Spotted on Twitter just now: an exchange between the Johannesburg Roads Agency and Johannesburg Water in which the two departments apparently co-ordinate a repair to a burst main on Outspan and West in three messages of 140 words or less.
Forget spending millions of rand on linked databases and shared call centres. Kudos.
@jhbwater – Hi , kindly assist with a burst water pipe@West rd &Outspan- Morningside , thx ^CM
— Joburg Roads Agency (@MyJRA) June 18, 2014
@MyJRA hi the call has been logged and the ref number is 400147058. Thank you. #JWS
— Johannesburg Water (@JHBWater) June 18, 2014
@jhbwater Thanks team , much appreciated , keep up the good work ^CM
— Joburg Roads Agency (@MyJRA) June 18, 2014
Looking back at JRA’s Twitter feed, this kind of interaction has become increasingly common since the launch of its Find&Fix app a month ago. It regularly uses the feed to alert Eskom to power issues (usually traffic light related) too.
@Eskom_SA -No power supply to the robot@RIVONIA RD & SANDTON DR / KATHERINE STSANDOWN EXT.4 , plesae assist as we cannot get through ^CM
— Joburg Roads Agency (@MyJRA) June 18, 2014
Eskom, however, doesn’t reply as often.
Living in the future? Open democracy in action? Or simply washing your dirty laundry in public? I can’t quite decide.
[Image – CC 3.0 BY NC ND FreeFoto]