Melissa Bean, member of Congress from Illinois's 8th Congressional District, communicates with her two daughters by webcam when she's away from them, according to The Chicago Tribune.
"Most homework help I can do over the phone," Bean said. "But, occasionally, on a math question," she has to actually see the problem. So the Beans implemented Logitech Web cameras. "They lift the book to the camera and you see the problem," she said. "It was one of the things I promised before I was sworn in. They said, `Mom, what if we have a homework question that Dad can't help us with?' I said we'll get this camera, and you can show it to me."
Bean defeated Phil Crane, the last Congressman without email, last November. She "gets most of her e-mails on her BlackBerry 7290 (www.rim.com), using the hand-held gadget as her phone, e-mail device and calendar....Her staff is also looking to replace the sign-in book outside her office with a computerized kiosk to take names electronically. "Why should I have somebody re-enter that data manually? We need to have a kiosk to use our resources more effectively and we can be much more responsive that way."
Bean thinks technology can improve transparency so that her constituents know better what's going on in government and how she's representing them. Obviously, it also improves transparency in her family.
