Two of the biggest annual Congressional + technology events are both happening this week. On Wednesday, the Library of Congress will host a public forum on Congress.gov, and Thursday is the Congressional Hackathon. All the details are below
PUBLIC FORUM ON CONGRESS.GOV
The fifth annual LC public forum on Congress.gov is scheduled for 1-3pm ET on Wednesday, Sept. 18.
Past meetings began with a presentation on updates to Congress.gov over the past year followed by a forum for Q&A, with opportunities to learn more about Congress.gov and suggest improvements and features. Many LC staff make themselves available and bring a wealth of knowledge. For background, see these summaries of meetings held in 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020. (I’d suggest skimming 2023 as a primer).
This is an interactive forum, and ideas and recommendations will be considered by LC staff and compiled into a report sent to appropriators.
In person RSVP: Mumford Room at the Madison Building (6th floor)
Hybrid RSVP: via Zoom
CONGRESSIONAL HACKATHON
The sixth bipartisan Congressional Hackathon is scheduled for 1-6pm ET on Thursday, Sept. 19th.
This is a great event to meet people from throughout the Legislative branch who are responsible for overseeing, building, maintaining, and innovating on the Legislative branch’s technology. Political and non-political staff will be present, as well members of civil society, journalists, representatives from the tech sector, and beyond.
The event will take place in the Capitol Visitor Center Auditorium. RSVP required. (There should be live video of the event as well, but I haven’t confirmed where you can access those feeds.)
It is not a typical hackathon, which is focused primarily on coding. In past events, the programming starts with welcome messages from political leaders, followed by lightning presentations from those who have asked to speak about what they’re building or proposals for improvements, and lastly break out sessions to work (either code or talk) about various issues facing the Legislative branch. Sometimes the hackathon will include updates on various technologies from the people who are building them. I summarized each hackathon here, going back to 2011.
As usual, the most important aspect of the hackathon is making connections with people you may not know, learning about what people are working on, and renewing old friendships.
