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Components

Technologies to Tame the Budget

The information that defines our society has reached an unmanageable level of complexity.  Imagine searching today’s Internet with tools from the 1970’s: a professional could do it but anyone else would be lost. In the same way that Web browsers opened the Internet to everyone, the appropriate tools could give everyone the ability to understand and contribute to the federal budget process.

These tools are outlined here. The first target for this tool-set will be the U.S. Federal Budget.

Data

The data we need exists in the public domain: The federal budget, lists of relevant committees and committee members and information about lobbyists and donations.

To use this data we will import it out of its current, bulky, formats, break it into discrete pieces or “fragments”, and store these in our database. These information fragments provide the starting point and a framework for community-generated content. This content can then be used to guide policy.

The database and its schema will be managed under version control, giving us the safety to change the database and to roll-back to previous versions as needed.

The schema, and a public database API, will be documented and disseminated to encourage other organizations and developers to use our database as their platform.

The database will be media aware, allowing users to embed audio, video, and other forms of documentation.

All information in the database -- the fragments, commentary, associations between entries, and user identities -- will be taggable and able to be rated along multiple dimensions by the community.

Identity

Like other online information systems, our tools will have a login interface and provide social networking features. Unlike other systems, our identities will allow hierarchical associations, such as when a corporation recognizes a subset of individuals as representatives of its official voice.

You can aggregate your federation of identities from compatible social networks, providing a common login.

An identity can have multiple aliases, such as when a person is speaking for an organization versus voicing a personal opinion, as an expert in a field, or anonymously.

Aliases share in the reputation of your core identity, giving even anonymous commentary accountability and authority.

Reputation

Everything created with our tool-set is linked to an identity. Users can tag and rate content, and this in turn reflects on the content's originating identity, creating a formal, numerical “reputation”. Your reputation is valuable; it reflects how people see you in the system, and it adds weight and context to everything you create.

Accountability borne from a persistent reputation gives an incentive to be thoughtful in your contributions.

Reputation rubs off; the reputation of the members of a group define the reputation of the group. People will judge you by your reputation and the reputation of the friends you keep.

Display and Navigation

The database will initially have a simple user interface to import data fragments, display them, create links between fragments, and add commentary. This interface may be similar to a Wiki or other hyper-linked content system. Specialized graphical interfaces will then provide more intuitive access for different use cases.