Keeping track and remaining up to date in politics can be a time-consuming and full-time job, even for politicians. There are hundreds of politicians in Washington, D.C., from all over the country that are constantly being elected and leaving office. For the average American, it can be difficult to know which politician is representing a region and their ideology.

Patrick May and Jen Deci, both University of Alabama alumni, hope to change this with the release of their iPhone app, Politicard. Politicard is an app that contains and sorts through the biographical information and names of all the current congressmen in Washington. It allows people to match politicians’ names with their faces, political parties and professions.

“This would help students identify who they should send their resume to for internships or staff positions,” May said. “For example, people favor their home state or college they went to. It helps people identify who has personal connections to themselves and focus their efforts on applying to those people.”

(See also “Students develop popular word game app“)

May said he sees many politicians walking around D.C., but with the other 500 members in Congress, it can be hard to recognize and remember each one.

“It becomes a problem when you see people walking around Capitol Hill. You know they’re members of Congress,” May said. “There’s more than 500 people, so it becomes difficult to distinguish one from another.”

The two said they first considered the project during their freshman year at the University, but it wasn’t until they moved to the D.C. area that they saw a potential market for their app. Deci said their interests in politics is what lead to them deciding to create the app.

“We saw the need for the ability to filter through members of Congress in efforts to realize networks you never knew you had,” Deci said. “A way to make your network larger is to realize what exactly are the connections you have with people.”

(See also “Museum creates app to enhance exhibit“)

Each brought something different to the project. May, who has an educational background in computer engineering, was the programmer on the app while Deci researched information and marketing strategy.

“I helped in contributing the data and brainstorming the idea and how we’re going to market it,” Deci said. “I think we both have separate spheres up here, and it’s been interesting to see how they responded.”

May’s experience previously working on Android apps helped in the overall process when designing Politicard.

“It’s given me experience to kind of do it from a bit of prospective designing things to where you can reuse them for Android,” May said.

While Politicard may not necessarily help Americans better understand politics, it will help them to understand the politicians in Congress, May said.

(See also “Local attorney develops application to help newly detained“)

Politicians and government employees could also benefit from Politicard in their every day work environment, May said. The app would help them to know a fellow politician’s information.

“I want to help people work more efficiently. I love efficiency, and I hate to waste time. I feel like there is a lot of time wasted on Capitol Hill,” May said.

A price has not yet been set for the app, but it is scheduled for release in the next few weeks.