Silona Bonewald joined the Houston NetSquared group last night to discuss the League of Technical Voters and the art of lobbying for technical causes.

It was one of the most politically informed meetups yet, with lots of discussion on 'The Way Things Work' in the world of political networking and the need for a centralized geek political community online.

Silona repeatedly stressed the importance of transparency in political processes and is currently working on a Legislation Compendium Wiki to encourage just that. 

This transparency is also a goal of the League of Technical Voters group.  They just finished a 48-hour Codeathon dedicated to creating social software technology to create central online location for technical activists to come together and share information.  From there, lobbyists can do the legwork armed with this information allowing geeks to share their brainpower even when they're too busy to get in front of legislators themselves.

We had a great turnout for the meetup - around 20 nerds and politically minded geeks.  Wonderful conversation, questions and inspiration!  Many thanks to Silona and Sharron rush for making the trek from Austin!  Thanks to Jason McElweenie for the photo!