In summer of 2015, I worked in the UNC Journalism School’s Reese News Lab on the launch of Capitol Hound, a searchable audio archive and alert system for N.C. General Assembly floor sessions and committee meetings. Explore Capitol Hound >>
This key service provided the first written transcript of the state’s legislative proceedings, and in that created a new wave of transparency about previously-secretive government meetings. I worked with two other individuals to launch the webapp, add new features using PHP, sell subscriptions and provide customer service to subscribers. It was the ultimate test of user experience, organization and nerve as we unrolled a subscriber service simultaneously with the already-tumultuous legislative session. We also were the primary salespeople, attending every legislative event we could get into in order to pitch Capitol Hound to legislators, journalists and lobbyists.
While the North Carolina state legislature previously could operate without a mechanism for accountability, Capitol Hound marked a key journalistic achievement in moving those systems into the 21st century in terms of transparency and freedom of information.