Using the Relativity e-discovery platform from KCura along with other software developed by Phlebus Consulting, this project examines around two million documents from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The project has identified key links between public inputs and agency action, thereby providing a policy-making influence map. These analyses will be used to support lobbying and government action - of interest not just to lawyers who practice before the FCC but to all those interested in government bureaucratic workings.
The project demonstrates the use of technical tools to make information located at the intersection of law, technology, and entrepreneurship useful and accessible. Citizens and lawyers can leverage these tools to more effectively manage one of the biggest challenge in start-up entrepreneurship: regulation. Too often, the “little guy” competes against firms with complex, established, and expensive government relationship capabilities. The FCC Media policy project shows how lawyers can marshal technology to level the playing field.
News/Updates
We have successfully created a prototype website/ analytics engine that focuses on a subset of the FCC database, namely the over 100,000 notice of ex parte meetings that memorialized contact between (1) FCC officials and commissions and (2) regulated firms and their lawyers and lobbyists. The website creates a wealth of information and could be used right now by all those interested in tracking the regulatory process. We will continue to refine the analytics engine to make it more powerful and useful in the months to come.
News/Updates
We have completed the FCC Explorer project and it will be placed permanently on the MSU website this spring for public use.
