Yeah, this was the bit that held me up on the data site for a long time. It didn't seem like succeeding could do anything but depress people. But talking to others in this sphere, there are some legitimate things you can do with the data: for example, Dennis Hastert (R-IL) recently had to resign in part because of some earmark data that someone uncovered; he was replaced by a pro-reform Dem particle physicist a month ago. So I think connecting it up to the media and building voter scorecards and stuff out of it could be effective.
Indeed, if making such information easily available results in "actual changes", as opposed to merely "availability of information", then this would be totally awesome.
Of course, a website like this can only make the information available, but hopefully it will be used productively. Best wishes!
Currently it only provides availability of data. There's no reason that it couldn't then provided next actions for that data--it's pretty easy to toggle a form that emails your congress person, or submits to local news, or any of a variety of actions.
Indeed, I think that's a direction it's heading, and the combination of information + action could be potent. How many people avoid taking action b/c it's just a pain to get out of their desk chair?
