task Launched: The Reformer - An Interactive Tool to Fix Social Security

Launched the Reformer, a new interactive tool for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB). The interactive tool allows users to choose from a variety of policy options and see the impact of those policies on the solvency of the US social security system. The tool provides users with instant feedback via data displays and data visualizations. Users can review summaries of their results and share their results through custom tweets and facebook posts. 

The new tool was picked up by the Washington Post on the first day of its launch and in less than 24 hours was the subject of hundreds of comments, tweets and facebook postings.

The tool uses AJAX to provide nearly instantaeous computations and data updates, and data loads are kept to minimum by using memory-based data storage in lieu of database calls. The data visualizations (charts) were built using Google's Data Visualization API. A variety of user interaction features were developed including custom form validations, dynamic plain language logic, and social media helpers via JavaScript, jQuery, and PHP.