Posted on 04/02/2010 at 16:04 by Gary Wright
Brilliant story this week about MP Derek Wyatt who has launched the iPhone* app to let his constituents stay in touch with him.
For those of you unfamiliar with the technological wizardry, it means simply that using your iPhone* (you all have one don’t you?) you can contact Sittingbourne’s Mr Wyatt and interact anytime.
I admire Mr Wyatt (or ‘two pork pies and a Scotch egg’ as he’s affectionately know after the expenses debacle) for taking up the challenge of bringing new tech to the masses in Kent and I honestly wish him well in his quest to engage even more closely with his constituents.
Unfortunately I forecast a rush to the Apple Store by the 10-or-so nutters – that plague every MP – so that they can let Mr Wyatt know each of their new concerns immediately.
Even the biggest Luddite must have heard of the Apple app? If you believe the ads on telly the iPhone* can be made to do anything and while it might not make the tea, there is probably an app that tells you how to make the perfect cuppa (and probably some information about blending).
Forget the hype though, Apple may have sold 41 million iPhones* since launch two years ago but Nokia sells that many in a month. So it’s not really the way to mass communication… yet. (There's something called an iPad coming soon which is the same, but bigger and doesn't make phone calls but will run the MP app, of course).
But times really are a changin’ and our MPs will do anything to get down with kids and interact. Whether they are Twittering (er, another social network craze for those too lazy to write more than 20 words at a time) to guesting on any TV show which claims viewers under 25.
There is a part of me, a very small part, that believes MPs really do wish to make the world a better place and to give a voice to their constituents no matter how marginalised.
Mr Wyatt (who already runs a very good website) said: “I certainly hope that now people know it can be done, and that citizens want to engage in this way, my colleagues at home and abroad take this idea and make it even better for their constituents.”
The app was written by public sector digital agency, Public Zone, and is available free of charge from the Apple iTunes store.
Public Zone intends to roll out the MyMP app, which also integrates with Google Maps, to other MPs this month.
I wish him well but I foresee a slight problem with his fellow MPs.
Modern technology is pretty damn clever. The iPhone* is a very smart piece of kit (handle one and if you are over 40 you may suspect there magic inside the little slim case). But because of their GPS abilities and the marvel of Google Maps (from satellite pictures right down to a picture of your front garden just from a postcode), the iPhone* can tell you exactly where you are.
Oh yes, and it can tell everyone else exactly where you are.
Brilliant for parents who want to watch their kids (but who’d trust them with a 500 quid phone?) but not perhaps for your average MP.
Do they really want people to know exactly where they are every minute of the day?
I suspect not, far too risky… though I guess they could always leave their iPhone* in the House of Commons on answerphone while they slipped off to do other things.
*Other smartphones are available for less money: Google Nexus, Nokia N900, HTC Hero but perhaps they just don’t have the hype (or such a big App Store).