Technology Initiative

Between 2010 and 2013 the Texas Senate Committee on Business and Commerce under Senator John Carona, Chair:

  1. Identified distinct audiences for any hearing
  2. Developed a looping video introduction for legislative hearings
  3. Established a weblog (blog)
  4. Created the first state legislative committee mobile app in the country
  5. Made the app open source and posted the code on Sourceforge
  6. Debuted the use of live geospatial data in a legislative hearing
  7. Used Twitter to extend the reach of committee notices
  8. Created a hearing witness time-stamp with Twitter
  9. Accomplished an instant public feedback loop using Twitter
  10. Tested a subject-matter Wiki for consumer information and as a component of crowdsourced legislation
  11. Shared tips online for how to prepare testimony
  12. Made articles about committee business easily accessible via Pinterest
  13. Demonstrated the ability to make state data open using interactive maps
  14. Provided blog space and served as a model for other committees
  15. Gave users anonymous opt-in ability to emails
  16. Live-blogged hearings
  17. Achieved fully transparent (if a legislator sees it, you see it) hearings
  18. Included links to additional information in formal postings
  19. Conducted paperless hearings
  20. Included QR codes on publications
  21. Opened virtual storefronts
  22. Used Facebook to gauge interest in certain issues
  23. Included remote testimony in a hearing
  24. Developed a concept for a multiple-location interactive hearing
  25. Saved taxpayers thousands of dollars.

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