CBC's Nora Young interview with Tom Steinberg on Transparency in Government

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Full Interview: Tom Steinberg on Transparency in Government

Posted by Nora Young under Uncategorized

This morning I spoke to Tom Steinberg, director of MySociety, a not-for-profit that creates websites designed to connect citizens in the UK with government, in practical, transparent ways.

Tom Steinberg - Image by matlock via Flickr

The MySociety approach gets citizens interested through personal, practical projects (getting potholes fixed on a neighbouring street, say, or getting a record of comments their MPs have made on a particular issue) and from there, hopes to stimulate interest in democratic participation.

What intrigued me about MySociety is that they’re mostly relying on publicly available information, but they’re making it accessible to people in practical, user-friendly, and accountable ways.

What do you think of the MySociety approach? Does it have applications for Canada? Let me know what you think!

We’re airing a shortened version of this conversation on the next episode of Spark, but you can listen to the entire talk below, or you can download the MP3.

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