In this week's review of deleted Twitter activity archived on Politwoops, we'll look at how politicians are quickly adopting the latest hyped app in the tech world, Meerkat.
Continue readingSenator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) Has Been Systematically Deleting His Official Tweets
The office of Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., appears to be the first in Congress to systematically remove tweets from his Twitter account after they've been publicly available for months.
Continue readingFilming OpenGov Champions: Marko Rakar, Zagreb, Croatia
You cannot hang around the global OpenGov and transparency community without running into Marko Rakar. This open data activist ended up creating so much change in his native country of Croatia that he is now a close consultant to the country’s current president in all matters of politics. His story is so inspiring that even though we focus mostly on the open government movement in the U.S. in our OpenGov Champions series, I wanted to nominate him as our next Champ. He is a great example of making big change happen through fairly simple actions.
Continue readingProgressives campaign online, on paper and on the Hill against chained CPI
Liberal groups have launched a multifaceted campaign to oppose a Social Security cut expected to be included in the president's budget Wednesday, coordinating online activism, old-fashioned petition signing and traditional lobbying. It's an all-hands-on-deck approach in an attempt to send a loud message to the administration, and to congressional Democrats.
Continue readingFilming OpenGov Champions: Sandra Moscoso, Washington, DC
I met Sandra Moscoso at TransparencyCamp last year and was immediately impressed by her work opening up D.C. public school... View Article
Continue readingContent strategy in a social world – Internet Advocacy Roundtable
At Sunlight we make no secret about using technology to make government more accountable and drive the transparency message further.... View Article
Continue readingPolitwoops and Rep. David Schweikert
Some may not remember this now that most members of Congress are on Twitter, but it was once not permitted by Franking rules for our representatives to use Twitter. Sunlight successfully campaigned for those rules to be changed through our Open House Project and in 2008 with our campaign called "Let Our Congress Tweet."
Continue readingThe Post-Election Politwoops of 2012
'Tis the season to lick election-loss wounds by covering your tracks. Since the November elections, our Politwoops project has kept an eye on how members of Congress and candidates communicate with the public through Twitter.
Continue readingTools for Transparency: A Crowdmap for Open Government
Crowdmap is the hosted version of the Ushahidi platform, which allows you to quickly crowdsource information to a map in real time. Crowdmap has typically been used to monitor elections in developing countries, map crisis information as an event unfolds or to curate local resources.
Two examples include Syria Tracker which tracks the missing, arrested or killed in Syria while Vacant NYC keeps tabs on vacant properties in and around New York City.
We've been using the service for the past few months to curate Sunlight Meetups and open government events taking place around the United States. You can see the latest events on our Participate page.
Social Media and Public Comments in Rulemaking
Social media is playing an increasing role in how the government interacts with citizens. Just take a look at the number of comments members of Congress receive via platforms like Twitter or Facebook, or look to the amount of interaction in the "Ask Me Anything" discussion President Barack Obama held on Reddit. How can social media can be used to facilitate public comment in the rulemaking process? An ongoing project to discover its pros and cons is being run by the Administrative Conference of the United States' (ACUS) Committee on Rulemaking. The group, along with consultant Michael Herz, is looking into legal and policy challenges to using social media in rulemaking, with the aim of identifying ways to resolve some of those obstacles. Another goal is to encourage "appropriate and innovative ways to use social media to facilitate broader, more meaningful public participation in rulemaking activities."
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