TheyWorkForYou.com: Analysis of users and usage for UK Citizens Online Democracy

Tobias Escher

5/1/2011

Type
research-report
Region
United Kingdom
Sector
Category
Civic Technology, Open Data
Methodology
Case Studies, Quantitative Analysis
Objective
Access, Legitimacy

Abstract

TheyWorkForYou.com is a website that offers rich information on both the members and the proceedings of all parliaments and assemblies in the UK with the exception of Wales but including the House of Lords. The information available includes records of voting behaviour, speeches and expenses by members of the respective parliament or assembly as well as the written proceedings such as debates or written statements. The information available varies depending on the respective parliament or assembly (see Table 1 below) with most detailed information being provided for the Westminster parliament for which debates are not only accessible in text form but also as video coverage. Users have the opportunity to annotate written proceedings or create customised newsfeeds and email alerts for the latest appearances of an individual members as well as email alerts mentioning certain keywords. Last but not least TheyWorkForYou provides a short and uniform URL to every section of parliamentary proceedings to allow easy and precise linking.