Welcome Seamus Kraft

by SF Team, 26 August 2014

We're excited about Seamus Kraft joining the Shuttleworth Foundation Fellowship Programme in September 2014.

Seamus applied to the Foundation to expand his work on the Madison Project which aims to open up government by increasing transparency and citizen participation in policy-making. We have seen a lot of open government applications in the past, and Seamus’ is the most practical one by far. He is starting off by focusing on a small scope in a very specific context and is uniquely positioned to implement these first steps thanks to his experience in Washington.

It is becoming more and more difficult for politicians and officials to be fully informed on every issue and be sure they are representing the will and best interests of their constituents. It is equally difficult for the constituents to know and participating in an election every four years is no longer enough. Seamus’ work lifts the lid on government policy-making processes and allows for the kind of direct participation necessary and only possible because of the web.

We are looking forward to learning how much a system can really shift when change is introduced incrementally rather than radically, and what it is going to take to not only influence how government behaves but also how citizens engage.