Netgain Challenge

We have a huge opportunity to turn individuals' and communities' political ideas into open, structured public data. So much everyday political time and energy is spent on closed social media services, such as Facebook and Twitter, and on commercial petition platforms that don't enable real peer-to-peer organizing. An alternative model is 311, the open protocol for reporting place-based issues to government entities towards a resolution and public sharing. Services such as SeeClickFix have justifiably become popular in civic tech for connecting residents and closing the feedback loop with local government. This model can exist for other human interactions with governments - not just potholes, but public priorities. An expanded "X11" open data standard for political information can carry more ideas into government systems: petition signatures, questions, volunteer offers, expertise, feelings - even hashtag activism on Facebook & Twitter, bringing solidarity into networked public sphere.