Sunlight Foundation launches "Transparency Corps" Web service

In an effort to make civic engagement easier by leveraging technology, the Sunlight Foundation announced the creation of Transparency Corps today, a Web service that allows citizens to perform small tasks as part of a group effort to illuminate government data.

Sunlight encourages other organizations to use the open-source code behind Transparency Corps, "Sunlight and future partners can provide micro-tasks that when aggregated, help solve research and data analysis problems when computers alone cannot properly scrutinize government information," said Ellen Miller, executive director and co-founder of the organization.

Presently, Transparency Corps allows interested citizens to participate in two campaigns organized by Sunlight. One is simply to upload a photo of yourself with a sign showing your support for Congress to post bills online before consideration, a long-time goal of Sunlight's. The other campaign asks volunteers to read earmark requests and fill out a form with key information to contribute to the group's earmark database.