It might not be equitable to only give citizens with iPhones the ability to report potholes when they see them — but it’s a start down the path toward more interactive government:

City officials will soon debut Boston’s first official iPhone application, which will allow residents to snap photos of neighborhood nuisances - nasty potholes, graffiti-stained walls, blown street lights - and e-mail them to City Hall to be fixed.

City officials say the application, dubbed Citizen Connect, is the first of its kind in the nation. It was designed as an extension of the city’s 24-hour complaint hotline for the younger set, making the filing of complaints quicker and easier for iPhone users.

“If I’m just walking along the sidewalk and I have a complaint - maybe a storm knocked downed a tree - I could take a photo and send it immediately,’’ said Christopher Loh, 28, a press assistant in the mayor’s office who helped come up with the idea for the program. “You don’t have to bumble around looking for a number to call. It’s right there in the palm of your hand.’’

Tags: Digital Democracy, Open Data

This entry was posted on Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 10:57 pm and is filed under Best Practices. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.