Executive Summary

Congress can expand the impact and functioning of the full range of its work by recognizing the transformative power of simple technological reforms that can create an open, public and fully transparent institution. This in turn can create a civically empowered and meaningfully aware public and enable a connection between constituents and legislators that can deepen the national discourse.

To address the coming opportunities and challenges of an increasingly connected political environment, Congress should engage in an ongoing discourse with the public and commit to creating a truly transparent legislature.

The Open House Project—a collaborative online project of the Sunlight Foundation—has identified the following as providing opportunities for reform:

•Legislation Database—publish legislative data in structured formats

•Preserving Congressional Information—protect congressional information through archiving and distribution

•Congressional Committees—recognize committees as a public resource by making committee information available online

•Congressional Research Service—share non-partisan research beyond Congress

•Member Web-Use Restrictions—permit members to take full advantage of internet resources

•Citizen Journalism Access—grant House access to non-traditional journalists

•The Office of the Clerk of the House—serve as a source for digital disclosure information

•The Congressional Record—maintain the veracity of a historical document

•Congressional Video—create open video access to House proceedings

•Coordinating Web Standards—commit to technology reform as an administrative priority

Acknowledgments

This report is the direct result of a thoroughly collaborative effort by a broad coalition of participants from left and right with substantial backgrounds in media, government, information technology, blogging, and public policy. Each step of the report’s production has been open and participatory, from choosing topics through conversations on a list-serve, to researching House institutions and reforms through blog posts and a wiki, to authoring sections of the report with collaborative documents online.

Preparing the report with the input of an entire community has informed it with the perspectives of a diverse group of contributors. In addition to simply soliciting the input of experts and stakeholders from various fields, the project has brought together technological and institutional expertise, opening a space for vital discussions and collaboration. Through the Open House Project, relationships are developing between Web developers, government information experts, Congressional staff, non-profit organizers, and Representatives. By permitting disparate fields to inform each other in creating a community report, the Open House Project will affect the technological systems and products of the House, and also the organizational capacity of the greater transparency community.

This project seeks to empower the relationship of citizens and Congress. Its recommendations are just the first step in this process. The ongoing strength and impact of the project rely on continuing community participation — from members of Congress, congressional staff and citizens. The Open House Project welcomes feedback on its recommendations at theopenhouseproject.com .

Members of the Open House Project who specifically contributed to crafting these recommendations include David All, The David All Group; Robert Bluey, The Heritage Foundation; Paul Blumenthal, the Sunlight Foundation; James Jacobs, FreeGovInfo.org; Tim La Pira, the Center for Responsive Politics; Perla Ni, VoterWatch; Ari Schwartz, the Center for Democracy and Technology; Matt Stoller, MyDD.com; Josh Tauberer, GovTrack.us and John Wonderlich, the Sunlight Foundation.

A full list of contributors is on the Open House Project Web site at http://www.theopenhouseproject.com/about/ . We thank them for their time and dedication.

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