Jaquith and Kraft: San Francisco Decoded Influences a Proposed Change in the Law

San Francisco Decoded — the free-access-to-law and eparticipation service created by the OpenGov Foundation, led by Seamus Kraft, using The State Decoded free-access-to-law and eparticipation software developed by Waldo Jaquith — has directly influenced a proposed recent change to a San Francisco law, according to recent articles at SFGate and ABC13.

In recent months, San Francisco, California residents have used San Francisco Decoded to read and make online comments about an ordinance regulating certain garages.

One provision of the ordinance prohibits anything except automobiles from being stored in certain garages. Residents used San Francisco Decoded‘s comment function to complain about the provision.

Waldo Jaquith tells us that San Francisco Decoded uses Disqus comment software, which is built into The State Decoded software.

The residents’ comments about the ordinance led a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Mark Farrell, last week to propose a change in the ordinance, to permit bicycles and other things to be stored in garages. A video shows him expressly identifying San Francisco Decoded and the comments posted there as the basis for his proposal.

These events seem to exemplify an increased citizen engagement with the law and an increased responsiveness of government that San Francisco Decoded and The State Decoded were intended to encourage, according to San Francisco Decoded’s “About” page and Waldo Jaquith’s statements about his vision for The State Decoded.

Click here for previous posts about The State Decoded.

Click here for previous posts about the work of the OpenGov Foundation.

HT @FoundOpenGov and @StateDecoded

Filed under: Applications, Case studies, Technology developments, Technology tools Tagged: Citizens online legal communication, Citizens' legal communication, Citizens' participation in lawmaking, Effects of eparticipation, Effects of eparticipation systems, Effects of free access to law, eparticipation, Free access to law, Legislative information systems, Mark Farrell, Online legal communication, Public access to legal information, Public access to legislation, San Francisco Decoded, Seamus Kraft, State Decoded, The State Decoded, Waldo Jaquith



via Legal Informatics Blog http://legalinformatics.wordpress.com/2014/01/14/jaquith-and-kraft-san-francisco-decoded-influences-a-proposed-change-in-the-law/