An early rendition of what the next NYC Checkbook website might look like. Courtesy NYC Comptroller's Office
A New York City Transparency Project Will Open-Source a Look Inside the City's Checkbook
BY Nick Judd | Thursday, February 9 2012
The office of the New York City Comptroller has begun coding up a revamp to a site that already gives a comprehensive look, updated daily, at nearly every check issued by the city. For the first time, the city will also offer software developers direct, programmatic access to a comprehensive trove of information about New York's fiscal health. And within a few weeks after the updated site launches, city officials say, the source code will be released online under an open-source license. Several states and cities around the country have started releasing their check registers online. But the New York website, called Checkbook NYC and launched in 2010, is about to get a massive upgrade that promises a new level of access to information. A new version of the site expected to launch this year will grant access to detailed information about the contracts related to each individual payment, city vendors and the contracts they're working on, and how payments made to date stack up against each agency's budget. The site will also include information about incoming revenues and should also play host to a collection of audits, budget reports and other analysis produced by the network of entities responsible for poring over the city's finances. Read More
Overseas Vote Foundation Launches In-U.S. Voter Registration Service
BY Miranda Neubauer | Thursday, February 9 2012
The Overseas Vote Foundation is launching a new domestic voter registration and absentee ballot site in this election season that aims to make it easy for voters to fill out and access state-specific election forms.
OVF announced the new initiative, the U.S. Vote Foundation, at its summit at the end of January.
U.S. Vote allows the user to fill out a state-specific voter registration form online, which they can then download and send to their state's board of elections.
Read More"Power Politics in the Age of Google"
BY Nick Judd | Thursday, February 9 2012
TechPresident's editorial director, Micah Sifry, will be speaking this afternoon on a panel at Harvard University called "Power Politics in the Age of Google," alongside Susan Crawford, Nicco Mele, Elaine Kamarck and Alexis Ohanian. The panel will be moderated by Harvard Shorenstein Center Director Alex Jones, and will be live-streamed here. Read More
House Republicans Get a Jump on the Budget
BY Nick Judd | Thursday, February 9 2012
Via Politico's Mike Allen, the House Republicans are out with a video — this one attributed to Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy — getting the drop on President Barack Obama's next federal budget, expected Monday. Read More
First POST: Changes
BY Miranda Neubauer | Thursday, February 9 2012
From an update on the Stop Online Piracy Act to the escalating tension globally over privacy and free speech on the web, here's a robust look at what's happening in technology and politics right now. Read More
What Twitter Won't Tell You About the Election
BY Nick Judd | Wednesday, February 8 2012
A new study released on Tuesday by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press on Tuesday offers the opportunity to get real about what the political conversation on Twitter and Facebook can — or can't — tell you about the progression of the 2012 political campaign. Pew has found that even among users of Twitter and Facebook, a paltry percentage of people use social networks to get news about politics: Only 24 percent of Twitter users in the sample and 25 percent of Facebook users said they "sometimes" got campaign news through that network, while a full 40 percent of Twitter users in the sample and 46 percent of other social media users reported "never" getting campaign news through either Twitter or Facebook. Read More
Navigating New York's "Road Map for the Digital City," One Year In
BY Nick Judd | Wednesday, February 8 2012
In May 2011, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg revealed a "Road Map for the Digital City," a plan to use technology to make city government more and participatory, and to leverage the city's tech sector for economic and civic gains.
New York City Chief Digital Officer Rachel Sterne will join our editorial director, Micah Sifry, on a conference call this Friday afternoon to discuss the progress on that road map so far. The call is free and open to anyone to join. You can sign up here.
Read More
Michigan Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow is capitalizing on Republican challenger Pete Hoekstra's attack ad
Pete Hoekstra's Attack Ads Spur Campaign Donations For Senate Democratic Incumbent Debbie Stabenow
BY Sarah Lai Stirland | Wednesday, February 8 2012
Michigan's Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow and her re-election campaign team have managed to raise more than $88,000 online in the past few days off of the furor over her Republican challenger's controversial ... Read More
Commentary: Micah Altman on How Participatory Technology Is Changing Redistricting
BY Micah Altman | Wednesday, February 8 2012
Micah Altman, a principal investigator at the Public Mapping Project, responds to Nick Judd's article about the project's efforts to increase participation in redistricting around the country: "It's a good article, even if its titular conclusion, that we'll have to wait another 10 years for any of this to matter, is wrong." Well, then! Read on for more. Read More
First POST: Stats
BY Miranda Neubauer | Wednesday, February 8 2012
In today's First POST:
- Karen Handel's resignation from Susan G. Komen for the Cure isn't enough to quell controversy around Komen;
- In Britain, broadcasters push the judiciary to allow cameras in courts;
- The White House is hosting a live-streamed event today on innovation in global development.