Prisma

An integral part of democracy is keeping the citizens informed of decisions that affect them, as well as maintaining total transparency throughout the entire decision-making process. Based on this idea, the system “Diaygeia” was established. According to this system, starting on October 1st 2010 all government bodies and entities, as well as all independent authorities, have the obligation to post online all laws and decisions. The establishment of such a system in the way the government works is of double importance: On one hand, anyone looking for specific documents can do so through a centralized search gateway. On the other hand, we could say that the “Diaygeia” website is in a way a projection of basic democratic principles into the 21st century and its highly technological rhythms: all have the right, possibility and even the responsibility to be informed about government decisions and are thus are able to play a more active role in the democratic system. Citizens informed and actively involved develop a stronger sense of trust towards the government and therefore a better and more harmonic cooperation is achieved between people and state. Considering technological advances that strengthen the principle of democracy – such as “Diavgeia” – of extremely high importance, we decided to follow a related route during the implementation of the Prisma system. Prisma is a gateway to decisions regarding the Municipality of Thessaloniki. It offers a more flexible and user friendly way to find the desired decisions through four different search methods. Moreover, it puts emphasis on the geographic connection of government decisions by providing an easy visualization on the map of Thessaloniki, as well as the possibility to search from the map itself. The Prisma system consists of a web app and a mobile app. A summary of the basic functionality of the system will be given in the next paragraphs of this document. Web App As soon as the user enters the web app, two functionalities are obvious: “Search” and “Map”. Search functionality This functionality lets the user find a decision through traditional search. With the help of four, clearly labeled buttons, the user can select one of the desired search methods. In many search fields, as soon as the user starts typing, he is presented with an autocomplete list of options matching what he is typing. It is important to note that users with the necessary rights can connect decisions to geographic points of interest – either by selecting one from a list or by adding a new one of their own. The four search methods are described below: ADA Search This first search method is aimed towards users that know the exact ADA (Online Post Number) and want to immediately find specific decisions and their details. Specific Search The second method is aimed towards users that want to perform a narrow search but do not know the ADA. However, they do know enough details about a certain decision such as protocol number, name of the organization, the sector with which the decision is connected, who signed the decision etc. General Search The third method is a general one based on phrases and topics of interest. For this reason, the user is presented with search fields such as decision topic, decision type, and decision tags. Through this method, a user who has no specific knowledge of government decisions and their formalities, can perform a broader search based on generic terms. Hence, the results of this method might be less accurate and less specific than those from the other two, since the goal is to incorporate general concepts. Full search This last method provides search fields for all characteristics that a decision can have and is aimed towards those who want to use a different combination than the ones provided by the previous three methods. Map function At the bottom of the web app there is a map of Thessaloniki. Basically, it is a Google Map with different decisions marked on it, according to the points of interest these decisions are related to. The user can select a marker that corresponds to a decision and afterwards view all the details this decision has to provide. The map functionality was developed as an easy and user friendly way for citizens to stay up to date with everything that happens around them. With the help of this “decision-filled map”, a user can overview nearby decisions, since these are more likely of his higher interest. We believe that the map functionality is of outmost importance. Presenting government decisions in such a visual way, besides facilitating the search process, might entice the curiosity of citizens and induce them to become more involved and informed about matters that affect them. Mobile App As was stated before, besides the web app (which is based on a responsive layout and is accessible from a mobile browser), a mobile Android app was developed as well. Generally this mobile app provides the same functionality as the web app, allowing users to search with the previously described methods. Moreover, it allows the addition of geo information, just like the web app. However, since the mobile app is intended to be used “on the road”, it ends up having a functionality specific to itself: Show nearby decisions We decided to make use of the location sensors included in most modern smartphones in order to make the geolocation and geo-tagging process especially easy. The mobile app is able to get the user’s location and present him with decisions related to points of interest in a preset radius around him. This functionality has a special importance: It makes government decisions directly relatable to citizens’ lives since users can be standing in front of a building and at the same time checking related decisions on their phone.