bill
Abstract – a summary of this application or idea for an application:
Sustainability – the buzzword of today’s generation. Sure, we’re told to conserve energy and minimise water usage, but how does MY contribution help the world, let alone my community or country?
Our idea provides a service to both residents of NSW and the NSW government, allowing households to compare – or, let’s just say it – COMPETE – against others in their conservation of electricity, water, and gas.
Purpose – what is the aim of this application? What service will it provide?:
Globally – we hope to see a reduction in energy, electricity, gas, and water usage.
Locally – we hope households and families become more aware of how every effort they make to live more sustainability makes a huge impact to their building, their block, their suburb, their state…
bill will provide a means for people to enter their energy and water consumption whenever they receive a utility bill. Households can enter as much or as little data as they have or wish to place into the website, eg:
Time period/number of days
Total usage
Off-peak/peak/shoulder times
Sewerage
Cost of utility
In order to provide more insightful data, households may also add:
Number of adults and children in the household
Address, Suburb
Residency type (house, flat, etc)
Pets
Pools
Cars
And any other information that will be salient in finding trends across the whole dataset
The key here is that with a minimum amount of data – utility usage, time period, and suburb – we can paint a clearer picture of how my whole suburb is doing in comparison to others.
Only the householders will have access to their own specific data. All other data will be aggregated according to the attributes.
Tiffany Holmes, an artist and academic working in the area of ‘eco-visualisation’ describes ‘dynamic feedback’ as a positive means for making people more aware of the data they produce, and how their behaviour changes this data. That is, if we can make people more aware of the consumption levels – the data – aggregate and make it useful – the visualisation – and make this change over time – dynamic – then people will develop a greater sense of ownership of their actions, at a cause-and-effect-level of understanding.
http://tiffanyholmes.com/wp-content/uploads/tiffanyholmes_docs/cc-79-holmes_2007.pdf
http://ecoviz.org/?page_id=2
Visualisation, in this case, is data visualisation. Data visualisation is the mapping of complex datasets into visual form in order to elicit insights into the trends and meanings underlying the data. Interaction is also used so that users can explore the data and make their own unique insights and conclusions.
http://www.graphicslink.co.uk/IV10/symposia.htm
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ivs/about.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_visualization
Information aesthetic visualisation, specifically, aims to blah blah
http://web.arch.usyd.edu.au/~andrew/publications/iv07.pdf
http://infosthetics.com/
http://well-formed-data.net/
We hope that householders will ask themselves:
Wow! Look at our energy usage compared to other people in Quakers Hill – we’re so high! We’ve really got to try harder these next few months. (» Provide links to energy saving tips).
That’s great – we stopped leaving the pool pump on for so long and our water consumption has dropped by a quarter – we’re doing much better than other people in NSW. (» Provide user-generated tips)
A lot of people on our block use gas – I never knew we were able to get it here – maybe we should look into getting it installed – after all, we have a pretty high energy usage compared to the block.
We hope to see more global insights build up that can be shared and pondered upon, eg:
Households with pools in Blakehurst have a surprisingly lower water usage than households with pools in other suburbs. > What are they doing right? Can we apply what Blakehurst residents are doing to other residents around NSW?
Residents in flats use a lot more water that their freestanding-house counterparts; do we need to seriously address old strata-title water meters?
A particular block in Randwick has very high energy usage; is there something wrong with the meters, or do we need to ask the council/residents about what is happening?
The idea can be applied to other utilities:
Internet and phone usage (more downloads, more time, more energy)
Users – who do you expect will use this application? What is the intended audience?:
Households in NSW, and the NSW Government.
Households will be able to keep track of their own data and see how they are doing in comparison to others with similar attributes (same suburb, number of rooms, pool…)
The NSW Government, and others, can see – on a more global level – which suburbs are doing well, what insights we can glean from the data as a whole, and how these insights can be applied to finding solutions or changing current practice.
Data – what data does this application require? Is the data set already published in the public domain or does an organisation need to provide it?:
The data is available – it’s in people’s houses, on paper, in bills, on their online accounts. All we ask is that each time a new bill arrives for energy, water, or gas, a household enters the amount for that time period into their bill account.
In the long term, integration with data from companies such as EnergyAustralia, AGL, and SydneyWater, etc, would make this process more streamlined, so long as people are happy to allow their own data to be automatically added to their bill account. As we move into using SmartMeters, computerised and more decentralised methods of maintaining our resources, the process of capturing data will be made easier and more accurate.
On the other hand, leaving data-entry in the hands of households moves the responsibility to them. In doing this, households will become more aware of checking their usage, maintaining the data, and keeping track of their goals and seeing how others are doing in bill.
Instructions and Demonstration – tell us how to use this application. You can present a video, slideshow, screen cast, or visual mock-up of the user interface (optional):
We can do a video!
Plus mockup.
