About
A Virtual Seat in the Gallery
Conceived so that what is public can finally reach the public — in a familiar and engaging way — Congress On Demand is an innovative tool of civic engagement conceived to better empower an accountable public in the actions of our democracy. While much of what members of Congress do is behind closed doors, all their floor proceedings and most all hearings are public and filmed — paid for by the taxpayer. Though these sessions are filmed, the video has not before been segmented and delivered in the short, single-click on-demand format to which we’ve all grown accustomed.
A virtual seat in the House and Senate Gallery — Congress On Demand creates a user-friendly gateway facilitating any user to become more expert in the workings of Congress and the Congress members directly impacting their lives and votes. Congress On Demand looks forward to streaming all floor and committee appearances of every member of Congress — providing the access to Congressional proceedings imagined and granted in the Constitution. A better informed citizenry will yield a stronger democracy.
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance and a people who mean to be their own governours must arm themselves with the power that knowledge gives.”
About the Videos
Each video on this site was recorded and curated by Congress On Demand for the specific purpose of this platform. These segmented videos of each individual appearance were produced from recordings of the much lengthier videos found at the House and Senate websites. On the occasions when there was a problem with the government’s livestream or its recording, segmented videos were instead recorded from the full-length videos made available at C-Span. The video of these Congressional sessions, be they from the government site or C-Span, are within the public domain.
Congress On Demand is developing a customized interface to best deliver videos generated from a government body to the general public. For this 2024 Senate Election Edition the video assets are being delivered to the public here on a very tight budget — Vimeo’s “Portfolio” product was selected to do this. When fully developed, Congress On Demand will deploy customized interface mechanisms and routes of navigation to further engage the user, nurture curiosity and enable understanding in the witnessing of this democracy.
About Congress On Demand
Congress On Demand was conceived and executed by Eve Silberberg. The Congress On Demand: 2024 Senate Election Edition was released in association with American University’s Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies.
Eve Silberberg (creator/founder) conceived of Congress On Demand answering a self-imposed challenge to better educate and engage an accountable public in the actions of this democracy. She has extensive experience as an educator in the field of Applied Theatre. A student of Augusto Boal (Legislative Theatre, Theatre of the Oppressed), her expertise is linking the perpetual human capacity to learn with engaging and activating educational processes. Eve has worked as a teacher, director, and curriculum developer for social and health programs throughout New York City serving populations at schools, shelters, rehab centers, senior centers as well as corporate work settings — designing and applying alternative modes of participatory education. She is currently a Faculty Fellow at American University’s Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies.
Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies. American University’s Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies (CCPS) serves scholars, students, policymakers and the public by propelling actionable research, providing public education and promoting a more reasonable democratic square.