New Applications for Public Databases

The winners of a contest on digital innovations for the public sector were announced in the Mindtrek digital media convention in Tampere, Finland. The Apps for Democracy Finland ‘09 [1]contest had invited submissions for applications that allow better utilization of public databases. There were two categories: one for working prototypes in the Implementation category, and another one for Ideas.   With new applications, public databases can reveal diverse information about a wide range of topics, such as the use of taxpayer money and activities of Members of Parliament, and they can be used to compile local service indexes. Ten out of the 23 submissions qualified for the final. The winner of the Ideas category was “Tax Tree”, a proposal for an online service that allows citizens to learn about the use of public funds, at both the state and municipal levels.   The winner of the Implementation category was “Nomen est omen”. This is an online application that can be used to analyze the prevalence and origin of Finnish surnames. It can also be used to analyze social status. The jury specially recognized a number of the submissions. Asialista.fi [2] (“Agenda”, in Finnish only) is an application for municipal administration that compiles a database from public documents. Users can choose a social media tool, search for topics that relate to their own community, and participate in the political process.   Late No More [3] combines the Journey Planner (an online service that helps users to find their way in the metropolitan area) and Sonera’s Navigator to send customers automatic SMS reminders of appointments and route suggestions. Palveluhakemisto [4] (“Service Index”, in Finnish only) is a prototype of a service that compiles all services of a city suburb for the suburb’s home page. Palveluhakemisto covers public services and services offered by local enterprises and organizations. The jury consisted of six experts. One of the jurors represented the City of Helsinki through Forum Virium, a network that promotes the development and application of digital services in the Helsinki metropolitan area. [1] http://www.mindtrek.org/2009/democracy_finland [2] http://asialista.fi/wordpress/ [3] http://maps.cs.hut.fi/lnm [4] http://www.herttoniemi.fi/index.php?option=com_palvelutiski&Itemid=915