Do-it-yourself transparency: emerging methods of congressional information dissemination

Abstract

The landscape of government information dissemination is fundamentally changing. The United States Congress and other public sector organizations publish many records in digital format. In the digital era, it is not always the government providing free information to the general public. Other organizations are providing it on the Internet at no cost. The economics of digital information argues that information has high production costs but inexpensive reproduction costs. What are the consequences and what are the benefits of do-it-yourself transparency? The three panelists, a professor, a data journalist and an entrepreneur, each bring a different perspective to this aspect of the digital economy. The expert panel has extensive experience with Congressional legislative information. We anticipate a vivid conversation on the theory and practice of government information dissemination and contemporary Internet culture. This panel seeks to identify a new vision of government information policy that includes collaborations between independent publishers and the public sector.