This Apps4NSW proposal can be downloaded here.
bill: home page mock up
Abstract – a summary of this application or idea for an application
Sustainability – the buzzword of today’s generation. Sure, we’re told to conserve energy and minimise water usage, but how does MY contribution help the world, let alone my community or country?
Our idea provides a service to both residents of NSW and the NSW government, allowing households to compare themselves against others (who are similar or different in household characteristics) in their conservation of electricity, water, and gas.
bill: logged in page mock up
Purpose – what is the aim of this application? What service will it provide?
Globally – we hope to see a reduction in energy, electricity, gas, and water usage.
Locally – we hope households and families become more aware of how every effort they make to live more sustainability makes a huge impact to their building, their block, their suburb, their state…
bill will provide a means for people to enter their energy and water consumption whenever they receive a utility bill. Households can enter as much or as little data as they have or wish to place into the website, eg:
- Time period/number of days
- Total usage
- Off-peak/peak/shoulder times
- Sewerage
- Cost of utility
In order to provide more insightful data, households may also add:
- Number of adults and children in the household
- Address, Suburb
- Residency type (house, flat, etc)
- Pets
- Pools
- Cars
- Solar panels, rainwater tanks, compost bins
- And any other information that will be salient in finding trends across the whole dataset
The key here is that with a minimum amount of data – utility usage, time period, and suburb – we can paint a clearer picture of how my whole suburb or type of household is doing in comparison to others.
The idea can be applied to other utilities, for example Internet and phone usage (more downloads, more time, more energy), grocery bills, transport, etc.
PRIVACY
Only the householders will have access to their own specific data. All other data will be aggregated according to the attributes provided (suburb, area, number of people, etc).
OUTCOME
We hope that householders will ask themselves:
- Wow! Look at our energy usage compared to other people in Quakers Hill – we’re so high! We’ve really got to try harder these next few months. (» Provide links to energy saving tips).
- That’s great – we stopped leaving the pool pump on for so long and our water consumption has dropped by a quarter AND we saved $100 on our latest bill – we’re doing much better than other people in NSW. (» Provide user-generated tips)
- A lot of people on our block use gas – I never knew we were able to get it here – maybe we should look into getting it installed – after all, we have a pretty high energy usage compared to the block. (» Provide information on alternative energy sources, etc.)
We hope to see more global insights build up that can be shared and pondered upon, eg:
- Households with pools in Blakehurst have a surprisingly lower water usage than households with pools in other suburbs. > What are they doing right? Can we apply what Blakehurst residents are doing to other residents around NSW?
- Residents in flats use a lot more water that their freestanding-house counterparts; do we need to seriously address old strata-title water meters?
- A particular block in Randwick has very high energy usage; is there something wrong with the meters, or do we need to ask the council/residents about what is happening?
We could add goals for households, and household-types, eg:
- To all households in the St George area: let’s get our energy consumption down by 5% this quarter (that’s $100 in savings for each household, or $10 million dollars for our whole area!)
- Calling all homes with pools: we’ve been using our pump for 2 hours a day. Just got our water bill: halved! Try it, and let’s try and reduce our collective water consumption by 40 olympic-sized swimming pools (that’s 1 kilolitre for each household) this quarter.
CONTEXT
Eco Visualisation
Tiffany Holmes, an artist and academic working in the area of ‘eco-visualisation’ describes ‘dynamic feedback’ as a positive means for making people more aware of the data they produce, and how their behaviour changes this data. That is, if we can make people more aware of the consumption levels – the data – aggregate and make it useful – the visualisation – and make this change over time – dynamic – then people will develop a greater sense of ownership of their actions, at a cause-and-effect-level of understanding. (Holmes’ paper on eco-visualisation, pdf)
Data Visualisation
Data visualisation is the mapping of complex datasets into visual form in order to elicit insights into the trends and meanings underlying the data. Interaction is also used so that users can explore the data and make their own unique insights and conclusions. (International Conference on Information Visualisation, InfoVis Journal, infovis wiki entry).
Information aesthetic visualisation
One particular aspect of data visualisation concerns its meaning and aesthetic. Specifically, how can we make visualisation more engaging for people? How do we tell a story and involve people, in order to teach them or provide insights into social, political, cultural or community issues? Information aesthetic visualisation aims to answer these questions and directly addresses bill’s purpose in using data visualisation to equip people with the power to make decisions about their resource consumption. (Co-authored paper on information aesthetics, pdf, information aesthetics blog, practitioner well formed data).
Users – who do you expect will use this application? What is the intended audience?
- Households in NSW. Households will be able to keep track of their own data and see how they are doing in comparison to others with similar attributes (same suburb, number of rooms, pool…)
- NSW Government. The NSW Government, and others, can see – on a more global level – which suburbs are doing well, what insights we can glean from the data as a whole, and how these insights can be applied to finding solutions or changing current practice.
Data – what data does this application require? Is the data set already published in the public domain or does an organisation need to provide it?
