Fix My Neighborhood (FR0012)

STAKES
Beyond the consultation of citizens, open government is also based on other forms of participation: platforms enabling citizens to report problems and incidents or enabling them to contribute to the knowledge of certain phenomena. Such platforms lead the government to deal with problems that are effectively noticed, verified and reported by citizens. These forms of crowdsourcing16 relate to concrete issues: reporting problems and incidents on public roads, reporting undesirable effects of medicines on http://www.medicaments.gouv.fr, which will include soon the possibility of reporting undesirable effects of any products and activities related to health, the practice of participative sciences (SPIPOLL project, etc.), development of "citizens' sensors" to share environmental measurements, etc.

CONTEXT & AIM
Numerous towns throughout the world allow citizens to report urban malfunctions from mobile terminals: graffiti, bulky objects abandoned, dangerous crossroads, maintenance of roads, pavements, trees and gardens, connectivity, defective traffic lights and public lighting… Once a problem is identified, the user selects the type of incident in the application, takes a photo that the GPS will geo-locate to complete the description, and automatically sends it to the relevant service. It is then the town services’ responsibility to provide a solution to the problems reported. There are a large number of initiatives and platforms throughout the world (FixMyStreet, PublicStuff, ConnectedBits, ClickSeeFix, etc.) and in France: Beecitiz, Jaidemaville, Dansmarue (City of Paris), Fixmaville, Tellmycity, Openmap, proxibuzz, GRC-Mobile
(Localeo…) Amongst the 60 measures decided by the Interministerial Committee for Equality and
Citizenship on March 6th, 2015, was the launch of a call for projects for "Fix My Neighborhood" (Fix-It Des Quartiers): a crowdsourcing platform dedicated to problems encountered by inhabitants and local associations17. The objective is to provide municipalities with a simple digital solution for reporting (through web or smartphone) incidents and monitoring their resolution (back office). The municipalities that decide to implement this solution will be supported and trained. Funded as part of the “Programme d’Investissements d’avenir” (Investments for the Future program), the " Fix My Neighborhood" call for projects will launch “innovation challenges” for start-ups. While working on the response to the challenge, the start-up will include a young innovator in its team. Depending on the subject they choose to address, participatory funding may supplement public funding.

ROADMAP
• Launch the "Fix My Neighborhood" call for projects in June 2015
• Make a first version of the digital solution for reporting incidents available in September 2015 (objective: 100 municipalities involved before the end of the year)
• In mid-2016, launch the solutions that may be generalized

10.1. Fix my Neighbourhood

Editorial Note: For ease of evaluation, Commitment 10 is broken into Commitment 10.1 and Commitment 10.2, which are assessed individually.

Commitment Text:

i. Fix My Neighbourhood

ROADMAP

• Launch the 'Fix My Neighbourhood' call for projects in June 2015

• Make a first version of the digital solution for reporting incidents available in September 2015 (objective: 100 municipalities involved before the end of the year)

• In mid-2016, launch the solutions that may be generalized

10.2. Digital Fix-it

Commitment Text:

ii. Digital Fix-it

ROADMAP

• An experimental reporting platform will be put in place during 2016

• The platform will be open to the public by the end of 2016

Editorial Note: This is a partial version of the commitment text. For the full commitment text please see France's national action plan: https://bit.ly/2MTYhsR.

Responsible Institutions: Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of State for the Digital Sector, attached to the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and the Digital Sector; Ministry of State for Urban Policy, attached to the Minister of Urban Affairs, Youth and Sport

Supporting Institution(s): N/A

Start Date: Not Specified 

End Date: 2016

Commitment Aim

This commitment sought to launch a call for tenders to: 1) develop a national digital tool to report street incidents and monitor their resolution; and 2) develop a pilot digital application to allow citizens to report incidences of cybervandalism or other cyber security issues on state-controlled and semi-public websites.

Fix my Neighbourhood (Commitment 10.1) aimed to help local government dispatch alerts to the relevant departments and provide opportunities to hold officials answerable for their actions. However, the text is limited simply to publishing a call for tenders for tool development; the commitment is thus of unclear relevance to OGP.

Digital Fix-it (Commitment 10.2) sought to develop a pilot digital application to allow citizens to report incidences of cybervandalism or other cyber security issues on state-controlled and semi-public websites. The activities and timeline are unclear as is the relevance of this commitment to OGP values.

Status

Commitment 10.1

Midterm: Withdrawn

The government self-assessment reports that the Ministry of State for the Digital Sector no longer considers Fix my Neighbourhood as relevant since similar tools already exist. The midterm assessment notes that this sub-commitment has been withdrawn.

Commitment 10.2

Midterm: Not Started

At the time of the midterm, the IRM researcher was unable to find publicly available evidence that the government has started the Digital Fix-it project. The government self-assessment did not reference Digital Fix-It. Therefore, the commitment was considered “Not Started.”

End of Term: Not started

The information provided by the government in its self-assessment and desk research done by the IRM researcher indicate that this commitment was never started.

The government self-assessment indicates that the Ministry for Digital Affairs refocussed on the development of a toolbox for local governments and on supporting civic tech organisations. Etalab wishes to make use of public consultation tools developed by non-governmental actors (civil society organisations and civic techs) to facilitate to work of the public administration and create bridges with the public. Thus, the platform consultation.etalab.gouv.fr has replaced Fix my Neighbourhood. The platform features four tools following certain criteria including open algorithms and privacy of personal data and which are bound to evolve. Civil society organisations that were not directly involved in the development of this platform were unaware of its existence and of the intention of the government to redirect this commitment to support civic techs.^{[Note78: Members of Démocratie ouverte, personal communication with IRM researcher, 27 Oct. 2017.]}

The new objective is relevant to OGP values but does not relate to the initial commitment, therefore these efforts cannot be taken into account in the assessment.

The self-assessment codes the sub-commitment on Digital Fix-it ‘not started.' The IRM researcher submitted a request for additional information on implementation to the National Agency on the Security of Information Systems (ANSSI) but no information could be found on the agency's reaction.

Did It Open Government?

Access to Information: Did not change

Civic Participation: Did not change

Public Accountability: Did not change

Given the lack of implementation and the obscure relevance to OGP values, this commitment has not changed government practices and thus not contributed to opening government. The government self-assessment points to a redirection of efforts to support the French civic tech with the development of public consultation tools. The new objective of this commitment fits with OGP values of civic participation but cannot be taken into account in terms of opening up government practice since it has not yet been implemented.

Carried Forward?

The original commitment was not carried over, but the refocussed commitment was integrated in the new action plan, with a focus on the development of the concultation.etalab.gouv.fr platform and the organisation of public events.