Good user experience: Oakland crimespotting website
http://oakland.crimespotting.org
Crime database websites are nothing new, and I wonder how helpful they really are to people. Does access to this information empower you, or does it create an atmosphere of terror which within which the state is free to curtail civil liberties?
Whatever, the interaction here is simply grand.
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Wow. That's really simple and delightful to use.
But as for its usefulness...
Neighbourhood-funded, bicycle-riding security patrols have massively reduced crime in my neighbourhood. The community loves the bicycle guys and even runs a rota to bring them snacks.
Monthly meetings ensure that all the neighbours know each others' names - statistically correlated with lower crime levels!
Those kind of direct, face-to-face initiatives are what it takes to improve the experience of living in my neck of the woods.
Still, I'd love to see an interactive crime map for my area so we could get visual evidence that the initiatives are really working.
There are other ways that design can be used to cut crime: Design objects that are hard to steal.
It's not a new idea but now it is being embraced politically.
<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6939816.stm" title="BBC news article" rel="nofollow">BBC News: Bid to cut crime with new design.</a>
Shadow home secretary David Davis said: "Designing out crime is a serious concept that deserves serious attention."
Optimistic me thinks its great, cynical me thinks its an easy score for the home office.