Boston to launch complaint-filing iPhone app
The city of Boston is set to launch an official iPhone application for residents to file complaints about "neighborhood nuisances--nasty potholes, graffiti-stained walls, blown street lights," according to The Boston Globe.
Called Citizen Connect, the app will let Bostonians send pictures and tips right to City Hall.
The app was built with the help of a New Hampshire mobile development firm called Connected Bits.
Citizen Connect has been submitted to Apple but hasn't made it into the iTunes App Store just yet. When it does, it will be free.
Beware, Citizen Connect: complaints about this 'Aqua Hunger Teen Force' ad campaign turned into a huge mess for Boston two years ago.
(Credit: Boing Boing)The Boston Globe said Citizen Connect is the first app of its kind, but other cities have also been turning to new technology to make the minutiae of municipal government run more smoothly. New York's 311 nonemergency hotline for residents now has a presence on Skype and Twitter. New York also now accepts photo and video submissions for 911 and 311.
But the iPhone app has a few advantages. Per the Globe: "The application, which will be free to download from Apple, will allow residents to use the Global Positioning System function on their iPhones to pinpoint the precise location of the problem for City Hall. After submitting a complaint, users will get a tracking number, so they can pester city officials if the problem persists." Ooh! Pestering city officials sounds like fun!
That said, the idea of a complaint-filing iPhone app for Boston is particularly hilarious: the most famous instance of Boston municipal complaints in recent history happened when people started calling in concerns about suspicious-looking devices that turned out to be an ad campaign for the cartoon flick "Aqua Teen Hunger Force." This fact, however, did not come to light until the city had already shut down all traffic on the Charles River.
Or, as one blogger has pointed out already, the system could easily get flooded with photos accompanied by captions like "Please send a cop over to make these Yankees fans leave this bar."
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline. 
With an app like this, I think these other app stores/catalogs will be stupid for not carrying this app.
- by MyRightEye July 6, 2009 10:23 AM PDT
- So much for talking to your neighbors..
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- by engelgrafik July 6, 2009 11:12 AM PDT
- I think maybe you're putting the cart before the horse here. If government were efficient, it would do its job better. This is meant to make government efficient but cutting THROUGH all the wasted time and effort required to file a complaint. Going straight from source to remediation could potentially cut huge costs that are being sucked up by inefficiencies. What is wrong with that? Being the classic "against big government" person is one thing, but as things change you need to re-evaluate the effectiveness of your statement. This could be a huge change agent that would help government finally work.
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- by NotForNuthin July 6, 2009 1:24 PM PDT
- MyRightEye...
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(10 Comments)How does getting the gubmint involved in any kind of dispute CUT bureaucracy?
All it does it stop community communication, increase gubmint fine revenue allowing them to further increases the size of gubmint.
FAIL.
We all saw your cute spelling of "gubmint" the FIRST time in your post.
By the third time it just seemed a little forced, get some new material.