Civic Journalism App

[Barbara Iverson Chicagotalks]

There are apps that let you find your civic footprint. There are apps
that let you follow news and identify local problems in your footprint
area. There are apps that let you talk about the local problems with
others who share a similar civic footprint.

What if there was an app that matched your problem with the right city
or county agency to fix the problem. And if it couldn't do that, it
would connect you with an community editor who'd listen, and analyze
the problem and match you up with a reporter who can turn ideas,
questions, complaints, and anecdotes into an organized and vetted
account (text, video, audio - whatever is best) of your problem.

Think of a "Homework Hotline" for citizens who want to do something,
but don't know how to take effective civic action or analyze and
explain a problem concisely. This is "civic journalism in a box."
Well, actually, it would be civic journalism in a phone app.

Ideally this could work with 311, and complex or ill-formed requests
would be routed to "Civic journalism in a box," if they were not
amenable to an easy 311 answer.

So 311 can get tell you if there is stop sign on a busy corner, but
Civic Journalism in a Phone can help you analyze traffic patterns to
see if there should be a stop sign there.