Finding out what government is up to, or trying to get problems resolved by big bureaucracies, can be hard in these days of mammoth departments. mySociety, a project of UK Citizens Online Democracy, has tried to help by building websites that tap into public data to answer questions UK citizens might want answered.

Sites include TheyWorkForYou (making it easier for voters to find out what MPs have been up to in Parliament) and WhatDoTheyKnow (all about what's going on inside public bodies). Like these two, FixMyStreet and the upcoming FixMyTransport use transparency to help get problems fixed. (Finally, someone who cares that the bus didn't arrive ...)

All these sites are a good example of how Open Data can contribute to democracy and transparency. In a recent post, mySociety commissioned an analysis of two key sites - TheyWorkForYou and WriteToThem (an easy means of contacting MPs). The reports are available at the end of the post - as are reader comments.

It would be good to see Australian initiatives along these lines.