OpenGov Foundation

This article is about the foundation. For the unrelated company, see OpenGov.
The OpenGov Foundation
Founded June 2012[1]
Founder Seamus Kraft and Darrell Issa
Type 501(c)(3)
Focus Open source software development
Location
Area served
United States of America
Website OpenGovFoundation.org

The OpenGov Foundation is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that is working to build a 21st-century democracy by bridging the gap between citizens and government.. The organization conducts research, develops free and open source software, and helps governments put civic data such as laws and legislation online. It was co-founded by Congressman Darrell Issa and Seamus Kraft in 2012, and it is funded primarily by the Shuttleworth Foundation and the Knight Foundation. The organization is based in Washington, D.C.

The OpenGov Foundation grew out of the 2011-2012 protests against SOPA and PIPA. It received a $200,000 grant from the Knight Foundation in 2013, an additional $750,000 from Knight in 2014, and over $700,000 from the Shuttleworth Foundation since 2014.[2]

Projects

Madison

Madison is a government policy co-creation platform that opens up laws and legislation. Issa's congressional team launched Project Madison in December 2011 to support opposition to SOPA and PIPA in the U.S. Congress. A group of U.S. representatives and senators used Madison to develop alternative legislation, the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act.[3]

Fast Company described the Madison beta version as "a stripped-down interactive blogging platform, which allows citizens to select individual passages of legislation, and strike or add their own language, with comments for each suggestion. Citizens are encouraged to like or dislike each change, with the most popular suggestions rising to the top."[4]

Madison has since grown and been adopted by governments across the country and globe, including Washington, DC, the federal government of Mexico, and the United Nations. In February 2015, The White House used Madison to crowdsource its Public Participation Playbook.[5]

The State Decoded

The State Decoded is an open source platform that displays legal codes, court decisions, and information from legislative tracking services to make it all more understandable.[6] It was originally created by Waldo Jaquith for the Commonwealth of Virginia.[7] The OpenGov Foundation subsequently launched a version for the state of Maryland in May 2013[8] and followed with Baltimore, MD, launched with the Baltimore Mayor's Office in July 2013.[9] It has since launched in a total of eight city and state governments across the country, including San Francisco, Chicago, Florida, and Washington, DC.[10]

Hack4Congress

In early 2015, The OpenGov Foundation partnered with the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation to organize a series of civic hackathons across the country, dubbed "Hack4Congress." The events, held in Cambridge, San Francisco, and Washington, DC, drew hundreds of participants, including over a dozen Members of Congress, to build open source software prototypes to make Congress more efficient.[11]

Work in Maryland

The OpenGov Foundation has worked in Maryland and its largest municipality, Baltimore, to custom develop software and data sets that increase government transparency, help citizens participate in their state and city governments, and hold them accountable. The Baltimore Sun described OpenGov’s work as a "test case for trying to make state and local government more transparent and participatory using technology."[12]

The OpenGov Foundation's work in Maryland is funded by a grant awarded in 2013 by the Knight Foundation.[13]

Work in Chicago

In March 2015, The OpenGov Foundation partnered with the City of Chicago to launch ChicagoCode.org, a product of The State Decoded, to make the city's laws and regulations more accessible to citizens.[14]

Board

The OpenGov Foundation board of directors includes Congressman Darrell Issa, Executive Director Seamus Kraft, Lead Developer Chris Birk, City of Los Angeles Chief Technology Officer Abhi Nemani, Rackspace CEO Lanham Napier, former Virginia Congressman Tom Davis, and attorney James Lacy.[15]

Staff

The OpenGov Foundation team includes Executive Director Seamus Kraft, Chief of Operations Aaron Bartnick, Lead Developer Chris Birk, and Senior Developer Bill Hunt.[16]

References

  1. ↑ Stirland, Sarah Lai (11 June 2012). "Issa Launches The Open Gov Foundation". Tech President. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  2. ↑ Shueh, Jason (13 November 2014). "$750,000 Invested to Pioneer Open Lawmaking Tools for Citizens". Government Technology. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  3. ↑ Finley, Klint (21 October 2013). "Out in the Open: Hackers Bring Lawmaking Into the 21st Century". Wired. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  4. ↑ Ferenstein, Greg (19 December 2011). "Beyond SOPA: Rep. Darrell Issa's Big Plans for Digitizing Democracy". Fast Company. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  5. ↑ Zarek, Corinna (3 February 2015). "Announcing the U.S. Public Participation Playbook". White House Blog. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  6. ↑ Jaquith, Waldo. "The State Decoded Homepage". Waldo Jaquith. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  7. ↑ Slutz, Leili (7 May 2015). "Defragmenting Democracy". Civic Quarterly. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  8. ↑ Heller, Becca (9 May 2012). "Maryland legal code gets user-friendly online makeover". The Maryland Reporter. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  9. ↑ "City Of Baltimore And Opengov Foundation Launch BaltimoreCode.Org". City of Baltimore Government. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  10. ↑ Hunt, Bill. "America Decoded Homepage". Bill Hunt. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  11. ↑ Bowman, Bridgit (4 May 2015). "Congress Is for Hackers". Roll Call. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  12. ↑ "Opening Md. government: A new group's efforts to make state and local government more interactive and transparent are badly needed in Maryland". The Baltimore Sun. 18 August 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  13. ↑ "Communities can help write legislation with revamped Project Madison tool". The Knight Foundation. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  14. ↑ Grass, Michael (18 March 2015). "With Revamped Code Website, Chicago Tackles 'Ridiculous' Municipal Problem". Government Executive. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  15. ↑ "OpenGov Foundation | "About Us"". OpenGov Foundation. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  16. ↑ "OpenGov Foundation | "About Us"". OpenGov Foundation. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
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