Faith: Building Trust Between Citizens, Local Authorities and Contractors

'Faith is often described as being sure of what we hope for and certain
of what we do not see.

In this 2 year project InTouch Ltd, Carillion and Lancaster University
are developing innovative trusted digital services that will enable
citizens, local authorities and contractors to have the faith in each
other and the systems they use to work in partnership to maintain the
UK's transport infrastructure more efficiently. At present such
maintainance is an opaque process with potential distrust between the
stakeholders and the data they exchange. For example, members of the
public can report road defects but can rarely monitor the progress of
repairs and are often left wondering what repairs are being carried out
and why. Local authorities feel the need to visit reported defects
before logging them as faults and then to revisit the defects after they
have been repaired to check on the work. This lack of trust and the
desire to continually inspect work has major cost implications. The
project includes a multidisciplinary team of social scientists, ICT
specialists and end-users.