DIY Democracy iPhone app connects with politicians

By Chris Harnick

January 7, 2010

Pol-free number

Get this, voter: The Do-It-Yourself Democracy iPhone application lets consumers communicate directly with government leaders at local, state and federal levels.

Consumers can look up their representatives and then click-to-call or email them. The DIY Democracy application won second place in the 2009 University of Southern California Student Innovator Showcase.

“The strategy is to use advanced technology to revolutionize the way citizens communicate with their leaders,” said Matt Harrison, founder and executive director of the Prometheus Institute, Los Angeles.

The Prometheus Institute is a nonprofit public policy organization.

City hauled
Mr. Harrison said mobile GPS functionality lets the application provide granular data and targeted contact information.

The application was initially released in California, given that it is a state with a strong heritage of direct democracy and local activism, as well as plenty of problems about which to complain.

Mr. Harrison said the target demographic for the application is educated, middle-class or higher consumers ages 18-40 who demand responsiveness from their government.

Going mobile to let consumers reach their government representatives is about convenience.

“The inconveniences of government rarely occur at a time of our choosing,” Mr. Harrison said. “Mobile connectivity allows citizens to protest problems when they occur – a pothole on your way to work, a construction project interfering with your commute, a new oppressive tax on a certain purchase or a police officer double-parked in front of a local donut shop. 

“With one click, the application contacts the person responsible for the problem you seek to fix,” he said. “Only mobile technology offers such potential to curb the abuses of government.”

Demo to go
After the application gets an established user base, the company plans to place advertisements from infrastructure companies, community organizations, political parties and other groups that would benefit from an engaged, motivated and mobilized citizenry. 

For example, a local construction company could propose new road projects for citizens to support. Local groups can share ballot initiative ideas. 

The Prometheus Institute said it plans to keep the application free to gain maximum exposure, but charge for advertisements.

The application is being promoted via viral marketing through YouTube, Facebook and at http://DIYDemocracy.org. 

The company said it also plans to distribute flyers and other promotional materials around California at city hall meetings and to civic groups and other community gathering places.

“While inefficient government has bedeviled democracy for millennia, the problem seems to be worse than ever,” Mr. Harrison said. “From poorly paved local roads to oppressive taxes, the public is fed up with its leaders. 

“Unfortunately, technology has yet to catch up with the need for citizens to be better connected,” he said. “One must go home, log-in to an Internet site, find one's representative by inputting their local address and then write a letter.
 
“We can do much better. Given the dissatisfaction many citizens feel with their government right now, we feel the time is now to create a method for them to affect real change in their local communities.”