The builder's path
For: People in Newfoundland and Labrador can't chart regulated fuel prices over time without opening one PDF per day.
“Some things are under our control, while others are not under our control.”
Routes to a solution
Each route is a different kind of journey, with real people and organisations to contact at each step, starting with those in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Step 1
Build in the open
Publish the code and invite contributors from the community.
Newfoundland and Labrador's startup incubator: programmes, mentors and community.
NL's tech industry association: events, programmes and connections.
Civic tech: technologists working with governments on public services.
Builds federal public services in the open; a route for problems with government services.
Step 2
Fund the maintainers
Sponsors, collectives and open source grants.
Federal funding and advice for Atlantic Canadian businesses.
Civic tech: technologists working with governments on public services.
Builds federal public services in the open; a route for problems with government services.
Advice and funding for technology innovation in Canada.
Step 3
Get it adopted
Civic tech groups and public bodies take it up.
Federal funding and advice for Atlantic Canadian businesses.
How the Newfoundland and Labrador government buys; open calls are posted here.
Newfoundland and Labrador's startup incubator: programmes, mentors and community.
NL's tech industry association: events, programmes and connections.
Ideas, sources and tools for this problem, from first interviews to funding.
every price order, as PDFs
older prices to 2019 in Excel, useful to backfill
sets and publishes the maximum prices
Starter prompt
Built from this problem's brief. Paste it into Claude or any AI assistant.
Help me design and build a first working prototype for this problem in Newfoundland and Labrador. Problem: People in Newfoundland and Labrador can't chart regulated fuel prices over time without opening one PDF per day. Who it hurts: Drivers, people who heat with furnace oil, journalists and researchers following fuel costs by zone. The moment it hurts: When prices change daily and someone wants to see the trend for their zone. What people do today: Each price change is posted as separate PDFs; the open data dataset stops in 2019. Why it is still unsolved: Prices are published as orders in PDF, and the open data copy has not been updated. What solved looks like: A script that downloads the Board's price PDFs and builds one CSV (date, zone, product, maximum price), republished each day, with a simple chart by zone. Checked against 20 randomly chosen PDFs. Where: Newfoundland and Labrador First, list what you would need to learn from the people affected before building, as interview questions. Then propose the simplest version that would help, the screens or messages it needs, and the data it would use. Keep it cheap to run, accessible, and respectful of people's privacy. Flag anything you are unsure about instead of guessing.
Talk to the people who live it before you build.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
ὁ δὲ ἀνεξέταστος βίος οὐ βιωτὸς ἀνθρώπῳ
Get a working version in front of people fast.
Using AI is not cheating. Every tool carries the work of the people who made it, and using it well is how knowledge has always moved forward. The thinking, the care for the people who live the problem, and the judgement are still yours.
“The Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves.”
Open data that fits this problem.
“Lead me from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light.”
असतो मा सद्गमय। तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय।
asato mā sad gamaya, tamaso mā jyotir gamaya
Tools matched to what this problem needs.
“We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants; we see more, and things more distant, not by our own sharp sight but because we are lifted up by their greatness.”
Ship it responsibly, and find help and funding.
“Act, keeping in view the welfare of the world.”
लोकसंग्रहमेवापि सम्पश्यन्कर्तुमर्हसि
lokasaṅgraham evāpi sampaśyan kartum arhasi
Kit written for this problem from its brief; every link was checked. Links go to each provider's own site. Zetema is not paid for any listing.