A Senator in the Colorado State Assembly has taken an important first step forward on making the internet not just a place for political chatter, but as a place where we can lend our expertise to actually shape policy.
Colorado State Senator Chris Romer (D-Denver) has launched:
http://groups.google.com/...
A Google group where he is asking people to draw on the collective intelligence of the web to shape a Colorado plan for easing weekend congestion on Interstate 70.
Sen. Romer is breaking some great ground here, and I only wish he had come to the internet first for ideas on how to best navigate the waters of sock-puppets, trolls, recommends and peer review, so that our collective knowledge could have helped him to better seek our comment.
But this is nonetheless a great chance to help prove this pilot concept and perhaps create a new avenue for real experts to be heard above the paid lobbyists. It won't take long for the traditional players to try to come in and astro-turf this project, so lets get the word out and bring in enough valid voices so that they can be heard before the door is closed.