Web mashups, political influence, and transparency


	Web mashups, political influence, and transparency

enbar

4-28-2007 12:52 AM

382 views

tags:

politics, web, 2.0, social, mashups, cool, via:del.icio.us, post:tumblr

enbar says:

Wired on the new enforced transparency in political influence-peddling generated by web mashups like MapLight.org and Congresspedia. Reminds me of the buzz around FundRace.org at the last election. Cool.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/61631ab6-7690-45f8-9aee-26271c2cdd61/F7DCEC0A-4537-4C7A-A1AA-524602687DA5/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2007/04/maplight" href="http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2007/04/maplight" style="font-size: 11px;">www.wired.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2007/04/maplight"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.wired.com/img/AD86EE20-05AC-4194-A051-58E271E331AE" alt="WIRED" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2007/04/maplight"><H1 id="articlehed">Web Mashups Turn Citizens Into Washington's Newest Watchdogs</H1></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2007/04/maplight"><DIV id="embed_wide">
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<A title="MapLight.org%27s+research+manager+Sean+Tanner+%28left%29+and+executive+director+Dan+Newman+in+the+nonprofit%27s+Berkeley%2C+California%2C+office." href="#"><IMG alt="MapLight.org%27s+research+manager+Sean+Tanner+%28left%29+and+executive+director+Dan+Newman+in+the+nonprofit%27s+Berkeley%2C+California%2C+office." src="http://www.wired.com/images/article/wide/2007/04/maplight_wide.jpg" /></A>
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                    <A title="MapLight.org%27s+research+manager+Sean+Tanner+%28left%29+and+executive+director+Dan+Newman+in+the+nonprofit%27s+Berkeley%2C+California%2C+office." href="#"><IMG src="http://www.wired.com/images/zoom.gif" /></A>
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                                    MapLight.org's research manager Sean Tanner (left) and executive director Dan Newman in the nonprofit's Berkeley, California, office.<BR /><EM>Photo: Courtesy of MapLight.org</EM>
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                    </DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2007/04/maplight"><P>
Tread carefully, politicians -- concerned citizens are watching your every move on the web. Their tools? Custom data mashups that use public databases to draw correlations between every vote cast and every dollar spent in Washington.
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2007/04/maplight"><P>
Take <A href="http://www.maplight.org/maplight/map/ca/2003/bill/17/history/vote-218">this report</A> about the widely debated and bitterly fought California SB217, which would have banned clear-cutting in ancient forests.
</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2007/04/maplight"><P>
Generated by the nonpartisan <A href="http://www.maplight.org">MapLight.org</A> website, the report clearly shows that the logging industry, which opposed the bill, gave nearly twice as much money to politicians as environmental groups did. The bill was defeated.
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These new tools are providing an unprecedented level of transparency, exposing patterns of influence that otherwise would have remained invisible to ordinary citizens.
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