The province of Ontario (Canada) recently held a competition to submit ideas and help streamline government, and come up with creative solutions to improve efficiency within agencies. If the public votes for my submission in my category, the government will spend up to $250,000 to make it a reality. I imagine the final app/platform using not only gamification elements, but blockchain technology as well.
My idea was submitted before I had heard about Steemit, but I think it would be a fitting first post. I'd love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, criticisms on the idea. Also, I'll submit the government link at the bottom, so that you can log in and submit your comments as well.
'My Ontario' Mobile App - Government as a Game
November 23, 2016
I want Ontario to spend over $250,000 to fund a digital service about Distributed issue-based problem-solving on the local level in order to make government services faster and easier to use.
What is your project idea?
'My Ontario' mobile app would harvest suggestions, problems, ideas, and solutions at the local level and funnel them to the appropriate regional or provincial ministry or office. It would create of paradigm shift of citizens creating actionable content and interacting with government as an engaging form of real-time entertainment, rather than a source of frustration.
'Players' are any citizens of Ontario old enough to use a smartphone or mobile device. The App would be available for download through either the Apple or Android platforms. The App would apply 'gamification' concepts to citizen-government interaction, and provide a point system and award system for levels of participation. Here's a brief scenario with a fictional player, Jenny, who is 12 years old:
Jenny received an iPhone for a present. She installs 'My Ontario' from the Apple iTunes store. The App detects her location automatically, and she creates a 'player' profile. Jenny's school bus always hits a giant pot-hole near her house, so she chooses the 'Please Fix' icon. She then can choose many different options, but she chooses 'Roads & Bridges'. The App allows Jenny to take a picture and describe the problem. She takes a picture, and the App captures the GPS coordinates of the picture, and she describes the problem. Jenny receives 10 points for reporting a road problem, and will receive another 90 points if it's deemed to be serious enough for road-workers to fix it. Other 'My Ontario' players near her location will be able to Up-vote (like) or Down-vote (dislike) her suggestion if it's legitimate or not.
The App knows where Jenny lives, so the 'report' is sent to the appropriate ministry or city office that deals with those concerns.
Success is automatically built-in to the structure of the game, and on how much players participate. If reported problems don't get fixed within a reasonable time-frame, an option to share it via Twitter or Facebook, notifying others that the officials responsible may need a gentle reminder.
Cost for 'game development' for 2 full-time coders would be about $120,000 and 'gamification consultant' would be about $80,000. The back-end and database would be integrated into Ontario.ca, which could provide real-time results of players, leaders, and a heat-map of which cities are participating most.
How will this idea provide a solution?
The problem with the 'dinosaur' version of government, is that it has always been an unfriendly, bureaucratic beast to slay if anyone wanted something done, or for suggestions to be made.
The solution, is for government to facilitate 'My Ontario' and its citizens as a crowd-sourced wealth of knowledge, with eyes, ears, mouths, and technology that can reach across any piece of Ontario with the click of a button. This technology is readily available, the cost is minimal, and the benefits are too numerous to even fathom at this point.
The outcome would be an engaged citizenry that actually enjoys government, because they would have a direct hand in building it and making it better. 'My Ontario' wouldn't just give a voice to the average citizen, it would create a permanent platform for individuals to interface with government in an entirely new way. A way that removes the brick-wall bureaucracies of yesteryear, and ushers in a new era of digital democracy facilitated by mobile computing. It would put Canada on the map of Who's Who in utilizing technology to benefit government, and ultimately, people.
'My Ontario' would make people's lives easier by creating a direct link between the phone or tablet in their hand, with the individuals that run cities and government. It's a tangible form of direct democracy available 24/7 and 365 days a year, that could be built in less than a year, and transform not only Ontario, but Canada, forever.
Is there anything else we should consider?
Consider creating a small budget for 2 or 3 individuals to continually improve the versions of this App. This way, bugs and other problems can be handled in a timely manner.
Ideas for all areas of government could be gamified, such as taxes, projects, housing, streets, lakes, fishing, hunting, energy, fuel, consumer protection, tenancy, art, holidays, quality of life, water, medicine, health care, etc...
Use AGILE methodology. DO NOT create a bloated team with rigid hierarchies to create this App. Use mostly young people who can re-think the relationship between citizen and government without being restrained by brick-and-mortar and bureaucracy.
Make it fun. Look at Apps like Waze, that have gamified maps, or Pokemon Go. These apps have transformed the relationship between individuals as passive consumers to active content creators in the digital space.
Canadians of all ages is an untapped wealth of knowledge and content, that Ontario could never afford to hire. We are willing to give our time and dedication to an App like this, because people have always wanted to have a say in building our province.
Let the genie out of the bottle.
Project ID: 2478
Official Government Link: https://talks.ontario.ca/project/my-ontario-mobile-app-government-game