The Governance Lab at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering has called on Congress to use its new CrowdLaw for Congress platform to promote citizen engagement and participation in the federal lawmaking process.
In support of CrowdLaw for Congress, Professor Beth Simone Noveck, who is the director of the Governance Lab, appeared before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee last week, announcing its launch and advocating for its usage. CrowdLaw as a concept means tapping public expertise to improve the quality and effectiveness of the legislative process. CrowdLaw is a complex concept, but it has been used with growing frequency worldwide. The exact uses vary, but what it means is using tech to collect public input, giving government insights to how constituents feel that ideally has more validity than traditional polling.
A key part of CrowdLaw for Congress is sharing successful examples of its usage from other countries such as the U.K., Spain, and Chile with the U.S. Congress, aiming to make its use common here as well.
“CrowdLaw for Congress is a groundbreaking attempt to champion the movement toward more modern, valid and constructive methods of law and policymaking,” Noveck said in a statement. “By publishing this curated set of complementary case studies and interviews, we aim to reach lawmakers, practitioners, researchers, academics and the general public, and urge them to push for CrowdLaw methods to be fully institutionalized here in the United States and around the world.”
Source: https://www.govtech.com/civic/Whats-New-in-Civic-Tech-Oklahoma-City-Seeks-First-Innovation-Officer.html