A group of techies, political scientists and open government advocates are putting their heads together at a hackathon this weekend to develop new digital tools, policies and technologies to overcome the dysfunction gripping Congress.
"There are about 250 people from many walks of life and many disciplines here at Harvard Kennedy School to think through and hopefully start solving some of the biggest problems facing Congress — problems of access, problems of understandability, what my elected official or legislator is actually doing," said Seamus Kraft, executive director and co-founder of The OpenGov Foundation, which is holding the #Hack4Congress event with Harvard Kennedy School. "How can we use technology, design, data science, good old-fashioned American common sense (to help)?"
Maggie McKinley, one of the organizers and a fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School, said everyone has a stake in improving how Congress functions.
"Our country is facing a mess of big-picture problems, global warming, the deficit, the tax code, health care. Everyone from either side of the political spectrum has something big that they care about that Congress can't remedy or even talk about," she said. "We've seen some of the most dysfunctional congresses in recent history."
The two-day event that ends today is focusing on five problems: improving the lawmaking process, facilitating cross-partisan discussion, modernizing congressional participation, closing the representation and trust gaps and reforming campaign finance.
One solution, McKinley said, could be software that helps lawmakers work together across the aisle.
"Cross-partisan deliberation is a really interesting area that not a lot of people are working in. We talk a lot about how difficult it is for Congress to function in an era of hyper-partisanship," she said. "This solution looks at a platform in which discussion could get started that's civil and productive."
Kraft, a former congressional employee, said technology on Capitol Hill needs to catch up.
"We are literally running a country with the best technology that 1997 has to offer," he said.
One of the solutions he has in mind is a simple collaboration tool such as Google Docs that would let lawmakers and their staff work together, but take into account security and other federal government mandated concerns.
The groups that come up with winning solutions will be flown to Washington, D.C., in the spring to present their projects to lawmakers.
Jackie Lender, a junior at Harvard, won't be competing because her startup PolityPro is not focused on Congress, but she planned to jump in and help out on other people's projects. She said building new technology and tools for government is critical.
"I think government right now could benefit from a reinvigoration from the entrepreneurship sector," Lender said.
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