Communicating with Congress Conference
Rob Pierson
I'll be speaking at the conference, and I was hoping to get some advice from folks on this list.
I was going to mention the need to funnel constituent input into three channels. One channel would be constituent communications where someone actually took the time to write a letter themselves. The second channel would be for more petition oriented communications ( i.e. 49 people want Rep. X to sign onto bill Y or support action Z).
I was talking with John the other day about a third channel for constituent input, tapping into the collective intelligence of the American people. Something along the lines of Senator Durbin's efforts to develop new broadband internet policies. (see http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sen._Dick_Durbin's_national_broadband_project for details)
My inclination is that we're still in an experimental stage of this sort of collaboration.
Rep. George Miller is experimenting with several fascinating high-tech ways to interact with constituents ( http://www.communitycounts.us/townhall/miller/), and seeing all of these new communications methods constantly springing up makes me feel as if we're still in an early stage of the evolution of technologies to facilitate online communications between federal representatives and constituents. If that's the case perhaps we should allow the free market of ideas to continue innovating and pushing the envelope for a little while longer before the federal government endorses any specific system? In the meantime, perhaps elected officials like Sen. Durbin and Rep. Miller should continue engaging in groundbreaking ventures to help us find the most effective ways to allow constituents to share their collective wisdom with their representatives in Congress?
I don't think this "third channel" will be the focus of the conference, but because of its untapped potential I was considering mentioning it. Any thoughts on the issue that OH folks had would be greatly appreciated.
For more information on the conference, check out the links below or contact Tim Hysom (thy...@cmfweb.org ) at CMF.
- An overview of the Communicating with Congress Conference
- A detailed agenda
- An overview of CMF's Communicating with Congress project
- A brief summary of the current issues with constituent communications [PDF - 69.21 KB]
- The CMF report Communicating with Congress: How Capitol Hill is Coping with the Surge in Citizen Advocacy
- Information about CMF's mission and work
Patrice McDermott
Another, really important, channel is the ability of the public to
communicate directly with Members in their capacities as members of
Committees/subcommittees. Several of us keep bringing this up -- and
it keeps being put off. When Reps are on Committees, they do not just
represent their own constituents, they represent the public as a
whole. As currently structured, the House mail systems preclude your
ability to communicate online with a Member unless you are her/his
constituent. I think the ability to communicate directly with Members
in this capacity is among the most important -- as Committees are
where the work of Congress really happens.
So, I would urge you to put the need for this channel at the top of
your list.
Patrice McDermott, Director
OpenTheGovernment.org
On Sep 17, 1:53 pm, "Rob Pierson" <piers...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) will be holding a conference
> in the beginning of October to discuss the problems with, and possible
> solutions to, the current state of constituent communications with
> Congress. The conference will identify ways to make it easier for
> congressional offices to manage and get value from the communications they
> receive and to enable citizens to express their views to Congress in an
> effective way. Representatives from congressional offices, House and
> Senate institutional offices, citizen and advocacy groups, academia, and
> the technology industry will be working together to find solutions to the
> issue. For more information on the conference, check out the links at the
> end of this email or contact Tim Hysom ( thy...@cmfweb.org) at CMF.
>
> I'll be speaking at the conference, and I was hoping to get some advice from
> folks on this list.
>
> I was going to mention the need to funnel constituent input into three
> channels. One channel would be constituent communications where someone
> actually took the time to write a letter themselves. The second channel
> would be for more petition oriented communications ( i.e. 49 people want
> Rep. X to sign onto bill Y or support action Z).
>
> I was talking with John the other day about a third channel for constituent
> input, tapping into the collective intelligence of the American people.
> Something along the lines of Senator Durbin's efforts to develop new
> broadband internet policies. (seehttp://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sen._Dick_Durbin's_nationa...<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sen._Dick_Durbin%27s_natio...>for
> details)
>
> My inclination is that we're still in an experimental stage of this sort of
> collaboration.
>
> Rep. George Miller is experimenting with several fascinating high-tech ways
> to interact with constituents (http://www.communitycounts.us/townhall/miller/), and seeing all of these new
> communications methods constantly springing up makes me feel as if we're
> still in an early stage of the evolution of technologies to facilitate
> online communications between federal representatives and constituents. If
> that's the case perhaps we should allow the free market of ideas to continue
> innovating and pushing the envelope for a little while longer before the
> federal government endorses any specific system? In the meantime, perhaps
> elected officials like Sen. Durbin and Rep. Miller should continue engaging
> in groundbreaking ventures to help us find the most effective ways to allow
> constituents to share their collective wisdom with their representatives in
> Congress?
>
> I don't think this "third channel" will be the focus of the conference, but
> because of its untapped potential I was considering mentioning it. Any
> thoughts on the issue that OH folks had would be greatly appreciated.
>
> For more information on the conference, check out the links below or contact
> Tim Hysom (thy...@cmfweb.org) at CMF.
>
> - An overview of the Communicating with Congress
> Conference<http://www.cmfweb.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=230>
> - A detailed
> agenda<http://www.cmfweb.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=231>
> - An overview of CMF's Communicating with Congress
> project<http://www.cmfweb.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=62&It...>
> - A brief summary of the current issues with constituent
> communications<http://www.cmfweb.org/storage/cmfweb/documents/CMF_Pubs/cmfspecialrep...>[PDF
> -
> 69.21 KB]
> - The CMF report Communicating with Congress: How Capitol Hill is
> Coping with the Surge in Citizen
> Advocacy<http://www.cmfweb.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=63&It...>
> - Information about CMF's mission and
> work<http://www.cmfweb.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=42&It...>