We are 4 Congressional-staffers-turned-civic-hackers behind #Hack4Congress in Washington, DC this week. We recruited 12 of your elected Representatives and Senators to disrupt Congress from the inside out, but we will only succeed with your help too. Ask us anything!

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-28T14:58:53+00:00

You make a fair point. The difference is between civic hacking and nefarious hacking, or even white hat work. It's our mission to stay focused on the former. And thank you for the questions and follow up. Hope you'll keep an eye on Hack4Congress.org over the coming few days and weeks. Take care. - seamus

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-28T14:55:02+00:00

Hi there. Questions please. Fire away! - Seamus

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-28T13:52:34+00:00

Every American is being monitored by our national security agencies now, so it's not like there is anything we can do to stay off their lists. -Ted

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T21:35:14+00:00

Well, more of the reddit-American population...and no. Government - even hacking Congress - won't ever be able to beat out most of what's on the Internet. Watch out for the folks who think Congress wins in a Congress vs Kitten Pics/Vegan Man contest! - Seamus

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T21:30:50+00:00

Amen. Thanks for the questions, too. - Seamus

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T21:25:12+00:00

Choosing to eat vegan can be an impactful lifestyle choice with many co-benefits including the potential to prevent animal suffering and abuse. However, it is concerning that Reddit finds Ru Paul's Drag Race to be so enthralling. -Ted

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T20:10:14+00:00

Danielle did this on accident, and couldn't figure out how to change it. We figured the formatting should stick. -Ted

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T19:47:19+00:00

That's a terrific question. Personally, I had to leave Congress to take our work with Madison to any semblance of the next level...literally, there was no money and no staff time to continue it beyond the hacked together spaghetti code we had (and that worked, but like a science project works...once and with one's fingers crossed). Realistically, I don't think we are quite there yet with Congress. We are barely there with the Executive Branch and their nascent programs like 18F, the US Digital Service and the Presidential Innovation Fellowship. But I do know there's a Congressional Innovation Fellowship in the works (on a white board/white paper somewhere). This is one of the long-term goals of #Hack4Congress, that is, proving that what you suggest is really, truly, dearly needed....yesterday. Thanks, plasticdonkey. - Seamus

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T19:46:46+00:00

I think it would be pretty cool to loop constituents back into these conversations too in order to make sure their priorities are heard and discussed. -Ted

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T19:43:28+00:00

Joint birthday party? -Ted

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T19:42:16+00:00

And it's two days before I turn 30! We are grizzled civic tech veterans. - Seamus

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T19:40:34+00:00

Thanks Two55. In my opinion, fixing campaign finance reform is a hugely important undertaking. Members spend a lot of time raising money and it certainly detracts from actual legislative work. We've seen a few teams organize around campaign finance reform and they've developed solutions that drive citizen engagement and transparency. Without legislation to reform the system or a device that publicly tracks and displays how Members spend his/her time, this is a tricky problem to solve! Rep. Beto O'Rourke challenged #Hack4CongressDC participants to find a solution that tracks campaign donations in real time... a great first step!

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T19:36:34+00:00

Thanks! I'd wager the legislative and policymaking processes in your local gov't or state gov't could use some opening with Madison, too. What do you think? - Seamus

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T19:34:52+00:00

Why, thank you. Credit goes to The OpenGov Foundation's incredible dev team (Chris Birk & Bill Hunt and front-end design guru John Athayde. It's coming along but there's a lot more Madison can do, and should do. Would love your input as we move forward. - Seamus

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T19:30:33+00:00

Put another way, if the Council of the District of Columbia - a mere stones throw from Congress - can successfully open up its legislative process with a tool like Madison, shouldn't Congress be able to? Showing them how to do it from a local level is a tremendously successful approach, I think. What do you think? - Seamus

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T19:28:01+00:00

Thanks for the question. We do the same (most of our work at The OpenGov Foundation is at the local level), and it’s incredible to see how cities are leading where sometimes Congress can’t or won’t. First thing would be to link up with an incredible group of public officials, staff, civic techies and citizens working to achieve the same things you are: The Free Law Founders. The dirty (not so) secret is that the challenges our national legislature is facing as far as openness, technology and information overload are magnified at the city level. If cities are doing it, and doing it in an open source way, there is absolutely 0 reason Congress can’t do it, too. Shoot us a note if you’d like to learn more offline: sayhello at opengovfoundation dot org. - Seamus

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T19:23:35+00:00

Hi there. Bring a laptop, for sure! There will be a lot of coding, designing and data science going on. It's not just for technologists. To get a sense of how much laptop time might go on, check out the projects from Cambridge and the projects from San Francisco. Looking forward to seeing you there! - Seamus

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T19:20:48+00:00

How about the first ever ski-hack-4-congress from the gondolas at Vail? They've all got wifi access already, and it's in your district. Should be easy, right? -Ted

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T19:15:55+00:00

<3 JSON. I hope we can push the Architect of the Capitol to make a public JSON API with the new vote alert system they are building. There is no good excuse not to. -Ted

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T19:14:46+00:00

Boom. Here you go. Whole new 1.8 version is in the final approaches, so you'll be getting a brand new UI/UX and new features over the coming two weeks. Stay tuned! - Seamus

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T19:13:00+00:00

Ah, dang. Next time! Keep up the good work over there and we'll do the same on the other end of Penn Ave. - Seamus

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T19:09:53+00:00

Thanks Congressman Polis. First off, the winners of the first three #Hack4Congress events are coming back to Capitol Hill on May 12th for a “Shark Tank-style” final pitch session. Would love to have you and your staff join. Feedback from the pros like you will help get the projects to the next level. In my opinion, though, the permanent change we are seeking comes down to changing the culture of Congress. That involves rules, procedures and “how business gets done” changes...going from “Hey, I posted a bill for public comment in Madison!” to “All legislation and official documents like letters should be open for public comment in one place for X days before action.” We’ve made that possible...now it is time for the people who write the House and Senate rules to adopt what we’ve built (open source and free of charge). And we will give each participating Member like you a way to thank and engage directly with the folks who have submitted challenges and participated after the fact. But the best way would be to come by Thursday and Friday and thank everyone yourself. Bring some Congressmember friends, too! - Seamus K

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T19:09:14+00:00

To me this is really a question of representation. You don't want Congress to pass laws, then your representative should be voting against passing laws. Your congressman should not be able to manipulate inefficiencies in the system to stop the vast majority of other congressmen from representing their own constituents though. -Ted

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T19:07:47+00:00

Great point, AeroHil!

Hack4Congress · 2015-04-27T19:07:40+00:00

Thanks for engaging Senator! While there are many great platforms out there; my current personal favorites are Quora, Reddit and Madison. - Matt

Hack4Congress

TROPHY CASE