Talk About Local we hope that in time local websites become major beneficiaries of greater transparency in local public data. It’s a great tragedy that fear of crime has increased while actual crime rates have fallen in many cases. Accurate and responsible use of data about crime and the justice system can help tackle [...]
Tag Archive for #opendata
’100 million comments a year’ – mutual support and advice in a shrinking state
The deficit reduction programme might drive government bureaucracies and the voluntary sector to adopt more modern means of providing information-based help and advice. A shrinking state results in fewer people to answer phone helplines and staff desks in public offices. But state systems and public policy problems are not becoming any more simple yet. [...]
Making sense of data – data for beginners
Last week I attended a great conference called City As A Platform in Birmingham. The conference asked, “In an era of public sector cuts and greater emphasis on local engagement, what happens when a city opens out its public infrastructure, technologies, data and buildings to digital media content developers?” I blogged about the day on [...]
Police Crime Mapping Site Goes Live
This morning, well last night actually, www.police.uk went live. Police.uk allows you to look at crime data by place name postcode or address, so really handy if you are looking to move, but also quite a handy content idea for your Hyperlocal site. By entering a postcode you get several views available: Overview Just that, [...]
Getting road safety data from your local council
If you write a hyperlocal news site, I can guarantee you’ll have roads and junctions in your area which are known for being dangerous. It’s possible to use the Freedom of Information Act to get your local council to tell you just how dangerous they really are. The data you’ll receive could be the basis [...]