NetSquared DC,which met Tuesday night, brings together people interested in using technology to create social change. The NetSquared DC Meetup group is now the largest NetSquared Meetup in the nation, with over 100 members. 
Tuesday night's speaker was Ryan Ozimek, founder of PICnet, a firm that hosts websites for nonprofits and for several members of Congress.
Ryan spoke about the logic puzzles some Congressional offices have instituted that require solving a simple math problem before you can submit an email to a Representative. While he understood why individuals and nonprofits would fight the institution of the logic puzzles, Ryan pointed out that even without the puzzles, the impact of mass or form emails is sometimes little more than a tally on an intern's post-it. In addition, he talked about the propensity of staffers to "select all- delete" mass emails, which causes the individualized messages within the emails to be lost. Because of these issues and his discussions with Congressional staffers about how they would like information packaged, Ryan proposed that email communication might not be the most effective medium for nonprofits to use in communicating with members of Congress.
Ryan discussed a hypothetical system that would allow groups to submit information in petition or report formats that could easily be transferred into visual breakdowns of data and key demographic information that Congressional staffers could view securely through their websites. His ideas were met with some skepticism, as many people who support the email paradigm of sending information to Congress were in attendance, but even those who didn't agree with him completely found the discussion to be engaging. All in all, Ryan made everyone contemplate how best to achieve the end goal of activist organizations: making Representatives responsive in order to create change. The question of whether email or some new medium is the best way for organizations to get their message across is debatable, but Ryan certainly led people to think beyond the current logic puzzle issue.
To get involved with future NetSquared Meetups, sign up here. The next meeting will be at The Science Club on Tuesday, August 15 at 7:00.
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