Photo by Conor McCabe
The Dublin local authorities have harnessed new technologies to create Your Dublin Your Voice as a way in which you can have your voice heard, and it wants to hear from you.
Your Dublin Your Voice is an initiative of the four Dublin local authorities that gives Dubliners and visitors an opportunity to provide opinions and views on what they love, like and loathe in the Irish capital.
The project seeks feedback and suggestions, via online surveys, on a range of issues that impact the quality of life in Dublin.
The use of internet technology in the delivery, analysis and dissemination of the survey and its results makes Your Dublin Your Voice a cost-effective mechanism for public-sector decision makers to engage with citizens and others in order to drive change for the region.
Each survey is followed by a Lets Hear and Act workshop of agency and council officials designed to draft an action response to the survey issues.
Launched in October 2010, the project established Dublin’s first opinion panel for the city region.
The first Your Dublin Your Voice survey
During the first survey, from October to December 2010, some 2,300 people of all ages and backgrounds, of more than 60 nationalities and from every county in Ireland, gave their views on living, working and studying in Dublin.
Panel members were up-beat about their own relationships with Ireland’s capital city. Ninety percent of respondents agreed they would recommend Dublin as a good place to visit while similar proportions found Dublin to be a good place to study and were glad their job was based in Dublin.
Responses showed high levels of satisfaction with the character and diversity of Dublin and with the availability of things to see and do.
On a less positive note, panel members showed a negative response to Dublin’s environmental and litter performance. In addition, people in general did not feel safe in the city centre at night and there was low agreement that it was easy to find a job in Dublin.
The results of the first survey were summarised in a document and disseminated to panel members.
Workshops were held with relevant stakeholders to examine two key findings of the report – respondents’ negative experiences and perceptions related to antisocial behaviour and public transport.
Benefits of Your Dublin Your Voice
Although a relatively new project, the potential of Your Dublin Your Voice as a serious tool of civic engagement is already in evidence. As a branch or practice of e-governance, it aims to move beyond online form-filling and into the realm of drawing together service providers and users in a technologically able society.
It highlights the possibilities for new technology in heightened interaction between citizens and decision makers and in creating communities and cities which rely on the combined views, values, knowledge and skills of the true stakeholders in any city – its citizens.
Click here to join Your Dublin Your Voice and be in with a chance when you complete the next online survey to win a Samsung Galaxy tablet.
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