Sample question to a public figure on the Twttr micropub. service, on AskThem.io. “If true, whoa.”
Ahhh tech-politics conference time again, my 11th consecutive PdF of 12, I believe my fifth time participating on a panel (grateful). Along w/ T-Camp (usually spring, unfort. relatively poor dining in D.C.) and CFA Summit (usually Fall, fortunately consistently amazing food in the Bay), this event is really a tentpole on the old #opengov conference circuit. We’ve been doing this a long time, guys – have we been having the impact we’d expect, given investment to date in commercial social change platforms?
Pleased to be on a PdF panel on Friday June 5th at 3:30 pm in Rm. 808, “Designing the Digital Legislature” (excellent), with great friendly crowd (I don’t foresee much awkwardness): leading #opengov NYC Council Member Ben Kallos, Emma Mulqueeny of Rewired State (UK), Seamus Kraft of Open Gov Foundation, and moderated by Melissa Sandgren of Yahoo!. More on that to come, but please come through, I’ll try to be scathingly entertaining.
Now – our free & open-source & open-data-driven AskThem works for crowdsourced Q&A with every U.S. elected official and any public figures with a verified Twttr account – such as some PdF speakers. (Verified accounts only, to keep this public-spirited, is the idea.)
From the AskThem homepage, click the button to Ask your own Question, and then click the button for “Their Twitter Name” to search by handle – it might take a second due to the nature of the ol’ Twttr API, you know. Hunh, there aren’t as many verified accounts as one might expect this year – my survey shows only six of approx. 100 speakers have Twttr accounts and are blue-check verified – which, props to Micah & Andrew & whole Civic Hall conference-coordinating team. Stellar curation as always, diversity & good under-the-radar figures.
Sign-on and share some questions to verified Twttr accounts at #PdF15, and feel free to ask your own, we’ll promote good Q’s on AskThem ::
Sally Kohn, CNN contributor and columnist for the Daily Beast: How can major tech companies better support the work of net neutrality activist organizations?
Hunh, P-Ruffini isn’t verified, how about that, even w/ 26k followers. It’s an unpredictable little system, our commercial micropublishing service!  In NYC, do @JeffSMerritt & CTO @minervatweet & @jessay286 want the verified features? They could probably dash off an email out to Market St. in SF, if so. Looking forward to their We-Government panel.
Cory Doctorow, writer & activist (and former Board member of our sibling non-profit PCF): “What arguments might prove effective in convincing more Americans to support digital privacy rights?”
Hunh, @NiNanjira isn’t verified? 19k. Neither is @NancyLublin at 12k or @birgittaj at 26k. Hey, @jessytolkan and I grew up in the same suburb & high school of the great city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, how about that. Nancy, you don’t want the verified features?
Derek Willis, NYT: “How can the open-data commons fund an open database of every U.S. elected official and candidate?”
Jonathan Capehart, WaPo: “What would ideally open up a legislative path forward for Fair Elections Now Act in the U.S. House?”
Verify @Superwuster! (If he wants, you know.) Coming next, another round of Q’s to  @SlaughterAM & @AlecJRoss and more, don’t mean to overlook anyone here. Contact anytime with questions & feedback on AskThem, david at ppolitics, also screaming into the void on Twttr about what’s possible for civic engagement. (Intro YT bit, shouts TV Carnage on the original find back in ’04 or so.)