2015 DSSG Data Fest: Team Sunlight

Summary

The video script discusses a tool called the Legislative Influence Detector (LID) developed in collaboration with the Sunlight Foundation. LID uses machine learning algorithms to detect identical text in state bills, automating the process of identifying copied legislation. It helps uncover the influence of interest groups on state politics by analyzing bills from groups like ALEC and ALICE, enhancing transparency and enabling society to hold government accountable.

Takeaways

• 📜 State laws often contain identical language borrowed from other state bills or interest groups.
• 🔍 The Sunlight Foundation collaborated to develop a tool called the Legislative Influence Detector (LID) to detect real-time legislative text copying.
• 💡 LID automates the process of finding similar legislative texts using machine learning algorithms.
• 🔎 LID works by inputting a bill text and outputs a list of candidate bills with similar text.
• 🧬 It utilizes a bioinformatics algorithm originally designed to identify similar DNA sequences.
• 📈 LID allows for quick identification of similar bills across states, which previously required extensive manual work.
• 📊 The tool was tested with the Wisconsin abortion bill, revealing 41 other states with similar legislation.
• 📋 LID can analyze a large number of bills in real-time, providing insights that would have taken much longer manually.
• 🌐 The tool was used to analyze the influence of interest groups like ALEC and ALICE on state politics over five years.
• 🏛️ LID aims to increase transparency in state politics and help keep the government accountable.

Q & A

What is the main purpose of the tool discussed in the transcript?

The main purpose of the tool is to detect in real-time where legislators take text from, specifically to identify instances of copied or similar text in bills across different states.

Why do legislators often use copied text in bills?

Legislators often use copied text because they lack the time, expertise, and staff to write their own bills from scratch.

What is the Legislative Influence Detector (LID) and how does it work?

The Legislative Influence Detector (LID) is a tool that automates the process of identifying similar text in bills using machine learning algorithms. It works by taking a portion or the whole document of a bill, comparing it to a database of bills, and highlighting the matching text.

What is the significance of finding identical text in bills from different states?

Finding identical text in bills from different states can indicate the influence of interest groups or model legislation on state laws, and it can help researchers, journalists, and citizens understand the origins of state laws.

How does LID use bioinformatics in its algorithm?

LID uses an algorithm from bioinformatics, which is typically used to identify similar regions in DNA sequences, to find similar text in legislative bills.

What was the outcome of testing LID with the Wisconsin abortion bill?

When the Wisconsin abortion bill was inserted into LID, it quickly identified 41 other states with similar bills, demonstrating the tool's ability to find matching legislation in real-time.

How does LID help increase transparency in state politics?

LID helps increase transparency by enabling users to quickly identify the origins of state laws and the influence of interest groups, which can help keep the government accountable.

What was the role of the Sunlight Foundation in the development of LID?

The Sunlight Foundation collaborated with the developers over 14 weeks to build LID, contributing to the creation of a tool to detect copied text in real-time.

How does LID benefit researchers, journalists, and concerned citizens?

LID benefits researchers, journalists, and concerned citizens by providing a tool to quickly analyze and understand the origins and influences behind state legislation.

What was the focus of the analysis conducted using bills from Alec and Alice?

The analysis focused on understanding the influence of these interest groups on state politics by determining how successful they have been in getting their bills passed in each state over the past five years.

How does LID save time and effort in analyzing legislative bills?

LID saves time and effort by automating the process of comparing bills and identifying similar text, which would otherwise require manual reading and comparison of large sets of documents.