Coders develop new site to scrutinise Jersey's politicians

Monday 26 February 2018

Do you want to know what your local deputy or constable has been voting for? There will soon be a website for just that, as participants on the Digital Jersey Coding Programme have developed a Jersey version of 'TheyWorkForYou' - a parliamentary monitoring website.

TheyWorkForYou Jersey, which is due to be launched before this year's election, will give islanders access to States members' attendance and voting records, and interpret the data in an user-friendly way.

"It is all about making it easier for voters to interpret and analyze data that is already available in the public domain," explained Tony Moretta, Digital Jersey's CEO. "It is not political, it is factual data and the website makes it more accessible to people."

TheyWorkForYou was launched in 2004 by a not-for-profit company, using data and information from official parliamentary sources including voting and attendance records. Through typing their postcodes, users can find out what their local MP typically votes for, their topic of interests, as well as how many times they have spoken in Parliament or how many questions they have answered.

Mr Moretta said: "When Mark Egan, the Greffier of States came in he was keen to look at how to develop the use of technology in the Assembly. They have been doing great with the video streaming. In Jersey we have open data like in the UK so Mr Egan asked if the tech community was interested. About a year ago, I spoke about it with a number of people including the mentors of the Coding Programme. They thought it would be a good project for the students to test what they have been taught."

Pictured: An example of voting categorization available on TheyWorkForYou.

The coding programme is a free six-month educational initiative, funded by Digital Jersey and sponsors, that runs twice a year. It is open to around 15 participants who don't necessarily have a background in coding or the tech industry but who wish to re-train in that field. Trainees spend three months learning how to code, and then a further three months on a project, either a website or an application, depending on the sponsors' needs.

Tom Hacquoil, from the Infuse Group, runs the coding programme, he explained: "We take participants from zero to hero in programming. It helps people getting re-skilled to get jobs in the industry. We always have a real work project for students to build so that they can contribute to something used by the public or businesses. It is important for them to work on something that gets used, it is great to show on their portfolio."

With no sponsors in sight for the second course of 2017, the coding programme mentors decided to get students to work on a Jersey version of TheyWorkForYou. The developers behind the UK website created it as an 'open source' code platform so that it could be replicated in other countries. Mr Moretta said: "We asked for the permission to use the code and students developed a first version of the website. We showed it to the Chief Minister at the graduation party and he really liked it.

"The Assembly then asked us what it would take to actually launch it. We said there was extra work needed as well as more information from the States to offer more functionalities. The work the students have done is really impressive but we needed professionals to take it a step further. We invested a few thousands, I am not sure how much exactly yet because it is not finished but it will be under £5,000. They are working on way of interpreting the data,voting categorisation and portraying it."

Pictured: A preview of what TheyWorkForYou Jersey could look like. (Digital Jersey)

Mr Moretta hopes that the website will be completed in the next few weeks but has promised it will be launched "well in advance" of the elections. "We are currently looking for a good home for it," he explained. "Once it is launched, it will need someone to look after it."

For Mr Moretta, in addition to the democratic advantages, the website will also help showcase the coding programme and its students, who have a 95% rate of success in finding positions within the tech industry. He said: "For me, it has a double benefit. It helps marketing the Coding Programme by demonstrating what the students can do. It also shows how technology can improve life across all sectors. We hope that companies see it and decide to come and say 'We want to use the Coding Programme,' for their projects."