Call for presentations on Tech & Accountability

[Lindsay Ferris]

Hi all,

I wanted to let you all know about an exciting opportunity and ask you if you might be interested in participating:

Stanford University and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) are collaborating on development of a free, open online course called the Tech for Accountability Lab. The basic idea is to bring civic activists and coders onto one course platform, over a period of 12 weeks, to learn about and discuss various ways that citizens are using technology to promote transparency and accountability in public affairs. Participants will also have the opportunity to work on joint projects. A pre-beta website is available here.

Sunlight is helping put together part of the curriculum, specifically, by addressing ways that tech can be used to expose and confront the influence of money in politics. As part of this online course, the Tech for Accountability Lab is collecting case stories of those that have created tech tools that bring greater transparency or accountability to political influence. A few examples of relevant datasets that these projects might build on include:

• Political finance income/expenditures
• Lobbying registries
• Asset disclosures
• Procurement
• Influence mapping
• Beneficial ownership data

However, this list is not exhaustive! There are many other issue areas that are related to the influence of money in politics. The motivation behind collecting case stories is that they can help course participants understand, in very concrete and practical ways, how to use technology effectively and how to persevere (and even thrive) in the face of common challenges. We are particularly interested in case studies from the global South.

Unfortunately, NDI does not currently have funding to support content development -- all of the organizations involved are contributing material on a volunteer basis. However, they are happy to provide production and editing support wherever possible (and I can help facilitate this help).

I hope that you'll consider putting together a few slides on your project and that this might extend the reach of your project to a broader audience. Please contact me if you're interested in getting involved!

Best,

Lindsay

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Lindsay Ferris
International Policy Associate | Sunlight Foundation
202.742.1520 (w) | 703.945.3659 (m)