Hey DCspy,I don’t know if you’ve seen this yet but C-SPAN just announced that it’s teaming up with Foursquare to create an educational tool for the Washington DC area. In public locations throughout the city, for those checking in on their Foursquare accounts, C-SPAN will offer educational tips about historical sites, public policy, and the government.

My initial reaction? Cool, I love public policy!!! My second reaction? Wait, what the hell is Foursquare? I couldn’t ask my source. As a blogger with newly acquired friends, such ignorance could compromise my tweet-cred. So, I silently researched. Turns out both Foursquare and the C-SPAN partnership are pretty innovative.

First off, Foursquare. Dubbed a “geosocial network,” Foursquare is is an cell phone application that provides information and networking based on where you are. So you walk into a store, “check into” that store by clicking it from a menu based on your GPS, and then access information on the store or provide a comment yourself. You can also see where your friends check in. The iphone version looks like THIS:

Once you “check in,” you also get a point for being there. These points earn you badges and awards, including the title of mayor if you have more points for a place than anyone else. AMAZING. SPY would become mayor of Bua Thai in an instant, ruling with a hand that is fair but firm, only showing up drunk with a burger king crown once.  Well, maybe twice.

SPY addressing the pad thai "problem"

SO how is C-SPAN involved? They announced yesterday that they will provide Foursquare with educational information and facts on DC political places once you check in. So you check in to the Capitol, you can view videos about the Federal Budget and C-SPAN Senate broadcasts, you check into the Supreme Court, you can watch interviews with justices.