How’s Things?

Governments own and operate public spaces and infrastructure. If these are not providing the utility people expect, feedback is difficult. You can write to your MP, but few people would go that far.

We propose a proactive feedback system that monitors people’s thoughts and feelings in public spaces. Using an app that occasionally, randomly, asks questions based on where you are.

Train – is it too crowded?
Sports arena – are people behaving?
Park – do you feel safe?
Emergency department – is it taking too long?

Trains will always be overcrowded sometimes and some women will always feel unsafe in a park late at night. These are knowns. The idea here is to establish benchmarks and prompt minor improvements in the right direction. The idea is transparency around things that are important to us. And to find the unexpected.

For example, what if some people feel unsafe at a beach during the day? What if people find the city shopping streets too busy at 3pm on a Thursday?

It could also be used for general questions, like:

How are you feeling today?
Do you have a cold?
What did you eat for lunch?

We have the power of phone apps to get insights into how Australia is going, and we should give it a go.