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PresidentObama on GitHub

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Re: PresidentObama on GitHub

#31

Post by toomuchtodo »

alfiedotwtf wrote: post #17
toomuchtodo wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The average citizen can use Twitter, which has been pivotal in recent revolutions. The Github/git process and format brings something that is crucial to the political process we've been missing: transparency.

And to add, it would be cool to put them in a repo when introduced, see history of where they are amended and by who, and then after they are passed see links beside each passage every time they are referenced in court.

Also, have the entire thing versioned/archived into the Internet Archive.

Re: PresidentObama on GitHub

#32

Post by jsprogrammer »

johnnyg wrote: post #27
j2kun wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you explain why? It seems like just as strange a technological barrier (for the average citizen) as the current process of proposing a law.

I'll try. I think the founders got an impressive amount of the "free and open nation" concepts right. I think the Sears and Roebuck Catalog was an effective tool in its time. I would rather order from an online store than the Sears and Roebuck Catalog. It'll be faster, more responsive, more transparent experience. The store owners intend it and the internet as a medium allows it to a greater extent than was previousl…

I think you're on the right track, but it's a bit more complicated than just 'moving to github'.

For example, majority voting isn't always the best solution to every problem. Should court cases be decided like a reddit link where most people don't read the content, or the highest comment is a stupid pun?

I have no doubt that our institutions need to be updated and/or replaced, but it will likely have to be done piecemeal to minimize negative disruptions.

There are a lot of (technical) problems that will need to be solved to support such a system.

Don't forget that you'll need to convince everyone else in the country to switch to the new system.

Re: PresidentObama on GitHub

#33

Post by jsprogrammer »

oscargrouch wrote: post #22
pmalynin wrote: post #5

It'd be interesting to see a system where a government had a GitHub and people could submit laws as pull-requests

And if you think that we (coders) use it to control a source code, that will be turned into a program, or platform.. Now, if the "source code" is projects, laws, discussions, and once this process reach some goal, this could be "compiled" and the resulting platform would be a full State managed in digital form.. Now imagine all this together with automation, the compiled platform (which is "The State") can launch giv…

Yeah, let's please not automate the cops, or anything with a weapon.

Re: PresidentObama on GitHub

#36

Post by pan69 »

jey wrote: post #26
Everlag wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm almost certain that's a bot. See https://github.com/sunlightlabs/us-laws/issues/135

And it reveals a complete misunderstanding/misuse of GitHub Issues: the issue is filed after the law has been passed and signed into effect, so the issue is "opened" only after we would have closed the issue, and it appears that it will never get closed.

Sorry, I don't understand what you're saying, are you implying that once a feature (law) has been pushed into production (signed off) there can be no issues filed against such feature?

Re: PresidentObama on GitHub

#37

Post by skndr »

pan69 wrote: post #36
jey wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it reveals a complete misunderstanding/misuse of GitHub Issues: the issue is filed after the law has been passed and signed into effect, so the issue is "opened" only after we would have closed the issue, and it appears that it will never get closed.

Sorry, I don't understand what you're saying, are you implying that once a feature (law) has been pushed into production (signed off) there can be no issues filed against such feature?

For this analogy, a bill should actually be a pull request and a signed law is a merged request. I think the problem is that an 'issue' should be a proposal, a bug report, etc. In this case, none of the 'issues' being created are intended to be closed.

Re: PresidentObama on GitHub

#39

Post by apendleton »

jey wrote: post #26
Everlag wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm almost certain that's a bot. See https://github.com/sunlightlabs/us-laws/issues/135

And it reveals a complete misunderstanding/misuse of GitHub Issues: the issue is filed after the law has been passed and signed into effect, so the issue is "opened" only after we would have closed the issue, and it appears that it will never get closed.

Sunlighter here (though this isn't my project). This was mostly done to test our IFTTT channel (https://ifttt.com/sunlightfoundation), so I think we were limited in terms of what actions we could trigger. We've talked about doing a non-IFTTT version that would extend the metaphor way further, but haven't (yet) actually made it happen.

Re: PresidentObama on GitHub

#40

Post by clamprecht »

nfoz wrote: post #13
clamprecht wrote: post #10

I can't wait for the day when the president actually has a github account before entering politics.

Why?

In general I want more politicians to be engineers or math/science types. Right now they're 95% lawyers, so they don't really represent the rest of society. I'm an engineer-type so I want to be better represented, I guess.

I think it could happen. If Aaron Swartz had lived, I think he may have eventually run for office. We still have some in the HN community who could enter politics.

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