The IPDI Ideas Series presents
A Brown Bag Book Discussion with Kathy Goldschmidt and Tim Hysom, authors of the Communicating with Congress publication series, which includes Communicating with Congress: How Capitol Hill Is Coping with the Surge in Citizen Advocacy, Communicating with Congress: How the Internet Has Changed Citizen Engagement, and Communicating with Congress: Recommendations for Improving the Democratic Dialogue.

Join IPDI and authors Kathy Goldschmidt and Tim Hysom for a discussion about the issues and events presented in Communicating with Congress.  Bring a brown bag lunch, hear the top notes from Communicating with Congress, and discuss them with the author. This lunch is strictly limited to the first 20 people who RSVP to julie@ipdi.org in order to encourage as much discussion as possible with the authors.

Wednesday, September 24th
Noon-1:30pm
The library of the Graduate School of Political Management
4th Floor
GWU’s Media and Public Affairs Building
805 21st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
RSVP REQUIRED to julie@ipdi.org

About Kathy Goldschmidt

Kathy Goldschmidt is CMF’s Deputy Director. In this capacity, she is responsible for the day to day internal management of the organization. She is also involved in the organization’s project work, primarily the Communicating with Congress project, on which she has worked for more than five years. Kathy was a presenter and facilitator at the 2007 Communicating with Congress Conference, she has overseen the research throughout the project, and she was co-researcher and co-author of the 2005 report Communicating with Congress: How Capitol Hill is Coping with the Surge in Citizen Advocacy and the 2008 report Communicating with Congress: How the Internet Has Changed Citizen Engagement. Kathy joined CMF in 1997 and was the Director of Technology Research from 2000-2005. In this capacity she directed CMF’s technology research and guidance to House and Senate offices for using technology to be more effective and more efficient. She was co-author of Congress Online 2003: Turning the Corner on the Information Age, and she was the principal author of Congress Online: Assessing and Improving Capitol Hill Web Sites and E-mail Overload in Congress: Managing a Communications Crisis. Kathy has also been integral to a number of contracts with the House of Representatives to develop strategies for House use of information and communications technologies, including an intensive, two-year project to develop a ten year vision and strategy for technology in the House of Representatives. She has spoken extensively, and continues to speak regularly, on the topics of congressional communications and legislative e-government. Prior to her work at CMF, Kathy worked in a congressional office and as an Internet Analyst and Communications Specialist for a small consulting firm. She holds a BA from Carleton College.

About Tim Hysom

Tim Hysom serves as CMF’s Director for Communications and Technology Services. In this capacity, he conducts and oversees CMF’s grant and contract work in these areas in addition to serving as a trainer and consultant. He was project manager and a contributor to the 2007 Gold Mouse Report: Lessons from the Best Web Sites on Capitol Hill and the 2006 Gold Mouse Report: Recognizing the Best Web Sites on Capitol Hill. Most recently Tim was a Legislative Assistant to a Member of Congress for Judiciary Committee matters. While on Capitol Hill he developed deep expertise in web design, strategic management of constituent communications and all other aspects of congressional office technology. Prior to coming to Washington, Tim worked for Autodesk, Inc. in various marketing and communications roles and in the district office of a Member of Congress. Tim graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Dominican University of California.

About Communicating with Congress
For nearly a decade CMF has been working to improve communications between citizens and Members of Congress. We have found that the Internet has made it easier and cheaper to contact Congress than ever before. However, technological developments have been so rapid that neither citizens and the organizers of grassroots advocacy campaigns (the senders) nor congressional offices (the receivers) have learned to use it in ways that facilitate truly effective communications between citizens and Members of Congress. As a result, while more messages are being sent to Congress, it seems that less actual communication is occurring.

To accomplish these objectives, CMF conducted extensive research and engaging an ever-widening circle of stakeholders. That research resulted in the 2005 report entitled Communicating with Congress: How Capitol Hill is Coping with the Surge in Citizen Advocacy. CMF then partnered with Zogby International to conduct a nationwide survey of citizens to address their methods, reasons, and expectations with regard to their communications with Capitol Hill, in the report Communicating with Congress: How the Internet Has Changed Citizen Engagement. With the report Communicating with Congress: Recommendations for Improving the Democratic Dialogue we expand our research and outreach to the public and invite the public to participate in discussion of our concept of and recommendations for improved communications.