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Civic Tech in Monitoring Legislatures: The Long Game
James McKinney @mckinneyjames
“Data standard”
“Machine-readable data”
given_name,family_name,emailJohn,Tory,[email protected]
first_name,last_name,email_addressDenis,Coderre,[email protected]
Why your government should adopt a CSV Schema for elected officials’ contact information
Open North creates online tools that educate and empower citizens to participate actively in democracy. Represent is its most popular tool.
Represent is the largest source of elected officials’ contact information and electoral districts for federal, provincial and municipal governments in Canada. It is used by nearly every group in Canada whose services need to determine a user’s elected officials or electoral districts based on location.
Try the demo at http://represent.opennorth.ca/demo/
Charities, nonprofits and unions use Represent to connect their members with representatives – millions of times per year – most recently during the Ontario municipal elections through tools like PositionPrimer.ca or EveryCandidate.org. Media companies use it for political coverage, like The Tyee’s 2013 BC Election Guide. For-profit companies like Bell, Rogers and Telus also use it.
Find a list of prominent users at http://represent.opennorth.ca/
In order to maintain its database of elected officials’ contact information, its scripts extract information every day from the websites of 100 municipal governments, plus the federal and provincial governments. On average, once a week, at least one government makes a change that requires updating the script: for example, changing the URL at which representatives are listed, or changing the layout of their profiles. As a result of the most recent Ontario municipal elections, for example, a dozen scripts are in need of maintenance; the results are the same after any election.
Maintaining these scripts is costly. Open North is a non-profit, and Represent is a free service. Governments can significantly reduce the cost of operating services like Represent, which benefit groups across Canada, by providing elected officials’ contact information in a standard machine-readable format. We therefore recommend governments to adopt the CSV schema described at:
http://represent.opennorth.ca/government/ Vancouver, Ottawa, Strathcona County, London, Oakville, Guelph, Welland and the Township of Langley already use this schema. Your municipality can be next!
Strategies for standards adoption
1. Use social proof2. It’s good to have friends on the inside3. Build momentum (or the illusion of momentum)4. Use peer pressure5. Use your reputation6. Be polite and helpful7. External validation works8. Show that people will use the data9. Respect the government’s needs10. Set a deadline
Strategies for standards adoption
1. Use social proof2. It’s good to have friends on the inside3. Build momentum (or the illusion of momentum)4. Use peer pressure5. Use your reputation6. Be polite and helpful7. External validation works8. Show that people will use the data9. Respect the government’s needs10. Set a deadline
“Human-readable data”
Given name,Family name,EmailJohn,Tory,[email protected]
given_name,family_name,emailJohn,Tory,[email protected]
Strategies for standards adoption
1. Use social proof2. It’s good to have friends on the inside3. Build momentum (or the illusion of momentum)4. Use peer pressure5. Use your reputation6. Be polite and helpful7. External validation works8. Show that people will use the data9. Respect the government’s needs10. Set a deadline
Popolo adopters African Network of Centers for Investigative ReportingCity of HelsinkiCity of New YorkCiudadano InteligenteCode For AfricaCongreso Interactivog0vGranicusHolder de ordInfluenceMappingKohoVolitLoomio
Monitor LegislativomySocietyNew Zealand HeraldOpen KnowledgeOpen State FoundationOpenAustralia FoundationOpenPolisOPORAParticipatory PoliticsPODERSinarSpringtide CollectiveTexas Tribune
Strategies for standards development
1. Build on prior work2. Build an ecosystem3. Target the bottom of the stack4. Value face-to-face meetings5. Use your reputation6. Expertise counts
