March 28, 2024

Hackathon Will Highlight Tech in Gov’t

Hoyer Earns High Score From LCV

Posted for Congressman Steny Hoyer

Making government more efficient, effective, and transparent is the focus of the Second Congressional Hackathon, co-hosted by House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (Md.-5) and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.-23), from 10 am to 5 pm Friday, Oct. 23, 2015, in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.

A bipartisan group of Members of Congress, civic hackers, Congressional staff, open government and transparency advocates, Legislative Branch agency staff, and developers from digital companies will come together to explore the role of digital platforms in the legislative process. The event will highlight topics that range from data transparency, public correspondence, constituent services, committee hearings, social media, and the broader legislative process.

Whip Hoyer said he looks forward to co-hosting the event.

“Digital technologies continue to transform Americans’ lives at an ever-increasing rate. … Hackathons are a great way to bring together a diverse group of experts to rethink how we can best take advantage of these exciting new digital technologies,” Whip Hoyer said. “I was proud to co-host our first Hackathon in the Capitol several years ago which was instrumental in helping jumpstart that effort across the Legislative Branch, and I am pleased to do it again with the help of so many civic-minded participants.”

Leader McCarthy said Congress need to bring the nation’s legislative institutions up-to-date, and the Hackathon is an ideal way to move that process along.

“Over the past few decades, new technologies have generated exponential changes in how organizations function across most sectors of our economy, yet government has failed to keep pace with those changes,”

Leader McCarthy said. “Software developers, designers and program engineers have a unique opportunity to restore the public’s trust in their nation’s legislative processes. I am very excited to bring people together to work towards these goals.”

Rep. McCarthy and Rep. Hoyer will offer brief remarks at the beginning of the event. The first hour will also include updates on the digital and data efforts with the Legislative Branch. The participants can then break into groups to brainstorm and explore new ideas on how to leverage technology to improve and open the legislative branch. Group topics will likely include legislative workflow and data, constituent casework and services, constituent communication and engagement, and modernizing congressional hearings. Participants are encouraged to brainstorm new ideas in these areas in advance of the event, including reviewing previous suggestion lists from the Open Gov Foundation and the Congressional Data Coalition. All participants will reconvene for the final hour to hear recommendations and ideas from each group.

This event is open to the public, but all participants are required to register in advance.

The first official Congressional Hackathon in the U.S. Capitol was hosted by then-Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) in December 2011. Many of the ideas that were developed during that event have since been adopted by Congress. Find a detailed recap of that event, including in-depth descriptions of the resulting ideas in the 2011 Congressional Hackathon Report Building On Bipartisan Digital Innovation Effort.

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