FYI, gang:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ellen Miller <info@...>
Date: Mar 5, 2007 9:16 AM
Subject: Announcing A Sunshine Week Mashup Contest
To: "jtjohnson555@..." <jtjohnson555@...>

Dear Sunlighters,

To celebrate Sunshine Week (March 11-17th) a week celebrating open
government we are hosting a contest. We are offering a $2,000 prize for the
best "Web 2.0
Mashup"<http://sunlightfoundation.cmail1.com/.aspx/l/153448/81970403/www.sunligh\
tfoundation.com/mashup>that
displays information about Congress.

What is a mashup? A mashup is a website or web application that combines
content from more than one source.

You've probably seen a mashup even if you don't realize it. Look at
this
one<http://sunlightfoundation.cmail1.com/.aspx/l/153448/81970403/sunlightlabs.co\
m/earmarks/>that
our Sunlight Labs made last year, taking an excel spreadsheet of
earmarks in the Labor, Health and Human Service bill and mashing them onto
Google maps so that people could locate earmarks designated for their zip
code.

Hundreds of citizens used that mashup to learn more about earmarking in
Congress.

I hope this contest will inspire some of you who visit Sunlight regularly,
especially creative coders, to find some basic information about Congress
and combine it with something else to make it eye-poppingly interesting. In
the process, you will help citizens understand more about Congress.

If you have friends who are masher-uppers, pass this on to them, and
encourage them to enter. We are not looking for something complicated --
simplicity is often the best transparency tool. Even if you or your friend
don't win the contest, the new sites or applications will be part of making
Congress more transparent, and we'll share them on our site.

The deadline for entries is April 15. Entries will be judged on their
creativity and their informativeness. We have a great group of judges in
Esther Dyson, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, and Craigslist creator Craig
Newmark.

Click here to learn more about how to submit your
entries<http://sunlightfoundation.cmail1.com/.aspx/l/153448/81970403/www.sunligh\
tfoundation.com/mashup>

You can send an email with questions to nthompson@...

Do note that entries should have been created in the last six months.

Sunshine
Week<http://sunlightfoundation.cmail1.com/.aspx/l/153448/81970403/www.sunshinewe\
ek.org/>(
http://www.sunshineweek.org/<http://sunlightfoundation.cmail1.com/.aspx/l/153448\
/81970403/www.sunshineweek.org/>)
is a national initiative, led by reporters and editors, to open a dialogue
about the importance of open government and freedom of information. This
year, we want technologists to join in, too. If you hear of other
interesting Sunshine Week initiatives, please let us know.

Thanks for your involvement,

Ellen Miller
Executive Director
Sunlight Foundation

This email was sent to jtjohnson555@.... You can
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--
==========================================
J. T. Johnson
Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA
www.analyticjournalism.com
505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h)
http://www.jtjohnson.com tom@...

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the
existing model obsolete."
-- Buckminster Fuller
==========================================


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