Would have been a better "outstanding example" if one of the many government bodies had seen fit to fund this. Although the end result may still have suffered from the same quality issues, there's a bit of me would like to think that a government body funding such an app may have had a bit more of a clue about where government resources are.
App for homeless says walking on water is the way to reach services
An app for homeless people hailed by Australian prime minster Malcolm Turnbull as an example of technology done right asks users to walk across several hundred kilometres of water to find services. Turnbull launched the "AskIzzy" app last week and in his remarks at the event said it "... is doing exactly what successful …
COMMENTS
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Monday 1st February 2016 12:51 GMT Anonymous Coward
In the UK
if you're out of work, you can sign on for benefit, online.
If you're ill you have to do it by phone. You have to ring, go through the menu, wait until you can't wait any longer, try again later, go through it all again, with a very good chance you'll be doing this all day and never actually get through.
Some people still don't have a mobile; some people even still have a corded phone, and have to spend all this time in a cold hallway. Though odds are they'll be too ill to see it through.
At least some of those ill people will be sufficiently strapped for cash they'll be seriously worried, maybe not about where the next meal's coming from, but where the day after tomorrow's is, since it'll take days to get any sickness benefit even when they have managed to claim it, but until they do - well, God knows, because they're too sick to think straight anyway, but the DoE sure isn't helping them get better!
I mean, the DoE will almost certainly pay them, eventually; it's just it'll make them twice as sick before it does so.
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Monday 1st February 2016 06:58 GMT Oengus
Re: It is just me?
Mobile Internet is not cheap when you have no money and are reduced to begging on the streets and taking handouts from charity. Especially if you are not tech savvy and do not know what "services" to turn off to preserve data. You can consume a GB of data very fast and at around $10 per GB it adds up when on a limited budget.
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Monday 1st February 2016 06:04 GMT Mark 85
Re: It is just me?
There's quite a few (not a lot, I'd say) of homeless here in the US with cheapie phones filled with a card bought at Wally World. Some shelters hand them out at various times. Plus there's wifi hotspots around where they check mail, chat with whoever, etc. Most of the ones I've heard about with them are young and use it to stay in touch with friends and also look for a job. I know of one young lady (23 or so) who used it heavily for job hunting. She's working where I do out in the call center and has turned her life around. For some, it's a good thing. For others, not so much. There's a downside such as the druggies using them to score.
Having said that.... the app still looks to be crap.
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Monday 1st February 2016 06:05 GMT Charles Manning
Re: It is just me?
That's the sort of shit you get when you make taking care of people a government program.
After many years and 1.2-odd trillion dollars, the F35 flies worse than the F16 which was designed in the age of the slide rule.
No surprises then that a government program that is supposed to help people gives drowns them instead.
No doubt the suicide prevention app sends people to the Sydney Harbour bridge.
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Monday 1st February 2016 09:35 GMT Intractable Potsherd
Re: It is just me? @Charles Manning
"... you get when you make taking care of people a government program."
So, who, in your opinion, are the correct organisations to fund taking care of people? Private business fails, and charity is only as good as the people who contribute.
To me, it is a basic function of government to ensure that people are cared for when they need it, but I am willing to be educated otherwise.
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Monday 1st February 2016 10:01 GMT Pompous Git
Re: It is just me?
No doubt the suicide prevention app sends people to the Sydney Harbour bridge.
No need for them to go that far. The bridge across the Derwent in Hobart is a popular place to suicide from. One is not supposed to notice and the newspapers don't publish the figures, but it's several per week apparently.
One of the more intriguing recommendations from support services was the bloke at Smithton whose wife left him and the kids. The ever so friendly support person suggested that he go to the pub and just get pissed because that's how men cope with distress.
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Monday 1st February 2016 12:07 GMT Cuddles
Re: It is just me?
"An app for homeless people.
First, what's wrong with this picture?"
