Newsroom Archive for 1/12, 2006

Waldo Jaquith PLP '05

Waldo Jaquith, an alumnus of the Political Leaders Program Class of 2005, was blogging back when most of us were still trying to figure out how a mouse worked. His knowledge and experience with all things computers have never failed to amaze those of us who know him.

Now comes news that Waldo is about to revolutionize the public face of the Virginia General Assembly.  Waldo has launched the Assembly's first RSS feed. RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication," and it's a way of getting the latest news and information from sources on the Internet automatically, without actually having to visit the sites each time. RSS has become more well known with the growth and popularity of blogs, as RSS offers an automatic way of getting the latest blog entries from your favorite blog sites delievered right to your computer.

Subscribers typically use a News Aggregator program to collect, organize and manage the sites to which they subscribe. Windows users often use Bloglines and Mac users often use NewsFire or NetNewsWire. For a complete list of News Aggregators available click here.

Waldo's RSS feed for the General Assembly now makes it possible to get automatic updates on legislation, tracking how bills move through the government infrastructure.

Until now, Virginia has offered automatic updates on legislation via email. "Virginia has done a much better job than some other states," Waldo said this afternoon during a phone interview. "But you will be buried in emails if you really want to follow what's going on. With this new RSS feed, you no longer need the email updates."

Waldo's RSS feed is also searchable, so that you can track any legislation having to do with transporation, for example, or health care or education. You can also subscribe to any bills sponsored or co-sponsored by a specific legislator. You can track all the bills only in the House of Delegates or those only in the Senate as well. Waldo tells us that he will soon implement a new feature so that you can track any legisation by committee, which many General Assembly observers, lobbyists, reporters, and citizen groups will find incredibly helpful.

Waldo adds: "My goal is simple, to make the General Assembly more accesible and less of a black hole. There are so many people across Virginia who have no idea what goes on in Richmond at this time of year. That should not be the case. RSS is one way of helping people understand what their representatives are doing."

Waldo Jaquith's RSS feed for the Virginia General Assembly is available by clicking here.