Progressive Congress News is a policy oriented system that helps Congressional staff, busy activists, policy wonks, and interested citizens stay informed and work together on legislation.
The system, currently supported by nearly two dozen Progressive twitterati and blogosphere denizens, already has a rich set of features and it's going to expand dramatically in 2011. As this is brand new people are asking "How do I use it?"
Here are some answers to that question ...
I'm a blogger. What does PCN do for me?
The system provides a public interface in the form of the Progressive Congress News NetVibes dashboard. You can quickly see what is happening in Congress, you can drill down and find information to reference in your own blog posts, and we work hard to help bloggers fill that fourth estate role that mainstream media has abdicated.
I work for a think tank and we've got this report that could use broader readership ...
Excellent! Get a Twitter account, check the editors page for the area(s) that need to see your report, ping a few of the people listed, and they'll slip you into the daily paper.li. We're starting to see a cycle where think tank reports get passed around, then blog posts flow from them - the Progressive echo chamber is growing. We very much want to do more of this.
I'm organizing on Facebook and we need help understanding what to do next about issue X ...
Our editors are on top of issues and they not only stand for excellence in journalism, they want Progressive results. If you don't have time to fully dig into some complex matter you can pop up on Twitter, ask a couple of questions, and get pointed to just the right link for your specific need.
I'm worried about the direction the country is headed, but I'm way to busy to track all this stuff. What do I do?
You go to VisibleVote and you get their Facebook application, or you get their software for iPhone, Android, or Blackberry. We'll be helping Congressional offices use the polling and virtual town hall features this system provides. We'll go over pending legislation, we'll get information to bloggers and Facebook organizers, and we'll fill that role of the fourth estate. You'll be able to easily get as much information as you need to make decisions from a transparent system run by people you know.
This looks good, but I wish you would add feature Y so we can ...
While there are bloggers involved in Progressive Congress News it's not a blog, it's a workflow system. The people behind this are software developers, enterprise help desk operators, customer relations management (CRM) systems analysts, professional trainers, and telecommunications engineers. We love when people bring us interesting new data handling and customer service opportunities.
Is there a web site for this?
Nope. And no matter how many times people ask the answer isn't going to change. And there's no advertising except for what shows up in the paper.li broadsheets. Any PR firm can whip up an attractive web site in short order. Getting people engaged and organized is another matter entirely, and putting a stop to media based distractions is the first step in making that happen.
Previously ...
Legislative Situational Awareness With Progressive Congress News
And a companion piece for would-be Twitter adepts ...
Legislative Situational Awareness With TweetDeck
8 minute video presentation that explains how this stuff all works ...
Progressive Congress News presentation in Goldmail format.