The data is available now – it’s in people’s houses, on paper, in bills, on their online accounts. All we ask is that each time a new bill arrives for energy, water, or gas, a household enters the amount for that time period into their bill account.
In the long term, integration with data from companies such as EnergyAustralia, AGL, and SydneyWater, etc, would make this process more streamlined, so long as people are happy to allow their own data to be automatically added to their bill account. As we move into using SmartMeters, computerised and more decentralised methods of maintaining our resources, the process of capturing data will be made easier and more accurate.
On the other hand, leaving data-entry in the hands of households moves the responsibility to them. In doing this, households will become more aware of checking their usage, maintaining the data, and keeping track of their goals and seeing how others are doing in bill.
Instructions and Demonstration – tell us how to use this application. You can present a video, slideshow, screen cast, or visual mock-up of the user interface.
bill: insights page page mock up
Click on the images for higher-resolutions, or download a PDF of the images here (600kb).
INSPIRATION
This Apps4NSW proposal can be downloaded here.
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bill
This Apps4NSW proposal can be downloaded here.
bill: home page mock up
Abstract – a summary of this application or idea for an application
Sustainability – the buzzword of today’s generation. Sure, we’re told to conserve energy and minimise water usage, but how does MY contribution help the world, let alone my community or country?
Our idea provides a service to both residents of NSW and the NSW government, allowing households to compare themselves against others (who are similar or different in household characteristics) in their conservation of electricity, water, and gas.
bill: logged in page mock up
Purpose – what is the aim of this application? What service will it provide?
Globally – we hope to see a reduction in energy, electricity, gas, and water usage.
Locally – we hope households and families become more aware of how every effort they make to live more sustainability makes a huge impact to their building, their block, their suburb, their state…
bill will provide a means for people to enter their energy and water consumption whenever they receive a utility bill. Households can enter as much or as little data as they have or wish to place into the website, eg:
In order to provide more insightful data, households may also add:
The key here is that with a minimum amount of data – utility usage, time period, and suburb – we can paint a clearer picture of how my whole suburb or type of household is doing in comparison to others.
The idea can be applied to other utilities, for example Internet and phone usage (more downloads, more time, more energy), grocery bills, transport, etc.
PRIVACY
Only the householders will have access to their own specific data. All other data will be aggregated according to the attributes provided (suburb, area, number of people, etc).
OUTCOME
We hope that householders will ask themselves:
We hope to see more global insights build up that can be shared and pondered upon, eg:
We could add goals for households, and household-types, eg:
CONTEXT
Eco Visualisation
Tiffany Holmes, an artist and academic working in the area of ‘eco-visualisation’ describes ‘dynamic feedback’ as a positive means for making people more aware of the data they produce, and how their behaviour changes this data. That is, if we can make people more aware of the consumption levels – the data – aggregate and make it useful – the visualisation – and make this change over time – dynamic – then people will develop a greater sense of ownership of their actions, at a cause-and-effect-level of understanding. (Holmes’ paper on eco-visualisation, pdf)
Data Visualisation
Data visualisation is the mapping of complex datasets into visual form in order to elicit insights into the trends and meanings underlying the data. Interaction is also used so that users can explore the data and make their own unique insights and conclusions. (International Conference on Information Visualisation, InfoVis Journal, infovis wiki entry).
Information aesthetic visualisation
One particular aspect of data visualisation concerns its meaning and aesthetic. Specifically, how can we make visualisation more engaging for people? How do we tell a story and involve people, in order to teach them or provide insights into social, political, cultural or community issues? Information aesthetic visualisation aims to answer these questions and directly addresses bill’s purpose in using data visualisation to equip people with the power to make decisions about their resource consumption. (Co-authored paper on information aesthetics, pdf, information aesthetics blog, practitioner well formed data).
Users – who do you expect will use this application? What is the intended audience?
Data – what data does this application require? Is the data set already published in the public domain or does an organisation need to provide it?
The data is available now – it’s in people’s houses, on paper, in bills, on their online accounts. All we ask is that each time a new bill arrives for energy, water, or gas, a household enters the amount for that time period into their bill account.
In the long term, integration with data from companies such as EnergyAustralia, AGL, and SydneyWater, etc, would make this process more streamlined, so long as people are happy to allow their own data to be automatically added to their bill account. As we move into using SmartMeters, computerised and more decentralised methods of maintaining our resources, the process of capturing data will be made easier and more accurate.
On the other hand, leaving data-entry in the hands of households moves the responsibility to them. In doing this, households will become more aware of checking their usage, maintaining the data, and keeping track of their goals and seeing how others are doing in bill.
Instructions and Demonstration – tell us how to use this application. You can present a video, slideshow, screen cast, or visual mock-up of the user interface.
bill: insights page page mock up
Click on the images for higher-resolutions, or download a PDF of the images here (600kb).
INSPIRATION
This Apps4NSW proposal can be downloaded here.