Today Reps. Hoyer and McCarthy released more information on the upcoming Congressional Hackathon. Here is the press release. The Congressional Data Coalition will be hosting a happy hour afterward.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5) and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA-23) today announced details of the upcoming Second Congressional Hackathon that will take place next week on Friday, October 23, 2015 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
The event will bring together a bipartisan group of Members of Congress, Congressional staff, Legislative Branch agency staff, open government and transparency advocates, civic hackers, and developers from digital companies to explore the role of digital platforms in the legislative process. Discussions will range from data transparency, constituent services, public correspondence, social media, committee hearings and the broader legislative process.
Whip Hoyer stated, “I look forward to hosting the Second Congressional Hackathon with Leader McCarthy next week. Digital technologies continue to transform Americans’ lives at an ever-increasing rate. It is imperative that government leaders take advantage of new advances to make government at all levels more efficient, effective, and transparent. Hackathons are a great way to bring together a diverse group of experts to rethink how we can best take advantage of these exciting new digital technologies. I was proud to co-host our first Hackathon in the Capitol several years ago which was instrumental in helping jumpstart that effort across the Legislative Branch, and I am pleased to do it again with the help of so many civic-minded participants.”
Leader McCarthy stated, “We need to modernize our nation’s legislative institutions. Over the past few decades, new technologies have generated exponential changes in how organizations function across most sectors of our economy, yet government has failed to keep pace with those changes. Software developers, designers and program engineers have a unique opportunity to restore the public’s trust in their nation’s legislative processes. I am very excited to bring people together to work towards these goals.”
SECOND CONGRESSIONAL HACKATHON DETAILS
Hosts: Majority Leader McCarthy and Democratic Whip Hoyer
Location: United States Capitol
Date: October 23, 2015
Time: 10am – 5pm
The first hour will include brief remarks from Leader McCarthy, Whip Hoyer, and updates on the digital and data efforts within the Legislative Branch. Participants will then be invited to break into different groups to actively brainstorm and explore new ideas on how to leverage technology to improve and open the legislative branch. Group topics will likely include legislative workflow and data, constituent casework and services, constituent communication and engagement, and modernizing congressional hearings. Participants are encouraged to brainstorm new ideas in these areas in advance of the event, including reviewing previous suggestion lists from the Open Gov Foundation and the Congressional Data Coalition. All participants will reconvene for the final hour to hear recommendations and ideas from each group.
This event is open to the public, but all participants are required toregister in advance.
The first official Congressional Hackathon in the U.S. Capitol was hosted by then-Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) in December 2011. Many of the ideas that were developed during that event have since been adopted by Congress. Find a detailed recap of that event, including in-depth descriptions of the resulting ideas in the 2011 Congressional Hackathon Report Building On Bipartisan Digital Innovation Effort.
