OurSay is a social media group based in Melbourne, Australia that focuses on participation in public debate. The organization actively reaches 2 million Australians as of September 2016 primarily located in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.[1]
| Formation | August 2010 |
|---|---|
| Type | Social Enterprise |
| Headquarters | Melbourne, Australia |
Region served | Australia |
| Website | oursay |
History
editOurSay was founded by Eyal Halamish, Matthew Gordon, Gautam Raju, Linh Do and Hedda Ransan-Elliott and launched in Melbourne, Australia in August 2010 during the Australian federal elections where members of the public posted and voted for questions on the OurSay website and political candidates for the federal electorate of Melbourne Adam Bandt and Cath Bowtell responded to the top questions. Then finance minister and federal member for Melbourne Lindsay Tanner resigned from his political career and declined to participate in the OurSay forum.[2]
In November 2010, OurSay executed its second forum in Brunswick, Victoria, where citizens in the electorate of Brunswick, posted and voted for questions to political candidates Jane Garrett, Phil Cleary, and Cyndi Dawes. Citizens were invited to a local pub where the most voted for questions on OurSay were asked and responses were live video recorded and uploaded to the site. This presented the essence of OurSay, integrating online and offline citizen engagement with decision-makers.[3][4]
From November 2010 to August 2012, OurSay experimented with the execution of its technology and offline engagement. Some experiments included a partnership with Q&A (Australian talk show), where a top question asker posed their question on national television [5] and the Climate Agenda, where a senior reporter at The Sunday Age reported on the most voted for questions about climate change on OurSay for 10 consecutive weeks.[6][7] OurSay was reviewed by media expert and academic Margaret Simons as a new model for journalism where the audience is driving the content.[8]
In July 2012, OurSay hosted a forum with Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard, the first national head of state to participate.[9][10] OurSay partnered with Google+, Fairfax Media, Deakin University, and the office of the Prime Minister of Australia.
In July 2016, OurSay secured a seed round of capital investment to improve its platform and tailor it specifically for the local government market as a "self-serve" platform for democracy and public engagement.[11]
The current board of directors of OurSay include Eyal Halamish and Matthew Gordon.
References
edit- ^ Short, Michael (3 December 2012). "Power to the people". The Age. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
- ^ Price, Nic (21 June 2010). "Melbourne youth to get a say on politics". Melbourne Leader. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
- ^ Pubanenthiran, Bhakthi (23 November 2010). "I say, I say, Our Say: it's the new, old-style pub politics". Crikey.com.au. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
- ^ Willingham, Richard (22 November 2010). "Political pub gets cyber makeover". The Age. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
- ^ Newman, Gary (24 May 2011). "Q&A: Intellectual wizz fizz or prunes". Crikey.com.au. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
- ^ Simons, Margaret (2011). Journalism at the Crossroads. Brunswick, Victoria, Australia: Scribe. pp. 144–164. ISBN 9781922070203.
- ^ Alcorn, Gay (7 August 2011). "Sunday Age launches climate agenda". The Sunday Age. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
- ^ Simons, Margaret (30 September 2013). What's Next in Journalism: New Media Entrepreneurs Tell Their Stories. Melbourne: Scribe. ISBN 978-1922070531.
- ^ Bolt, Andrew (10 July 2012). "Let's get the Prime Minister to finally answer our questions". Herald Sun. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
- ^ Schubert, Misha (19 July 2012). "Love, religion overtake tax for Google Hangout with Prime Minister". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
- ^ Ward, James (20 February 2017). "OurSay is an analytical platform looking to facilitate transparency between government and communities". Startup Daily. Startup Daily. Retrieved 23 April 2019.