Fireside21

We got a great plug from the Politico today about Fireside21 and our services:

The name is a modern twist on President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fireside radio programs of the 1940s, Fireside 21 CEO Ken Ward told Suite Talk.

“Barack Obama has used the term ‘fireside chats’ a lot recently, which is good for us,” Ward said. “What we’re doing is linking lawmakers to their constituents using the most cutting-edge technology.”

In particular, Fireside 21 — which designs congressional websites, among other things — uses its unique Constituent Relationship Management System to digitally organize the sometimes overwhelming amount of correspondence handled by congressional offices.

From Politico’s Suite Talk.

I was surprised not to have heard about this before, so be sure to read Election E-Mails Can End Your Term in the Office.

Here’s an excerpt:

Today, of course, political messages, campaign solicitations, cartoons and satire whiz across the country via e-mail. Federal employees cannot control what pops into their e-mail inbox. However, forwarding an e-mail that urges a vote for a specific candidate or seeks to raise campaign money is a Hatch Act violation if done inside a federal building, the OSC has determined.

An article in today’s Roll Call highlights progress being made in revising House rules that hinder web site functionality. I’m glad to hear that these discussions are finally happening and hopefully new recommendations will be implemented soon.

In particular, members of the franking commission who met this week discussed options that would allow YouTube videos to be compliant with the rules:

The commission has asked the House Administration Committee to develop a policy that allows Members to post videos on an outside Web site that “meets requirements which ensure the integrity of the House,” according to an e-mail from commission Chairman Mike Capuano’s (D-Mass.) spokeswoman, Alison Mills.

“It’s a good first step,” said Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who is a member of the commission. McCarthy first brought the issue to the commission a year ago, after revamping his Web site and realizing he couldn’t post YouTube videos.

Still, McCarthy said he hopes the commission eventually finds a longer-lasting solution. With new technology and new Web sites popping up every day, the commission should recommend rules that would allow Members to keep up with their constituents, he said.

As the article mentions, there is widespread disregard for the current rules. The fact remains that most of the rules regarding web site and email communication are derived from decades-old language drafted to regulate franked mail and other physical advertising.

The YouTube example is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how these regulations don’t make much sense.

Just a couple of clips that recently caught my attention…

Don’t let the headline, Political bloggers reach is limited, fool you. The impact of blogs is growing and the internet is becoming the main source of political news.

In a January poll conducted online by Harris Interactive, only 22 percent said they read political blogs “regularly,” meaning at least “several times a month” and only 7 percent said they read them several times a week or more.

Here are the conclusions from Harris and Pew.

Microsoft is bringing their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software suite to the web. This is definitely the way to go for easy to use and flexibility.

The application’s features and functions are, for the most part, familiar to users and partners. They are largely the same as the Dynamics CRM 4.0 application released in January. The only difference is that Live is hosted and managed by third-party vendors.

Congressman Shimkus’ office recently pitched the Salem Times-Commoner to improve their email recruitment efforts. Reaching out to local media and blogs is a great way to gather new email subscribers.

Congressman John Shimkus (R, Illinois-19) is reminding constituents that his office provides a weekly e-mail newsletter to those who have signed up for this service via his Congressional Web site.

“I have received numerous notes or responses about the useful information my staff gathers for this weekly newsletter,” Shimkus explained. “We include topical news items, consumer tips, information on upcoming votes in the House, and a Did You Know section.”

And here’s something you many have seen back in January. The Library of Congress has started a pilot program to publish their photo archives on Flickr. The goal is not only to improve access to these historical images, but also to gather tags, comments and captions to improve the archive.

The project is beginning somewhat modestly, but we hope to learn a lot from it. Out of some 14 million prints, photographs and other visual materials at the Library of Congress, more than 3,000 photos from two of our most popular collections are being made available on our new Flickr page, to include only images for which no copyright restrictions are known to exist.