The first article in a weekly series, exclusively in The Hill [1], exploring the recommendations of the Sunlight Foundation's Open House Project [2], which advocates online transparency in Congress is now available.

• Give bloggers Capitol access [3], by Robert B. Bluey, The Hill, April 30, 2007.

Bluey is director of the Center for Media & Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation and maintains a blog at RobertBluey.com. He authored the "Citizen Journalism Access" chapter for the Open House Project. The full report is scheduled for release on May 8.

The OpenHouse Project (a project of the Sunlight Foundation) is discussing ways to "open up the House." It will suggest changes "where the internet and Congressional procedures come together" to identify areas where Congress can open up and allow all of us to have more information and access." It is a temporary working group designed to make recommendations to Congress on how to begin making the House of Representatives more open and facilitate communications.

Forthcoming Op-Eds will address: Legislation Database, Preserving Congressional Information, Congressional Committees, CRS Reports, Member Web-Use Restrictions, House Clerk's Office, and Coordinating Web Standards.