Absolutely nothing. It's rather sad how many people read "homeless" as "insane beggar ranting on a street corner while swigging from a bottle of vodka". Most homeless are not beggars. For most, being homeless is temporary situation that may only last a few weeks or months. Being unable to afford rent or a mortgage for some time (often for reasons out of their control) does not mean a person's possessions and money are all immediately confiscated, so there's absolutely no reason for them not to already own a phone or be able to afford the very low cost of buying one.
On top of that, even the poorest, long term homeless have no reason not to own a phone. You can get a cheap phone for £20 or less, and there's free wi-fi pretty much everywhere these days so it's not like they need to be tied into a £30 per month contract. With the importance of communication these days, any homeless person who actually has any plans on finding a job would be absolutely insane not to buy a phone at the earliest opportunity - by far one of the biggest steps in making yourself employable is having a phone number and email address so that potential employers can actually contact you.
And on top of all that, as someone else pointed out this doesn't actually appear to be an app for homeless people at all, but women subject to domestic abuse, ie. people who probably have a home to go to but who can't use it because some cunt will beat them up if they do. But sure, let's ignore all that in favour of making fun of the silly beggars for wanting access to the most important communication tool in the modern world.
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Monday 1st February 2016 19:40 GMT Brian Miller
Re: It is just me?
In Seattle, there's quite a few places where the homeless congregate to charge their phones. I don't know the approximate numbers of those who have a phone, just that a good portion of them do.
The real question is, was the data accurate? Were there actually local services that were not displayed?
Or is it an attempt to solve the homeless problem by getting them to swim to Tasmania, where the survivors will be eaten by Tasmanian Devils?
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Monday 1st February 2016 23:38 GMT Pompous Git
Re: It is just me?
The real question is, was the data accurate? Were there actually local services that were not displayed?
No. Yes.
There's no public toilets in Devonport? Say it ain't so
That error's a shocker because one of Australia's earliest online services is the National Toilet Map which shows many facilities within walking distance of the middle of Devonport, and this data is available as an open government data set.
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Monday 1st February 2016 23:43 GMT Pompous Git
Re: It is just me?
Or is it an attempt to solve the homeless problem by getting them to swim to Tasmania, where the survivors will be eaten by Tasmanian Devils?
Wrong direction. It's an inhabitant of Devonport being advised to swim to the mainland. As to being eaten by Tasmanian devils, he'd need to either walk a very long way into the SW wilderness, or swim to Maria Island. While in the past he would have been able to survive there by eating mutton birds (short-tailed shearwater chicks), the devils transported there to "ensure their survival" have this year eaten every single chick.
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Monday 1st February 2016 06:52 GMT Oengus
Out of touch
This just goes to show how out of touch our politicians have become. Only a fool would assume that everyone has a smart phone.
I am sure there is a subset that have the ability to access this information (people escaping domestic violence) but I wonder if it is really half a million dollars well spent.
I am sure that a street person has more important things to spend money on than Smart phones and data plans.
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Monday 1st February 2016 08:38 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: Out of touch
You mean not everybody is given a smartphone, a tablet, and a laptop for free - including SIMs and their fees - as it happens to politicians and government people?
That cannot be true! Everybody I know in my circle of friends, who by mere chance happen to be all politicians and people living around it, are full of free phones, tablets, laptops! It means it happens to everybody!!
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Tuesday 2nd February 2016 13:59 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: ummm
Well you may of heard from me, But I wouldn't of been stating exactly What I have seen here. could of been something entirely different
Sorry though, I guess I am a super privileged White man, and can't be homeless. despite the fact I lived on the streets when I was 16. I know exactly how much help you used to get. Looks like it hasn't changed much.
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Monday 1st February 2016 23:50 GMT Pompous Git
Totally agree especially if it is something like FTTP as per the original plan.
A nice bit of wishful thinking there. The Git is on fixed wireless "as per the original plan". Many of his neighbours not in line of sight are on satellite (if they can afford it) "as per the original plan". The poles with copper on them remain in place "as per the original plan". Homes within spitting distance of the fibre running south of the nearest township are on fixed wireless "as per the original plan". Homes on privately installed fibre at Dover are to be removed from that fibre so they can be on fixed wireless "as per the original plan".
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