Andrea DiMaio: US Open Government Directive is Disappointing
The suggested components of the Open Government Plan are skewed toward supporting transparency, for which a lot of detail is provided. However also the sections on to participation and collaboration confirm what I have called several times the “asymmetry of government 2.0”, i.e. the fact that governments take a one-way approach only to government 2.0 (data from government to citizens and engagement from citizens to government), losing sight that that information and engagement flow in the opposite direction too (information is created elsewhere that government need to be aware of, and government employees engage with external communities).
It is quite clear that the suggested approach is for agencies to address participation and collaboration on their turf and on their terms.
Also when external collaboration is mentioned [...] it refers to a type of codified, institutional collaboration that has little to do with the spontaneity of “general citizen” communities. (see interesting debate on citizen participation)
For sure, this directive will make social software vendors happy, as it will require agencies to consider some of their tools to support the requirement for participation and collaboration. But, in doing so, the US government just perpetuates the asymmetry of government 2.0.
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