Forwarding the Conversation

I want to start by thanking all of those who provided their feedback by either posting on the comments section or sent me an e-mail individually. This process has been both incredibly valuable and humbling. So – I would like to thank each of you again for supporting this journey.

I’ve taken the last few weeks off from posting and really thinking too much about anything in particular because I needed to clear my head. I felt like things were beginning to get all jumbled up and I really just needed some time away fom everything. Now, I am back and would like to use this first post of the New Year to synthesize what I’ve heard, answer a few questions, and then ask some more questions. If you need to be refreshed about the original idea click here.

Below are some of the most common question/ideas/themes:

1. Logistics:
   1. How will all of the information be compiled? Who will compile all of the information?
   2. Who will write the summaries of the legislation? How will they go about doing this in an objective way? Is it even possible to do this in an objective way?
   3. Will ALL legislation really be included? If so, how will people be aware of the context of the local legislation: meaning, how will people know how State Constitutions/Regulations impacted the local legislation?
2. Design:
   1. Who is the target audience? 
   2. Who are potential partners? What are the key relationships?
   3. Beyond the target audience – who can potentially benefit?
   4. How will the scaling process work?
   5. How is this site going to make money?
   6. How will the organization be structured?

So these are the big themes/associated questions that I’ve seen so far (if I am leaving off anything big please let me know). 

I do have some answers and even more questions – I will start with the answers.

Answers

I don’t believe I can break up the answers into bullets because everything is interrelated. I want to start by saying that I believe that the site should start with a small pilot project. This project would focus on a specific state and a specific issue within that state. Right now I am thinking the state will be California and the issue will be the Environment and the Green Economy. There is a lot going on in California now, especially with respect to Green Jobs – I’ve also seen that there may be some traction here. 

With regard to who will be compiling this information – I am looking to create a relationship with the organization housed in the California Assembly that is responsible for drafting legislation and ensuring that it works with all exisiting law. The hope is that they would provide a resource to get the database started. With regards to localities we would start with the 5 major population centers and would add their respective counties at a later date. At this moment there are sites out there that do provide access to all federal legislation, and the hope is to create a partnership that somehow works with one of these sites to make all federal legislation easily accessible. 

Right now I think that the target audiences for the pilot will be students, researchers, and anyone who needs access to policy. Ultimately, what I would like to do is use this information – in the scaling process – is add another state that is doing interesting things on the issue of the Environment and Green Economy and then begin to recruit state legislators to join the site. The purpose of their joining will be to trade best-practices, legislative ideas, etc. 

At this point this is as far as I’ve gotten. I again invite any questions, comments, concerns, etc. Below you will find some of the outstanding questions that I’ve not yet answered.

Questions

1. Beyond the target audience – who can potentially benefit?
2. How will the scaling process work?
3. How is this site going to make money?
4. How will the organization be structured?
5. How does the policy analysis part work? Does this become an open-source component of the site? 

Thanks so much for your support so far!

I want to start by thanking everyone for posting their feedback, questions, comments, concerns, etc on The Great Experiment post (below). If you’ve read it and have not posted please feel free to do so – this process of receiving feedback is really important to me.

I leave on a trip to Jordan (yes the country) on Saturday so I will not be updating as frequently between December 20 and 28. When I get back I will synthesize all of the feedback and then post what I have been hearing.  Again – thank you and I’d like to leave you with a beautiful quote that I read yesterday. It is the opening of the Mayan creation story:

This is the account of how
all was in suspense,
all calm, 
 in silence;
all motionless,
all pulsating, 
and empty was the expanse of the sky.

So – here goes – I’ve never done anything like this before, so I am a little bit nervous. This post is about a new idea that I have and I NEED your feedback, ideas, possibilities, and connections. I cannot do this without the support of others. So – please support me by posting your thoughts after you read this. I will post updates at least twice a week. Thanks in advance!

I am looking to start a new website. This website would house all local, state, and federal legislation. It would be easily searchable, contain legislative summaries, and give people the opportunity to organize around the legislation. 

I believe there is a need for this because right now there is no one site that contains all of this information. This site also has the opportunity truly flatten of the democratic process. It will give people the opportunity to see all of the laws that exist and then it will provide context for those laws. The context is incredibly important here – people need to know what this legislation means to them in their daily lives. It’s true that some legislation, some of the time, means nothing in the lives of average people. There are other instances though where legislation does make a significant impact in the lives of ordinary folks. Sometimes a seemingly innocuous clause can effect the lives of millions. 

I want to create a site where people can get this context, digest it, and then decide if they want to do something about it. I want to create a site that will allow ordinary people to mobilize around this information and create change. I want to create a site that brings the individuals who legislate to the same table as the people whose lives are impacted by the legislation. I want to create a dialogue that occurs both online and in person. 

The assumption that underlies this entire concept is that people do not have easy access to the laws that impact their everyday existence. Beyond that – just because someone can find the legislation doesn’t mean that they will understand the way it’s written. Most people don’t understand the way in which the bills are written. Moving a step further, I believe that if legislation was easily accessible and understandable that many would be moved to action based upon what they saw;  legislation is often  loaded with pork projects, special kickbacks to big campaign donors, etc. 

I believe that it’s time that people have this information. I also believe that it’s possible for people to have this information at their fingertips in real time. Armed with information I envision a central location where people can interact with one another, with advocacy organizations, with elected officials and their staff, and with other key stakeholders who help guide political process. I want to create a central platform where the process of democroacy occurs – in plain site – for everyone to see.

I’d like to call this project The Great Experiment because – like democracy – this process is a work in progress. It will never be complete and will always be open to the universe of possibilities. Like democracy this site will give efficacy to people – this site will give a voice to those who may have forgotten that they had one. This site is a testament to the idea that people do matter in our system – that we are stronger united than divided.

I implore you to provide me with feedback, suggestions, comments, concerns, connections, etc. I believe this information and interaction is necessary for the strengthening of our civic life and democracy.

I now officially give this process away to you – the reader. Please support this idea by acting as a guiding voice. Thank you!