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carrick.baugh
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carrick.baugh
Member since : May-23-2009 (Verified)
4 Ideas, 61 Comments, 112 Votes
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User Activity Stream
Ideas Posted
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We pay for it.
We pay to execute people, and it is done in our name.
Should the State shield taxpayers from it?
This is not a question about whether capital punishment right or wrong. Rather, if we have it, should we be kept from seeing it?
We're talking about bringing the actions of the State into the light... this is certainly something that is kept from us.
Obviously, serious provisions would be made for guarding children from seeing it.
[Keep this in mind -- When an executed prisoner's body is autopsied, the cause of death is listed as "Homicide." As funders of the State, our hand, by extension, is at work when that life is terminated. If we choose to look away, that's our choice. If the State prevents us from seeing it, they make that choice for us. Should the State be allowed to prevent us from seeing the full extent of the actions it commits in our name, with our resources?]
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The 'thumbs up/thumbs down' vote is helpful, as are the comment fields.
However, some ideas don't really fall under the umbrella of "open goverment" -- some relate to the private sector, some speak to non-relevant legislation, some are vague suggestions, and others are simply rants. These clutter the forum and deter user participation.
Rather than censor/remove these, or allow them to distort the statistics that reveal support, create a third option -- a "? - Not really an open govt idea" option below the 'thumbs down.'
An idea with more than ten votes, of which a certain percentage are "?" selections, can be bumped off of the main 'ideas listing' and placed into a separate category, or simply moved to the end of the listing. As is, its impossible to know whether negative votes demonstrate a lack of support, or the belief that the "idea" just doesn't fall under the umbrella of open government.
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The Columbia Schools of Journalism already keeps a listing of print and broadcast media, and its ownership status. Expand this to include Internet sources, and allow users to track and record their 'consumption habits.' Users can then see if 80% of their news and information is coming from the same parent company, what percentage of their information comes from big media companies and how much is smaller-scale or independent journalism/media.
Using existing data from broadcasters, users can select the programs they watch (NBC Nightly News, NPR Fresh Air, Bill O'Reilly, Democracy Now, Daily Show) and read (Drudge Report, The Daily Beast, Financial Times, Washington Post), and be provided with a pie charts and graphs illustrating the ownership and diversity of the sources that inform their opinions.
This would be a pretty simple idea to execute, and might be done by simply working with Columbia to expand their current project. It would be ideal to host it on an expanded Fed, State and Local OpenCongress-style Sunlight Foundation page, where users can come to learn about and influence their government. An extremely cheap and easily developed tool, with great benefits.
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Several websites and organizations compile information about the security (or lack there of) of Fed, state, & local elections laws & protocols -- chain of custody, ballot access, voter registration security. This info is spread out, and often so specific that it is only accessed by and decipherable to "elections buffs." The constituents most in need of secure elections, and most capable of forcing their representatives to amend current practices, are left without a large but decipherable body of information, as well as user-friendly tools to that assist them in their efforts at increasing elections security.
Rather than attempt to legislate costly top-down change (which VP Biden has opposed), create some type of framework into which volunteers (or elections officials) can dump/fill in data that visually illustrates the ballot chain of custody -- from Constitutional guarantee of their right to vote, to ballot printing, to vote counting procedure and machine software security, to recount procedures, final storage and eventual disposal.
An interactive time line-like illustration of the chain of custody would be ideal. Users can consult elections law to "fill out" the chain, with discussion forum threads accompany each step. Users can discuss/debate the best options and rate the vulnerability of their vote at that stage in the elections process -- a color-grade scale (yellow to red, to illustrate areas of greatest need and concern.) Threads will be cross-referenced to similar topics/issues in other localities, so that, for instance, Palm Beach County Florida users can investigate and discuss the cheapest and most secure non re-sealable adhesive ballot seals, with Orange County California users faced with the same problem. The tool can similarly be utilized by municipalities to assist each other -- once an open debate and investigation has identified the most secure and cost efficient option, Palm Beach and Orange County might combine their purchases to reduce costs.
The tool can become a great classroom civics project for students, where the class will dedicate itself to learning the necessity and means of maintaining secure elections, while getting hands-on experience working with their local government as pro-active civic participants (even if it does entail something as simple as researching adhesive stickers.) Students will learn to investigate a problem, find a solution, and how to present it to an elected official so that its value is undeniable, and their efforts deliver real world results.
This online tool would be best served by hosting it at the Sunlight Foundation's OpenCongress website, which already has an audience of involved citizens. Because the website is heavily user-driven, once the coding is written, the website/tool and the community using it, will largely take care of itself -- this is a very small investment with a very large return.
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