A micropolitical platform for citizens and politicians.

Detailed Description:
Designed to give citizens a chance to express what they think about the city they live in. Anyone can state an opinion or idea and other users can rate them. All opinions are categorised according to political relevance to give local politicians easy access to opinions related to their work area. The design aims at creating a constructive dialog and a no censorship ideal. The concept can be adapted to any given situation or place where opinions of the people need to be heard.

Know drawbacks of design:
From the start our objective was to design an anarchistic self-driven machine, to maximize scalability and protect free ideas without censorship. Without moderation, we have experienced a few issues with spam, personal attacks, racist comments and other offensive content. To respond to these issues we developed a system to put messages into quarantine if they get a negative rating. Moderators can then choose to revive these messages if they deem them appropriate or simply leave them in quarantine if not.

Website:
http://kaerekbh.dk

Designed in:
2010

Status of realization:
In production

Keywords:
communication, graphic design, knowledge, network, politics, public space, social, technology, urbanism

Form
The design aspires to "provoke" a positive dialog and create self-censorship. The design works on three levels: 1) To create trust, the design uses the symbol of post-it notes which most people know from their everyday life 2) To create a positive tone all messages must begin with "Dear..." 3) To empower people by putting cencorship in the hands of the users, as they can agree or disagree with any idea or opinion stated.

Impact
The design creates a social cluster of opinions expressing the thoughts of the man on the street. It is a documentation of contemporary life, its ups and downs. We believe change is achieved through all levels of communication. After launching our beta ‘Kære København‘ in September 2010, we realized we filled a need. We created a space for free thought, which has no restrictions on the content. Result: a rich variety of uses from suggestions and ideas to praise and criticism. We have already been commissioned to open a similar website for the city of Hillerød, who saw the potential in reaching a younger audience with ‘Dear City’. In a few months, we will launch similar websites in progressive cities around the world. This is possible through a simple organizational structure based on involving local ambassadors to promote, translate and manage the initiative in their own city.

Context
A newly released survey reveals only 4% of the citizens of Copenhagen feel they have influence on local politics. It is not everybody who is capable of writing a well articulated letter to the editor of the local newspaper, but everyone can write 250 characters. 'Keeping it simple' is out core algorithm and our invitation for everybody to join in.

Other relevant information
The origin of the idea is to minimize the distance between politics and people. To create a simple version of a participartory democracy where inclusion is simple and voluntary.

Is the design protected by patent or ip registration?
creative commons

How has the development of the design been financed hereunto?
Personal investment

Is there a plan for future investments?
Not known

Is there in-house competencies to secure market roll out of the design, with regards to investment, distribution, sales, etc.?
Yes

Designed by:
Philip Dam Roadley-Battin, Designer, Concept Developer, http://battin.dk/, Student, Denmark, Berlin/Germany
Mikael Stær Nathan, Programmer, Concept Developer, http://www.mikaelstaer.com/, Designer, Denmark, Copenhagen/Denmark, Stær
Henrik Ralf Nielsen, Concept Developer, Project Manager, Denmark, Copenhagen/Denmark