The Revolution Will Be Computerized: Austinist Interviews BillHop.com Creator Damien Brockmann

When did you first get the idea for Billhop.com?

I'm not sure when I dreamed of Billhop in its current form. I know when I worked [at the Texas Legislature] three years ago, I was quite alarmed at the amount of legislation passed that impacted the state, that no one outside the world of the Capitol knew anything about. There are times when things are passed that even insiders know very little about. Somewhere in there, I began scheming up ways to fill that void.

What's in it for the novices among us who don't really follow the legislative process but are nevertheless curious?

Well, I think the site makes legislation more digestable. Before BH, you could go to the state website to see what bills had been filed in which issue areas, but if you knew nothing about politics or policy, you didn't know who was filing that bill or why. You didn't know the backstory.

BH provides that context in easy-to-understand terms. You can get a sense of what others think about it, and if you have questions there are people you can ask and start a discussion.

Likewise, what can the seasoned politico gain from visiting your site, especially if s/he doesn't want ill-informed plebs getting in the way of techincal discourse?

Even seasoned politicos sometimes don't know everything that's going on. This website will help them broaden their radar, not only what's going on in Texas, but what's happening around the states and in Congress. That's the hope anyway.

Politicos, lobbyists, staffers, etc. generally have an interest in keeping people informed on the issues that interest them. Their priority of course is to inform the legislators who vote on those issues. This website broadens that constitutency to the masses of interested citizens who vote for those legislators.

Is Billhop influenced by the spirit of political blogs like Wonkette, Daily Kos, etc?

I do read and occassionally participate in a couple of blogs. Political blogs are great and have done a lot to educate a growing group of people on issues, campaigns and races. Just look at the past elections. I think the gritty details of the elections were more present in the national media than ever before, and it was because of webtools like blogs and YouTube.

BillHop is a little different from most blogs though. Instead of cultivating one community with a common set of beliefs, BillHop has the possibility to cultivate multiple communities. It's a site where people with different advocacy issues and perspectives can share information side-by-side. People often only seek out information that they want to hear. I want BillHop to be a place where people seeking one piece of information will stumble across three additional pieces of info that may possibly alter their perspective or point of view.

Was the idea for BillHop shaped by your experience in Guinea as a Peace Corps volunteer, too? It seems like that would have redefined your view of American politics.

And before Guinea, I was a student in Zimbabwe studying political change. I got a true dose of realpolitik while I was there. I followed an independent candidate aound in his campaign to oust the president's ruling party in some rural elections. I was mystified by the lack of concern some Zimbabwean leaders (not all of course) had for their fellow countrymen. Their interest was the well-being of themselves and their families. Losing power meant losing their livlihood, and their insistence on holding that power resulted in corruption and political violence.

To some extent there are some universal qualities there that apply to all politicians & politicos regardless of their country or culture. Politics is a often a sport of self-interest. People minimize their risks and will do what what it takes for them to stay afloat. Some do more, and I admire them for it, but most politicians have a very immediate, narrow focus. That's not always a bad thing.

The more educated and vocal people are, the more are leaders must respond to them. The hope for BH and other political communities is that it brings more informed people into that focus, and helps in the long run make our leaders and our democracy more responsive.

Wow. So it influences the site pretty directly.

To some extent, my experience with issues in cross-cultural communication in Africa and studying it as a grad student in UT has factored into the design of the site. There are quite a few paralells between cross-cultural communication and political communication.

How can people reach you if they have questions about Billhop.com, or how to use it?

They can contact me through the site or email me: Hop@BillHop.com.

photo by BL