WELLINGTON (Loomio / Pacific Media Watch): A group of New Zealand-based application (app) developers have crowdfunded more than US$74,000 to develop an app that could help protestors organise better.
The Loomio "social innovators" aim to raise $US100,000 to fund the development of an improvement to their app, which helps people in different places and time zones get together without having to engage in long "reply to all" email discussions.
The app basically sets up a platform for people to be invited to discuss certain topics or organising initiatives, come to consensus agreements and even vote on decisions.
The developers aim to get "more participation for less money" through upgrading the app with the new funding, to ensure that it works on all devices and is available to more people.
It costs about $2-$5 a person a month to use, depending on the size of the organisation using it and has already been used by city councils in large scale public consultation exercises.
“Loomio is a great tool for anyone who needs to make decisions with a group. From hundreds of student protesters organising themselves in Hungary to Wellington City Council using Loomio to collaborate with the public on an Alcohol Management Strategy for the city", said Loomio co-founder Alanna Krause.
Translated app
Most recently, Loomio has worked with the Pathways community-based mental health service provider to involve their staff in decision-making within the organisation.
Their app has also been translated into Ukrainian and Taiwanese Mandarin because of the demand for tools to enhance democratic decision-making during political events.
“After Taiwanese students began occupying their Parliament buildings, pushing for more government transparency around a trade deal with China, we saw Loomio translated virtually overnight by a group of 19 Taiwanese volunteers,” explained Krause.
“It feels amazing that a piece of technology developed by a group of social innovators in Wellington is now helping people around the world organise themselves to create positive social change, whether it’s in activism, business or government," she added.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence.
Pacific Media Watch
