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For context, this is a solo project I've been building over the past year while working full-time. I've been responding as "we" in the comments since I got used

by foxfoxx 7mo ago

For context, this is a solo project I've been building over the past year while working full-time. I've been responding as "we" in the comments since I got used to doing it other places lol Looking for feedback and advice. I'm an engineer, not a journalist or policy researcher, so a lot of this domain is still new to me despite working on it for a year.

southerntofu 7mo ago
Hello,i don't mean to be dismissive but i think lawmaking definitely needs less AI and less pretendly-neutral summaries. It's already a problem when researching a law proposal that dozens of news outlets will just copy-paste a bland summary of arguments from both sides, neither being explored fully. I would recommend giving direct links to actually partisan information so people can situate the bill's intent and consequences in a broader context. Where it helps: - sometimes a bill's proponent is just an industry puppet whose talking points will be repeated in the media, but aren't solid enough to warrant a proper article… unlike opponents criticizing specific (for example deregulation) points - sometimes, there are strong feelings and arguments on both sides of a bill and it makes sense to view them in their entirety; seeing one's side unhinged logic sometimes reveals more about the bill than the bill's text itself - "same-side" opposition: sometimes a bill is perceived as "left-wing" or "right-wing" but receives opposition from the same side; for example, the democrat party is very divided on helping the rich vs taxing the rich, while the republican party is (less than 20 years ago) divided between hardcore authoritarian trumpists and libertarians defending civil liberties All in all, i believe AI is a plight for society. We are only starting to understand the ecological and psychological costs. There are areas where machine learning can be useful (translation), but i strongly believe politics is not one of them. Please don't try to apply it to anything serious. Don't take it from me, take it from James Mickens in a talk where he explains both how ML works and how it related to the field of computer security: https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity18/presentation/mickens https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity18/presentat...
rancar2 7mo ago
I would recommend a more systemic mapping like Power Scorecard from Demos.org [1] to help ground the mappings to impacts on populations. Ideally, one would be able to swap the system mappings based on the preferred context, as there are different policies that should be looked at in different ways to assure optimal positive impacts with minimal secondary negative impacts. I haven’t seen a perfect way of doing this yet, but this will be directional correct on the pathway to something even better for all of us. Thank you for your labor of love and efforts! [1] https://power.demos.org/ https://power.demos.org/
deleted 7mo ago
[deleted]
waterproof 7mo ago
Love the idea. Thoughts from a UI/UX point of view, on mobile: * Focus on the policy stuff since that's your differentiator. Put it front and center, currently it's below the "trending news". Nobody needs another trending news feed. I'd cut it entirely. * Make your differentiator hyper-obvious at a glance on the front page. Right now your above-the-fold is dominated by a wall of AI generated text. It should include a tagline for your site and visuals that people won't get elsewhere. * Your UI screams "vibe coded" which does not build confidence. Look to other authoritative sites for visual cues - consider a serif for headlines, make your spacing more thoughtful and consistent, reduce or remove your border radius.
- foxfoxx 7mo ago
  Thanks! I'll look into these UX/UI ideas. As for the news, it's front and center because I want Govbase to be a site/app people regularly visit and policy does move slow. Even when a bill is introduced it can take weeks for the actual text content of the bill to show up on congress.gov. Plus on weekends/recess the government doesn't move. I am planning to bring out more of the impact highlights from the policies to see what's "trending" or what certain reps are working on but just plans for now.
  - gwerbin 7mo ago
    Why chase engagement? If policy is slow-moving then people can visit weekly. Or make an RSS feed. Unless you're planning to go ad monetized or worse...
    - rgeers 7mo ago
      There's nuance between wanting to build something people use regularly vs "chasing engagement". Even if he decides to run this as a non-profit, individuals are more likely to donate to something they use regularly and institutions are more likely to fund something with active usage. I would assume that the costs to make all these LLM-API costs are not insignificant. I agree with the previous comment that the policy is the differentiator though and hopefully there's a way to drive usage without devolving into a just another news aggregator.

by foxfoxx 7mo ago

southerntofu 7mo ago

Hello,i don't mean to be dismissive but i think lawmaking definitely needs less AI and less pretendly-neutral summaries. It's already a problem when researching a law proposal that dozens of news outlets will just copy-paste a bland summary of arguments from both sides, neither being explored fully. I would recommend giving direct links to actually partisan information so people can situate the bill's intent and consequences in a broader context. Where it helps: - sometimes a bill's proponent is just an industry puppet whose talking points will be repeated in the media, but aren't solid enough to warrant a proper article… unlike opponents criticizing specific (for example deregulation) points - sometimes, there are strong feelings and arguments on both sides of a bill and it makes sense to view them in their entirety; seeing one's side unhinged logic sometimes reveals more about the bill than the bill's text itself - "same-side" opposition: sometimes a bill is perceived as "left-wing" or "right-wing" but receives opposition from the same side; for example, the democrat party is very divided on helping the rich vs taxing the rich, while the republican party is (less than 20 years ago) divided between hardcore authoritarian trumpists and libertarians defending civil liberties All in all, i believe AI is a plight for society. We are only starting to understand the ecological and psychological costs. There are areas where machine learning can be useful (translation), but i strongly believe politics is not one of them. Please don't try to apply it to anything serious. Don't take it from me, take it from James Mickens in a talk where he explains both how ML works and how it related to the field of computer security: https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity18/presentation/mickens https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity18/presentat...

rancar2 7mo ago

I would recommend a more systemic mapping like Power Scorecard from Demos.org [1] to help ground the mappings to impacts on populations. Ideally, one would be able to swap the system mappings based on the preferred context, as there are different policies that should be looked at in different ways to assure optimal positive impacts with minimal secondary negative impacts. I haven’t seen a perfect way of doing this yet, but this will be directional correct on the pathway to something even better for all of us. Thank you for your labor of love and efforts! [1] https://power.demos.org/ https://power.demos.org/

deleted 7mo ago

[deleted]

waterproof 7mo ago

Love the idea. Thoughts from a UI/UX point of view, on mobile: * Focus on the policy stuff since that's your differentiator. Put it front and center, currently it's below the "trending news". Nobody needs another trending news feed. I'd cut it entirely. * Make your differentiator hyper-obvious at a glance on the front page. Right now your above-the-fold is dominated by a wall of AI generated text. It should include a tagline for your site and visuals that people won't get elsewhere. * Your UI screams "vibe coded" which does not build confidence. Look to other authoritative sites for visual cues - consider a serif for headlines, make your spacing more thoughtful and consistent, reduce or remove your border radius.

foxfoxx 7mo ago
Thanks! I'll look into these UX/UI ideas. As for the news, it's front and center because I want Govbase to be a site/app people regularly visit and policy does move slow. Even when a bill is introduced it can take weeks for the actual text content of the bill to show up on congress.gov. Plus on weekends/recess the government doesn't move. I am planning to bring out more of the impact highlights from the policies to see what's "trending" or what certain reps are working on but just plans for now.
- gwerbin 7mo ago
  Why chase engagement? If policy is slow-moving then people can visit weekly. Or make an RSS feed. Unless you're planning to go ad monetized or worse...
  - rgeers 7mo ago
    There's nuance between wanting to build something people use regularly vs "chasing engagement". Even if he decides to run this as a non-profit, individuals are more likely to donate to something they use regularly and institutions are more likely to fund something with active usage. I would assume that the costs to make all these LLM-API costs are not insignificant. I agree with the previous comment that the policy is the differentiator though and hopefully there's a way to drive usage without devolving into a just another news aggregator.