Future:Media:Change

I’ve been going app crazy since getting my first iPhone for Christmas.  (Don’t pretend you don’t know what I mean.)   I ran across a new app for democracy today and thought it was time to share some of my favorites so far. You’ll undoubtedly know of some great ones I’ve missed; that’s what the comments field is for (hint, hint).

Real Time Congress

Real Time Congress gives you access to real-time information about Congress: “the actions, meetings and documents that make up the legislative process.”  I found it through the Sunlight Foundation Blog, which  gives a pretty compelling reason “Why You Need to Download the Real Time Congress App for iPhone now“:

By pulling together RSS and XML feeds from the party policy committees, leadership offices, news outlets, bill texts and the alphabet soup of analysts (Think CBO, OMB, CRS et al.), the coders at the Labs have created a rich and valuable user experience for anyone who is interested in what is happening in Congress.

The app was made by the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit whose tagline is “Transparency in Government.”  This app goes a long way toward making that a reality.

MyGovernment

MyGovernment “allows users to investigate US government provided data (including legislator info, congressional bill/resolution info, US Govt. contract info), and gives the user the opportunity to contact a legislator about that data.”  Find a bill and get the full text of it and the name and contact information of the legislator who sponsored it.  You can browse for your Senator or Congressperson by state, or search for them by zip code or nickname — and get their contact information.   Click any legislator’s name and you’re given the opportunity to

• Call them
• Email them
• Send them a direct Twitter message
• Comment about them in the app’s community message boards

Visible Vote

Visible Vote, also available on FacebookFacebook and AndroidAndroid, “allows you to cast a virtual vote on the same measures that your representatives vote on—and then informs them of your position (via weekly fax). Visible Vote also monitors how often your Congressmen vote in alignment with you and the people they represent.”  The idea is that that weekly fax will serve as a sort of flash poll for legislators and persuade them to vote they way their app-toting constituents would.  Even if it’s ineffective in influencing elected officials, the app does provide a way for voters to gauge how well their representatives represent them.

Your Rights

Using information provided by the ACLU, Your Rights “addresses what rights you have when you are stopped, questioned, arrested, or searched by law enforcement officers [in the United States].” It provides clear answers to common questions like, “Do I have to answer questions asked by law enforcement officers?” and “What kind of law enforcement officers might try to question me?” Its information applies to citizens and non-citizens, and there is a special section about the rights of non-citizens.

Government News Readers

If you want to track the news out of a specific governmental agency, you may be interested in buying one of the 99¢ news reader apps from Splaysoft. They’ve made department-specific readers for everything from the FDA and DARPA to NATO and the UN.

Documents and Information

Finally, just because it’s useful to be informed about one’s country (and win arguments about it in bars), here are some additional free (and almost free) apps you might be interested in:

• The Declaration of Independence – The U.S. Declaration of Independence, with text, notes, and images of the document (Free)
• The Constitution – The U.S. Constitution, with reference notes for each section (Free)
• U.S. Historic Documents – “Over 200 of the most influential documents in U.S. history…you can search, annotate, bookmark, and even highlight words.”  (99¢)
• Top 100 Milestone Documents – 100 U.S. historically significant documents, each with “a summary, transcript, and the actual scanned images.”  Half as many documents and fewer bells and whistles than the one above, but it’s free.  (Free)
• U.S. States – Flags, capital and major cities, dimensions, area codes,  counties, economy, topography, population, and other facts about  each of the 50 states. (Free)