Better Connecting Elected Officials and Citizens with Web-based Technology

Samara has undertaken the first-ever systematic series of exit interviews with former Members of Parliament, publishing a series of reports based on them. 

 

Many of the MPs we spoke to had no systematic means of communicating with their constituents. While several MPs developed their own approaches, few used technology, and none shared their best practices with their peers.

 

For this reason, we are hosting a GovCamp workshop to brainstorm ways that elected representatives can use web-based technology to better manage constituent relations.

 

For instance, could an application be developed to allow an official’s staff to easily manage communications from constituents, and use these communications as a data set to effectively understand constituent priorities? What would such an application look like? How can it be made accessible for staff?

 

Samara’s interest is to make communication between constituents and elected officials more effective, to give tools to officials that enable them to better understand their constituents’ needs, to streamline the jobs of overworked constituency staff, and to improve constituent access to their representatives.

 

This workshop would be of particular interest to political staff, civil servants, and web-developers with an interest in data management and presentation.