In normal tech circles we’d have a bunch of free software libraries and tools we build on together, but the campaign tech space doesn’t have this because decision makers fear our tools will be taken and used by the other side.
-
-
It might feel like a lot, but it really isn’t given how much this stuff costs to build. It’s why the app wasn’t well tested or scaled well. The team was a few enthusiastic recent code school grads and one experienced engineer. This was their side project they built to get funding
Show this thread -
There is no way they could succeed. The problem is structural, the way we’re funding campaign tech is wrong. We need it to be based on open source technology, we need a community of companies, parties, and third party groups funding it. It needs to have funding between cycles.
Show this thread -
There needs to be much more money in order to sustain things. The Obama and Clinton campaigns spent tens (maybe hundreds) of millions of dollars on tech but it was building tech which was mostly thrown away.
Show this thread -
We’ve got a few vendors that last between cycles, but all the techies who work on campaigns go back to normal startups.
Show this thread -
A couple days after Obama was re-elected the political staffers walked in to the tech floor of the Obama campaign HQ and wondered where everyone was. They’d all be laid off,
@harper had found them jobs in industry & everybody faded back in to tech companies.Show this thread -
From a staff of hundreds, a handful went to work at the White House or OFA, but for the most part that knowledge was all lost.
Show this thread -
We’re treating our campaign tech teams like we treat the field organizers, and it’s not working. It doesn't work for the field teams either, that's why they unionized.
Show this thread -
If we want to prevent disasters like the Iowa caucus app or the failure to do effective social media campaigning in 2016, we need to change the way we fund, build, and employ the campaign workers, techies included.
Show this thread -
What should have been done? The app shouldn’t have been built. This didn’t require an app. There are lots of ways to submit and verify vote counts without needing a custom app. At least they kept the paper backup. The sexy desire to have an app is something we should avoid.
Show this thread -
Focus on the problem, not the solution of an app which sounds cool. The Iowa Democratic Party shouldn’t have asked for an app. The media shouldn’t have hailed it as futuristic, we shouldn’t demand immediate electoral results, and shadow shouldn’t have tried to build it.
Show this thread -
You could have done a system with google docs and having multiple people send in pictures of the tallies at each polling place. Or any number of other solutions which requires less software. There’s a whole field of lean startups dedicated to solving the problem with less code.
Show this thread -
Folks like
@mattblaze and@EdFelten, and many others have documented why digital voting systems are a broken concept. There is is no way to do it securely. Use paper, use people, verify, audit, make it transparent to all the campaigns. Force the media to wait for results.Show this thread -
I feel i should make sure the record is set. ActionKit wasn't going under when they joined
@NGPVAN, rather they thought it would be better to have both under the same roof to connect the electoral and advocacy campaigns.Show this thread -
Groups like
@ControlShiftLab &@TheActionNet make enough money to sustain themselves independently through their users paying subscriptions. They're working on new products and features. I just wish they had triple budget for the dev and design teams. We could do SO much more.Show this thread -
We had a booth about open source advocacy and activism tech at the 2017 Netroots Nation. We gathered together a few projects between http://affinity.works and
@jlev but we definitely were the odd kids out.pic.twitter.com/iAf82iogTb
Show this thread -
If you want to look at groups who are providing the tech skills and people to campaigns, check out what
@kategage is doing with http://lab736.com . The truism is that it's always a people problem. You solve that with people... well and money and technology. ;-DShow this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.