MULE
Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Subscribe to our RSS feed
23 November 2024

Where does your money go?

Article published: Monday, November 30th 2009

Ever wondered where the taxes from your hard-earned money go? Now you can find out, thanks to an innovative new application launched by a leading free knowledge organisation. A couple of weeks ago the Open Knowledge Foundation announced the release of its alpha version of the ‘Where Does My Money Go?’ prototype, a web-based application that allows users to explore the areas of UK public spending.

Where Does My Money Go?Through coloured graphs and pie-charts users are provided with an at-a-glance view of the main areas of expenditure on both national and regional levels.

One of the most impressive features of the application is a visualisation of the pattern of long-term public expenditure dating back to 1987, both in real terms and as a percentage of GDP – a measure of the total value of the economy. A closer focus is given to the specific division of funds in ‘social protection’, ranging across varying areas such as unemployment, health and housing, where users can also see how spending compares in different regions.

The designers are asking the public for comments as well as specific feedback on any technical bugs or problems.

One of the motivations of its creators was to make it clear where funds from the public purse go, as a means of improving transparency and holding politicians to account.

The OKF is a not-for-profit organisation founded in 2004, dedicated to “promoting open knowledge in all its forms”. To this end it commissions projects to working groups, as well as putting on presentations and workshops to enhance the circulation of ideas and knowledge.

While the application has already won plaudits for making a broad and largely inaccessible subject digestible, you can’t help thinking they will have their work cut out for them when it comes to picking apart the exact expenses of MPs…

wheredoesmymoneygo

Michael Pooler

More: News

Comments

  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jonathan Gray, The Mule. The Mule said: Where does your money go?  —   MULE – http://shar.es/aE7bv […]

    Pingback by Tweets that mention Where does your money go?  —   MULE -- Topsy.com on December 1, 2009 at 12:44 pm

The comments are closed.

  • Culture

    Halloween creatures invade Manchester early: chance to win two tickets to the Illuminaughty Halloween party!

    A heavy mist suddenly falls on a darkened Manchester hiding from sight unspeakably hideous creatures. Drums can be heard in the distance lulling you into a hypnotic trance, the work of witches and daemons no doubt. Or perhaps Voodoo ring masters, descending onto the city streets armed with psychedelic beats banged out by their armies of musical Goblins possessed with the desire for mischief and fun. It must be that time of year again; it can only be the Illuminaughty Halloween party.

    Science Slam: a synergy of science and poetry transcends expectations

    Poetry and science are two things generally not associated with each other, in fact if you joined the two in a word association test you would be one step closer to a chemical cosh and your very own padded cell. However the audience attending the Science Slam at the packed out Nexus Art Cafe Thursday night will never again doubt the validity of the two pursuits being combined; though I can’t rule out they may end up bouncing of the walls of a padded cell at some time in the future.

    Review: Greater Manchester Fringe Festival – A Dream Play

    We were outside Nexus Art Café in the Northern Quarter, queuing, when a car raced up, the driver shoved a woman to the pavement and the performance began. This was the introduction to the character Aggie in A Dream Play by the Déjà Vu Ensemble, daughter of the gods, who has come to our world to learn what it means to be human.

This work by Manchester MULE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales.