Technology

The folks at the Sunlight Foundation have launched a campaign to get senators to disclose campaign finances using Twitter. This is part of the movement to get greater transparency and accountability in Washington.

The idea is get senators to co-sponsor the right bill, and to defeat an amendment intended to kill this accountability effort. Looks like Sen. Pat Roberts (R), from Kansas, opposes it.

I've just Twittered Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.); please check it out and do your part, with my personal appreciation. Read more...

Hey, I'll be at the Gov 2.0 Summit as well as the Personal Democracy Forum. Anyway, this is also a big deal: Read more...

How could you not love this story out of Rome?

Apparently, Italians have taken up a papal call (released on YouTube, ironically) not to replace “virtual friendships with real human interaction” and have decided to give up texting for Lent. Traditionally, Catholics have given up something like sweets or alcohol for the 40 days preceding Easter, but this is definitely bringing the church into (or out of) the 21st century. Read more...

Hey, better to hear from someone who's been there rather than an amateur like me. It helps in a way that Candi Harrison has (happily) retired so she's free of constraints about what she can say. Here're her recommendations: Read more...

Hey, Jeff Jarvis brings to light a job ad:

• Develop a strategy and implementation plan for extending digital engagement across Government

• Work with communication, policy and delivery officials in Government departments to embed digital engagement in the day to day working of Government

• Work with Directors of Communication to ensure that digital media are included in the reporting of reaction to Government policy and initiatives

Read more...

Hey, this would be really good news; he's been doing amazing work for the city of Washington. His stuff uses ’net tech for local customer service, and we need that everywhere. (I've seen it firsthand, and it’s not easy to impress me that much.)

Here's more:

The Obama administration plans to announce it has appointed Vivek Kundra, the District of Columbia's chief technology officer, to take the top information technology post in the federal government, according to a source. Read more...

These guys have been working on networked campaigns and governance for a long time, and know how power flows in this country.

In a paper titled “Digital Government through Social Networks: A Natural Alliance?” they get real about how this could happen, focusing on real human political behavior.

This makes sense to me. Read more...

Never say never.

Madam Secretary — Hillary Clinton herself — who as head of the State Department is no longer permitted to engage in political activity on behalf of herself or anyone else, has a new entity online. While she had to close up her political action committee, Clinton allies have created a place where her supporters can gather and check up on Hillary.

Go to NoLimits.org, which will "keep you up to date with news about issues on which Hillary took a lead and we know you care so much about," Ann Lewis, the group's president, said in the announcement to an e-mail list of campaign supporters. Read more...

Barack Obama epitomizes a new spirit of service, to the country, to each other. His presidency, the day before Inauguration, Martin Luther King Day, is a national call to service. This combines traditional public service, including military and Peace Corps, with volunteerism, a sort of craigslist for service. That is, service is top-down and also grassroots.

If you're reading this, you get the idea. What's new is that the incipient administration is getting its act together on this. Read more...

President Obama is going to inherit the most daunting set of challenges since FDR. There are the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Israelis and Palestinians are engaged in a bloody confrontation. The global economy is in a shambles.

It's not a pretty picture, and it's not certain how he's going to tackle all of these issues. What is certain, however, is that he can't come up with all the answers himself, as much as people might think that he can. That's why he's making sincere efforts to engage the American people to be proactive and help him generate solutions: "I will open the doors of government and ask you to be involved in your own democracy again," he has declared. Read more...