Congressman Culberson's web site invites his constituents to debate the healthcare bill online

Congressman John Culberson, R-Texas, today announced that his office will post the current healthcare bill in the House of Representatives, “H.R.3200 - America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009,” on the congressman’s Web site and, using a new technology, invite his constituents to participate in, comment on and debate the pending bill.

Constituents can visit www.culberson.house.gov to review the House bill and share their feedback in an open forum with other constituents, using a new annotation technology from New York-based SharedBook Inc. Interested Americans outside the Congressman’s district will be able to review the bill and the comments, but will not be able to make their own comments.

SharedBook, a provider of content transformation technologies for consumers, online publishers and enterprises, allows constituents and other interested parties to electronically annotate and comment on government documents in a very detailed way, from legislation to policies and procedures. The subsequent document can be then published, complete with the original text and all the comments and annotations included.

“H.R. 3200 will affect the lives of all my constituents. This new technology will give my constituents a voice in the healthcare debate and help restore the public trust in government by raising the level of openness, order and discourse,” said Congressman Culberson, Texas.

Policy makers, nonprofits, educators, and special-interest communities can use SharedBook's platform to allow their members or constituents to engage in an online dialogue on bills, rules, research and other important documents. Starting with highlighted excerpts from the original content, a series of comments and replies can be posted and shared with any and all interested users to facilitate a pointed and detailed discussion that can then become a permanent record of the conversation to be preserved.

“SharedBook believes in open communication and providing tools that offer transparency and solicit feedback,” said Caroline Vanderlip, CEO of SharedBook. “We specialize in integrating multiple data sources and facilitating the transformation of that data into new formats, which has great application in the creation, dissemination and distribution of policies and legislation that encourage and incorporate public comment.

“We have created an annotation tool that locks down the original document, then facilitates the sharing of documents, and accommodates the need to record public debate and discussion, ” she continued.