Parliament 2.0
= a number of projects to ensure the open, transparent, and participative functioning of democratic parliaments.
Commentary by Steven Clift at http://www.dowire.org/notes/?p=352
Example
The Open House project in the U.S., with its ten recommendations.
URL = http://www.theopenhouseproject.com/report/openhouseproject_may8_07.pdf
1. Legislation Database-publish legislative data in structured formats
2. Preserving Congressional Information -protect congressional information through archiving and distribution
3. Congressional Committees -recognize committees as a public resource by making committee information available online
4. Congressional Research Service-share non-partisan research beyond Congress
5. Member Web-Use Restrictions -permit members to take full advantage of internet resources
6. Citizen Journalism Access -grant House access to non-traditional journalists
7. The Office of the Clerk of the House - serve as a source for digital disclosure information
8. The Congressional Record - maintain the veracity of a historical document
9. Congressional Video - create open video access to House proceedings
10. Coordinating Web Standards -commit to technology reform as an administrative priority
More Information
Micah Sifry and Andrew Raieji highlight a number of contrasting UK initiatives led by mySociety including TheyWorkforYou which demonstrates the power of reusing parliamentary data with an interactive and e-mail alert layer.
URL = http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0507/3810.html
- UK Parliament for the future, at http://www.p4tf.org.uk/
- ICT Parliament for the United Nations, http://ictparliaments.org/