I'd like to introduce the Daily Kos community to the Open House Project. We are creating a report on attainable internet reforms for the House of Representatives, based on the input of a bipartisan group of contributors. This is a project of the Sunlight Foundation, and my involvement in the project is a direct result of my writing on Daily Kos, and starting the Congressional Committees Project.
The introductory press release includes quotes from Speaker Pelosi, Ellen Miller (Executive Director of the Sunlight Foundation), and from me (I'm John Wonderlich, one of the organizers of the project, along with Matt Stoller of MyDD).
SUNLIGHT FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES OPEN HOUSE PROJECT
Collaborative project, welcomed by Speaker Pelosi, will develop transparency recommendations for House from wide array of experts
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Sunlight Foundation is announcing the creation of the Open House Project, a collaborative and bipartisan effort on open government. The purpose of the project is to study how the House of Representatives currently integrates the internet into its operations, and to make public recommendations to its leadership on how to make the House of Representatives' work more available to citizens on the Web.
"The Internet is an incredible vehicle for transparency, honest leadership and open government," said Speaker Pelosi, in response to the project's launch. "I am encouraged by this working group and look forward to recommendations on how the House can be as open and accessible to citizens as possible."
The Open House Project working group will meet online via list-serv, blog and wiki. It is being led by Matt Stoller (of MyDD.com) and John Wonderlich (lead coordinator of the Congressional Committees Project on DailyKos) with Sunlight's senior strategists Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry providing ongoing support.
The bipartisan group, which includes renowned technologist Clay Shirky, Bush/Cheney 2004 eCampaign Director Mike Turk, Govtrack creator Joshua Tauberer, and leading blogger Markos Moulitsas-Zuniga of the Daily Kos, will be regularly consulting leaders in congressional process and the Internet as well as civically engaged citizens for their assistance in creating consensus on short-term reforms that can be implemented in the House. Expertise and research on many different aspects of Congress—ranging from video content, committee documents, and legislative support agencies, to lobbyist disclosure, and the use of structured information—will be integrated into a report to be presented to the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in March.
"This is truly an exciting effort, with great potential to further greater common sense reform in the House," said Ellen Miller, Executive Director of the Sunlight Foundation. "We are seeking to bring together the 'best and brightest' from the public and private sectors, who best understand how Congress can implement some fairly easy ideas that will greatly expand transparency and openness."
"Since the value of our recommendations increases along with the expertise of those contributing to our project, we're looking to the greater community to help identify attainable reforms," said John Wonderlich, who is organizing the project with Matt Stoller. "By inviting input from stakeholders normally outside the legislative process, the House leadership has taken a first step in promoting an informed citizenry."
The initial groups that have signed up to be part of the conversation include a wide range of participants, including watchdog groups, bloggers from the right and left, and open government groups. A list of initial participants is as follows:
Abrams Stern, MetaVid
Andrew Rasiej, Personal Democracy Forum
Ari Schwartz, Center for Democracy and Technology
Ben Rahn, Act Blue
Britt Blaser, Open Resource Group
Clay Shirky, NYU's ITP
Conor Kenny, Congresspedia
Dan Manatt, PoliticsTV
Dan Newman, MapLight
David Alpert, Drinking Liberally
David Moore, Open Congress
Ellen Miller, Sunlight Foundation
Ezra Klein, blogger
Gary Bass, OMB Watch
Jock Friendly, Legistorm
John Wonderlich, Congressional Committees Project,
Josh Tauberer, Govtrack
Marc Laitin, Wired for Change
Mark Tapscott, Washington Examiner
Markos Moulitsas-Zuniga, Daily Kos
Matt Stoller, MyDD
Micah Sifry, Personal Democracy Forum
Mike Turk, NCTA
NZ Bear, Porkbusters and Truth Laid Bear
Ryan Alexander, TaxPayers for Common Sense
Scott Chacon, Open Source Democracy Project
Stacy Holmstedt, AZ Congresswatch
Steve Urquhart, Politicopia
Affiliations are for identification purposes only.
The Open House Project is launching their blog at www.theopenhouseproject.com, and also using a wiki to collect information and recommendations.
Founded in January, 2006, the mission of the Sunlight Foundation is to strengthen the relationship between lawmakers and their constituents. Sunlight puts information and tools in citizens' hands so they can learn more about what Congress and their elected representatives are doing. Its ultimate goal is full transparency by Congress, its Members and staff will help reduce corruption, ensure greater accountability, and foster public trust in this vital institution of democracy.
Since its founding, the Sunlight Foundation has issued $1.6 million in grants to groups that develop and use Internet technology to further Sunlight's goals. Additionally, the Sunlight Foundation has introduced new technology of its own, and fostered projects that harness the collective energy of Internet users to quickly research everything from Congressional earmarks, to which Members of Congress pay their spouses and children out of campaign accounts.
###
(Emphasis Added)
To see some of what we're up to already, check out The Open House Project, where we're starting the conversation about what the House can do online to grant meaningful access to web-users.
I'm grateful for the opportunity to interact with Speaker Pelosi's office, given her committment to transparency and the potential of the internet. We have gathered a (growing) list of contributors to help inform and shape our recommendations, and their expertise and knowledge will be crucial to our project.
If you are ever tempted to doubt the reach of the soapbox Kos has provided for us, don't. I became involved in organizing this project because of what I've written on this site, and by organizing a passionate, talented group of watchdogs on a small corner of dkosopedia section of this site. I owe my thanks to them, and to you also. Contributing here has given me a unique opportunity to help influence the way our government interacts with the community of internet users, and I'd like to also express my gratitude to this community for helping to make that happen.
We will continue to engage people from across the internet to refine our suggestions, and Daily Kos should continue to be a valuable source for that input.
If you'd like more information about the Open House Project, check out our blog or wiki pages.
To get involved in watching Congressional Committees in action, visit the Congressional Committees Project or sign up for our yahoo group.
Finally, here's a story from Cox Newspapers to explain more about the connections at work here.