Legislative Diffs: Compare versions of the stimulus bills side-by-side

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Joseph Lorenzo Hall <joehall () gmail com>
Date: February 10, 2009 7:57:22 AM EST
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Legislative Diffs: Compare versions of the stimulus bills   
side-by-side

GovTrack.us has just catalyzed a phase transition in open government.

They've published a tool that allows comparing versions of federal
legislation side-by-side (essentially a very usable type of "diff").
The email below from GovTrack's Josh Tauberer shows off this feature
by using it to compare the two different versions of the bailout bill.
Very cool! best, Joe


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Josh Tauberer <tauberer () govtrack us>
Date: Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 7:07 AM
Subject: [openhouseproject] Compare H.R. 1 Versions Side-by-Side
To:



One of the concrete benefits of open government data is that third
parties can use the data to do something useful that no one in
government has the mandate, resources, or insight to do. If you think
what I am about to tell you below is cool, and helpful, then you are a
supporter of open government data.

On my site GovTrack, you can now find comparisons of the text of H.R. 1,
the stimulus bill, at different stages in its legislative life ---
including the House version (as passed) and the current Senate version
(amendment 570).

The main page on GovTrack for HR 1 is:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1

Here's a direct link to the comparison:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-1&version=as2&compareto=eh&view=side

Comparisons are possible between any two versions of the bill posted by
GPO. Comparisons are available for any bill.

If you find this useful, please take a moment to consider that something
like this is possible only when Congress takes data openness seriously.
When GPO went online and THOMAS was created in the early 90s, they chose
good data formats and access policies (mostly). But the work on open
government data didn't end 15 years ago. As "what's hot" shifts to video
and Twitter, the choices made today are going to impact whether or not
these sources of data empower us in the future, whether or not we miss
exciting opportunities such as having tools like the one above.

(Thanks to John Wonderlich and Peggy Garvin for some side discussion
about this before my post. GovTrack wasn't initially picking up the
latest Senate versions because GPO seems to have gone out of its way to
accommodate posting the latest versions before they were passed by the
Senate, which is great, but caught GovTrack by surprise.)

Josh Tauberer


--
Joseph Lorenzo Hall
ACCURATE Postdoctoral Research Associate
UC Berkeley School of Information
Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy
http://josephhall.org/




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