Joshua Tauberer
{{Short description|American activist}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Joshua Tauberer
| birth_place =
| occupation = Civic hacker
Software developer
Technical advisor
| nationality = American
| alma_mater = Princeton University (BA)
University of Pennsylvania (PhD)
| movement =
| notable_works = Mail-in-a-Box
| spouse =
| website = {{URL|https://razor.occams.info/}}
{{URL|https://www.govtrack.us/}}
{{URL|https://mailinabox.email/}}
}}
Joshua Tauberer is a civic hacker,{{Cite web|url=http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/0913/feature4_1.html|title=Penn Gazette {{!}} Civic Hacker|website=www.upenn.edu|access-date=2018-06-06}} open government activist,{{Cite web|url=https://shass.mit.edu/news/news-2015-so-you-want-reform-democracy|title=MIT SHASS: News - 2015 - So you want to reform democracy|website=shass.mit.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-06-06}} entrepreneur, and author. He is the creator and maintainer of the website GovTrack, a portal for information about legislation in Congress, and developer for EveryCRSReport.com,{{Cite web|url=https://www.everycrsreport.com/about.html|title=EveryCRSReport.com}} which makes Congressional Research Service Reports available to the public. Tauberer is also the lead developer for Mail-in-a-Box, an Open Source software project for mail server hosting.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Mail-in-a-box Reviews & Product Details|url=https://www.g2.com/products/mail-in-a-box/reviews|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-10-15|website=G2}}
Early life
Tauberer attended Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School in Plainview, New York, before going on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Princeton University in 2004.[http://paw.princeton.edu/issues/2008/07/16/pages/5697/index.xml Data crusader], Princeton Alumni Weekly, 2008-07-16, accessed 2010-01-03. After Princeton, he earned a Doctorate in Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania.{{Cite web|url=http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/0913/feature4_1.html|title=Penn Gazette {{!}} Civic Hacker|website=www.upenn.edu|access-date=2018-06-07}}
GovTrack
Tauberer created GovTrack in 2004 to make legislative information more easily accessible to everyone,[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/28/AR2006022801471.html Think Your Lawmakers Don't Read Bills? Do It Yourself], The Washington Post, 2006-03-01, accessed 2010-01-03. providing research and tracking tools but also raw data feeds that third parties use to create other services.{{Cite news|last=Phillips|first=Amber|title=Analysis {{!}} Is Kamala Harris really the most liberal senator, as Trump claims?|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/08/13/is-kamala-harris-really-most-liberal-senator-trump-claims/|access-date=2020-10-16|issn=0190-8286}} He conceived the idea for GovTrack during his freshman year at Princeton.[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/27/technology/circuits/27reso.html How Did They Vote? Updates by E-Mail of Congressional Ayes and Nays], The New York Times, 2005-01-27, accessed 2010-01-03. The utility of the data that Tauberer made available on his site (and later became available on other sites) was part of the inspiration for Congressman Mike Honda's legislation to provide new sources of legislative data;[https://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/03/federal-bill-wo/ An API for Federal Legislation? Congress Wants Your Opinion], Wired.com, 2009-03-05, accessed 2010-01-03.[http://motherjones.com/politics/2009/03/congressional-data-mining-coming-soon Congressional Data Mining: Coming Soon?], Mother Jones, 2009-03-05, accessed 2010-01-03. Congress is now publishing legislative information as data.{{Cite news|url=https://www.speaker.gov/general/xml-house-bill-summaries-now-available-bulk|title=XML of House Bill Summaries Now Available in Bulk|date=2014-02-04|work=Speaker.gov|access-date=2018-06-06|language=en|archive-date=2018-06-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612142654/https://www.speaker.gov/general/xml-house-bill-summaries-now-available-bulk|url-status=dead}}
Policy and activism
Tauberer has occasionally used these technical tools and others to advise policy, including publication of uses of GovTrack by Congressional IP addresses[https://www.wired.com/2017/04/congress-care-check-browsing-histories/ "What does Congress care about? Check their browsing histories", Wired, 3 April 17] and FOIA requests regarding the DC government's open data administration.[https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/emails-ousted-dc-government-watchdog-frustrated-the-mayors-aides/2018/04/05/ef8ffb3a-3779-11e8-acd5-35eac230e514_story.html "Emails: Ousted D.C. government watchdog frustrated the mayor’s aides", Washington Post, 5 April 2018]
Career
Tauberer is the president of Civic Impulse, LLC,{{Cite web|url=https://civicimpulse.com/|title=Civic Impulse, LLC — The Intersection of Civics and Technology|website=civicimpulse.com|access-date=2018-06-06}} a consultant to GovReady PBC, and a senior technologist at LARSA, Inc.{{Cite web|url=https://razor.occams.info/|title=Joshua Tauberer's Homepage|website=razor.occams.info|access-date=2018-06-06}}
He serves as a member of the D.C. government's Open Government Advisory Group{{Cite news|url=https://technical.ly/dc/2016/01/15/dc-open-government-advisory-board-public-members/|title=Here's who Mayor Bowser picked for DC's revived Open Government group - Technical.ly DC|date=2016-01-15|work=Technical.ly DC|access-date=2018-06-07|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|url=https://efficientgov.com/blog/2016/01/19/dc-announces-open-data-initiative/|title=DC Announces Open Data Initiative {{!}} EfficientGov|date=2016-01-19|work=EfficientGov|access-date=2018-06-07|language=en-US}} and the Congressional Data Coalition,{{Cite web|url=http://congressionaldata.org/|title=Congressional Data Coalition – Congress should be like an open book.|website=congressionaldata.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-06-06}} is the author of Open Government Data: the Book, and co-organized the now defunct yearly Open Data Day DC conference.{{Cite news|url=https://www.archives.gov/ogis/outreach-events/sunshine-week/sunshine-week-2016/tauberer-bio|title=Joshua Tauberer|date=2017-05-10|work=National Archives|access-date=2018-06-06|language=en}} Among his notable writings are "So You Want to Reform Democracy"{{Cite web|url=https://davepeck.org/2017/02/10/so-you-want-to-reform-democracy/|title=So You Want To Reform Democracy {{!}} Dave Peck|website=davepeck.org|access-date=2018-06-06}} and "How to Run a Successful Hackathon.{{Cite web|url=https://usopendata.org/2014/11/10/hackathons/|title=How to Run a Hackathon (If You Must)|website=usopendata.org|language=en|access-date=2018-06-06}}"
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://razor.occams.info/ Joshua Tauberer's Homepage]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20091226121805/http://razor.occams.info/civictech.xpd Joshua Tauberer's track record in Civic Technology]
- [http://www.govtrack.us/ GovTrack.us]
- [http://www.civicimpulse.com/ Civic Impulse, LLC]
- [http://blog.jonudell.net/2008/07/28/a-conversation-with-joshua-tauberer-about-govtrack/ A conversation with Joshua Tauberer about GovTrack]
=Interviews=
- [http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail3749.html Tracking the US Congress] on Jon Udell's Interviews with Innovators
- [http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/142232 GovTrack opens up information on US legislature] by Linux.com
- [http://paw.princeton.edu/issues/2008/07/16/pages/5697/index.xml Data crusader] by Princeton Alumni Weekly
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tauberer, Joshua}}
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni
Category:Open content activists
Category:Open government activists
Category:Free software programmers
Category:Princeton University alumni