September 24, 2014      5:14 PM
Visco and Enriquez: Online engagement changing the landscape of Texas politics
Redefining the ways in which we communicate about public policy development, Glasshouse Policy introduces ‘Texan-sourced’ public policy think tank
The grassroots forces that
unseated Republican incumbents during this year’s primary elections didn’t
start at kitchen tables - they started online.
Communicating online is
inexpensive, there are few barriers to entry, and the tools that help us
identify and speak to our preferred audiences are startlingly precise. Texans get it, and they are using online
engagement tools to dramatically impact Texas politics.
We already know the
immense value of online engagement for electoral politics, but are there
opportunities to harness the intellectual capital of Texans communicating
online for the public policy making process?
We know there are.
Glasshouse
Policy is Texas’ first, fully
collaborative and crowd-sourced think tank. Our not-for-profit online platform
invites Texans to post policy-related ideas and comments. Those ideas and
comments will then be ranked by other Texans through an “up-vote” system.
For example, Glasshouse
Policy is currently hosting a discussion on fire prevention and fire control at
glasshousepolicy.org. If a fire expert
from Texas
A&M is stationed
at a remote facility in Big Bend, it might not be convenient for her to travel
10 hours to attend a committee hearing to share her expertise. At Glasshouse Policy, that fire expert can go
online, share her ideas, and help us rank other Texans’ fire-related policy
ideas.
Francisco
Enriquez and Thomas Visco are the co-founders of Glasshouse Policy. Their
complete column can be found in today’s R&D
Department.
By Thomas Visco and Francisco Enriquez
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