Hi all,
As some of you know, the gang here at Apathy is Boring have been quiet members of the Civic Access listserv for the last few years. Although our focus is youth engagement, our interest in technology as a way to foster active citizenship has kept us interested in the goings on of this listserv.
We've been wondering for quite some time how we can make Parliament and the legislative process easier to understand for Canadian youth. With the help of the Department of Canadian Heritage, Micheal Lenczner, and Daniel Haran, we recently started developing website that aggregates Parliamentary data and (more importantly) makes this information meaningful to young Canadians.
An early version of CitizenFactory.com went live at the end of March. We’re planning a publicized launch in the coming months, once additional features have been added.
Since our soft launch, we’ve been excited to see Michael Mulley (who was kind enough to help out during a Citizen Factory hack day) launch OpenParliament. Datadotgc.ca also launched, and – thanks to the work of David Eaves and others – Parliament has agreed to provide more data in XML.
Our goal with Citizen Factory is not only to provide this information to youth, but also to help them decode it and take action. Apathy is Boring has access to tens of thousands of youth across Canada with whom we'll share this tool.
We thought this was as good a time as any to tell you about Citizen Factory. We would appreciate your comments and feedback. If you want more information, Bernard Rudny (our staff member who has been overseeing the project) will be attending the Open Data Hackfest in Ottawa this weekend along with Mike and Daniel. You can also email him at [hidden email].
We’re excited to see all the recent activity in this area, and we look forward to contributing.
Ilona
Ilona Dougherty
Executive Director :: directrice générale
Apathy is Boring :: L'Apathie C'est Plate
514.844.AisB (2472) :: 1.877.744.2472
NEW ADDRESS: 3831 St. Denis :: Montreal, Quebec :: H2W 2M4
<a href="x-msg://649/www.apathyisboring.com">www.apathyisboring.com / <a href="x-msg://649/www.lapathiecestplate.com">www.lapathiecestplate.com
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