The Last Mile Problem

 I've used this term before, writing about government.  A slightly different focus this time: local government, schools, libraries, etc.

In theory these days there's lots more data available, in that data is mostly digital and most digital data can be accessed.  In the case of Ipswich, MA the 21st century has seen a gap develop:  in the 20th century the town published a "Town Report", a big volume containing a series of annual reports by each individual unit of town government, and there were a lot of them.  In the 20th century there were local newspapers which would run stories on important local issues, interviews with candidates for local office, etc.

Now in the 21st century the Town Report is no more; there's a website.  The newspapers are now online and much slimmed down.  The town has a website and a Facebook page.  Someone curious and adept can search out a lot of information, sometimes by links to reports by Massachusetts agencies, or from what seems to be a outfit providing business services.  But for the average citizen it's all confusing: just a lot of web pages and reports.

In other words there's no human intermediary, no institution which has developed over the ages to interpret the work of government for the average citizen.  Why is that:

• the leadership elite doesn't realize that the gap has resulted as the internet has evolved
• citizens usually don't have a driving interest in local government so aren't motivated to do research nor have they grown up with the internet so are lacking some tools to deal with the gap
• it's easy for bureaucrats to delegate the communication responsibility to others: in the past the news reporters, now the techies who are doing the websites, etc. 
• the result is there's no institution which has evolved over time to torture bureaucrats and make their living by interpreting data for citizens.