What does a successful thesis project look like?

I still want my thesis to help people understand the political system that makes our laws. Since discovering OpenCongress.org, I have been reconsidering my approach. I realize I cannot make something similar but substantially better in seven months, so I should try something different. How different? I am tossing around lots of ideas, but I have a tough time thinking it through.

Perhaps I should put some constraints on this? Ideas:

• Reasonable to do in seven months
• Functional, or at least, semi-functional (no purely conceptual projects)
• A number of people will find immediately useful by May 2013
• A number of people are excited by the project

I am especially leaning towards the last two. I would rather have a incomplete concept (or concepts) that sort of works and has a following, than a small polished project that no one cares about.

Takeaway: I should build experiments that are public, start practising customer development.