This needs to be integrated with EveryBlock like yesterday. Have you talked with Adrian recently?
Also, this would be helpful not just for electeds, but for candidates - if I was in the IL-5 district, I would like to see information for all the people running all in one place.
[EDIT] More feedback from a campaign manager of one of the IL-5 campaigns and a clerk at the Seventh Circuit, who presumably know what they're talking about:
A step up from Civic Footprint
Links to ISBE and FEC disclosure
It needs to do intersections
It would also be nice, given that neighborhoods are a little ill-defined, if it gave you an easy way to click over to an adjacent neighborhood. If you type Lakeview, you get Tom Tunney's ward here. If you live next to Lakeview High, however, you're in what they define as Ravenswood, and you're Gene Schulter's ward
[EDIT TWO]
RepSheet lets you...
• look up your elected representatives...
• see the political zones you live in...
• and track news about your reps.
political zones?
Everyblock - What are you envisioning? One of the things that people like about RepSheet in testing so far is how simple it is. It's like a single-serving site. Everyblock doesn't really do anything with elected officials. It's a different slice at local. They show you what's been published near you, we're showing you the politics are your address...
During research, we found lots of political lookup tools. We noticed a few things:
1. They gave you A LOT of data. More data than the average joe could digest or ever care about. I'm bored to tears by most local political stories I read...and I've written and edited a few of them as a reporter. We want to make it super easy to get into your local politics without overwhleming the user.
2. They had names that situate them as targeting "people who really really care about local politics" RepSheet alludes to the fact that politicos are all crooks. It's kind of silly, but it shows that we're not aiming for political zealots, non-profits and academics as our audience. We want to make something for the average joe who wants to see who's representing him and then suck on an RSS feed or daily e-mail with updates of their activities.
3. Their lookup tools were 5-6 step processes that require you to input your address, state, zip...all separately.
So we want this to be dead simple. Fast and only give you the information you really want. I think there's a sweet spot somewhere between what we're offering now and what other lookup tools have.
My thinking was like this: Microlocal + Geodjango = perfect for Everyblock. I thought it's a great fit since they don't do it now, but this would be a great complement.
(Personally, I really don't think people are going to go to 18 different places for crime info (EveryBlock), politics (RepSheet), delivery (GrubHub), and so on. Someone's going to integrate it all and create a billion dollar business. Note that all three of those are here in Chicago. Hint, hint.)
Well, if it's going to be an RSS feed, let me choose 1) my language (I get a lot of Spanish for my 'hood) and 2) my sources - I want the Reader, S-T, and Trib only, for example. I got the Biloxi Sun-Herald in the list for my address.
Yeah, I used to use vote-smart, which forced me to find my zip+4, which was just completely a huge PITA. But the intersections and neighborhoods is a good idea.
I hear you on 18 different services. I would say though...that a generic "everything" service is...generic.
And isn't google already kind of the generic everything service? if I want public records they send me to everyblock. If I want food, they send me to grubhub?
Yeah newsfeed will get a lot better. The language issue is an interesting one.
Also, this would be helpful not just for electeds, but for candidates - if I was in the IL-5 district, I would like to see information for all the people running all in one place.
[EDIT] More feedback from a campaign manager of one of the IL-5 campaigns and a clerk at the Seventh Circuit, who presumably know what they're talking about:
A step up from Civic Footprint
Links to ISBE and FEC disclosure
It needs to do intersections
It would also be nice, given that neighborhoods are a little ill-defined, if it gave you an easy way to click over to an adjacent neighborhood. If you type Lakeview, you get Tom Tunney's ward here. If you live next to Lakeview High, however, you're in what they define as Ravenswood, and you're Gene Schulter's ward
[EDIT TWO]
RepSheet lets you... • look up your elected representatives... • see the political zones you live in... • and track news about your reps. political zones?
Needs county board badly