[LINK] OpenAustralia.org

[Stilgherrian]

On 29/10/2010, at 4:33 PM, stephen at melbpc.org.au wrote:
> Am sure some people are aware of the new beta service, OpenAustralia.org,
> but it's news for me. The service strikes me as being all very civilized.
> 
> http://www.openaustralia.org
> 
> At OpenAustralia.org you can:
> 
> 1.Find out more about your Representative: 
>  Enter your Australian postcode here: ....
> 
> 2.Search: Popular searches today: nbn, export, gambling, Telstra, gay 
> 
> 3.Sign to be emailed when something relevant to you happens in Parliament
> 
> 4.Read and comment on:
> 
> A. Yesterday's Senate debates: 
> [snip]
> B: Yesterday's House debates: 
> [snip]

It is indeed a useful service, and a significant number of its users come from .gov.au domains.

In brief, it slices up Hansard into individual "speeches" -- that is, each continuous burst of one person talking until a different person starts talking. You can attach comments to them, discuss them, search them by whatever combination of terms you like -- and create RSS feeds of any of the above.

In contract, official Hansard is searchable, but delivered as a lumpen PDF of the day's debates.

It's fine work, its its creators have been trying to get the state parliaments to provide similar access. It has of course, proven difficult.

The same folks also created ElectionLeaflets.org.au for the 2010 federal election.

http://www.electionleaflets.org.au/

Stil


-- 
Stilgherrian http://stilgherrian.com/
Internet, IT and Media Consulting, Sydney, Australia
mobile +61 407 623 600
fax +61 2 8569 2006
Twitter: stilgherrian
Skype: stilgherrian
ABN 25 231 641 421