Flow by Vincent Gallegos

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transparency in government

 
December 22, 2009
 

CNN: Government Gets Techie

Government has a reputation for lagging behind the technological curve. But in 2009, the Obama Administration tried to prove that bureaucrats could be hip and tech-savvy, too.

The administration launched DATA.gov, a clearinghouse of information on how the federal government works and how tax money is spent. It also backed digitizing health care records, held the country's first online town hall meeting and moved toward the more efficient cloud-computing model, which essentially outsources some storage and processing of government files to companies such as Google.

via cnn.com

Filed under  //   cnn clippings   open government   transparency in government  

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December 8, 2009
 

Andrea DiMaio: What About Crowdsourced Data? What Open Government Directive Leaves Out

  • How will agencies know whether open data are being used to the benefit of citizens unless employees can engage in external communities (i.e. communities that citizens themselves establish using their social media of choice?).
  • How will real participation be possible unless agencies recognize that data is being created and collected by citizens, communities, private companies, which has the same dignity of government data to support participation?
  • How can government agencies collaborate unless there is a bi-directional flow of information and collaboration can take place – depending on topics and constituency – on government and citizen turf at the same time?
  • How can participation and collaboration be realized without addressing explicitly the role of government employees, and how can they play this role unless they can access external social media?

Failing to address any of the above and setting so many milestones and reporting obligations for agencies, this directive risks turning into yet another exercise in compliance.

via blogs.gartner.com

 

Filed under  //   government 2.0   opinions and analyses   transparency in government  

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December 8, 2009
 

Steven Aftergood: Open Government Directive a Unilateral Effort; May Encounter Resistance

Significantly, the new open government policy directive did not emerge from the exercise of “checks and balances” by the other branches of government.  Congress did not urge the Administration to promote a culture of openness, much less compel its adoption.  Instead, it is a unilateral executive branch effort, akin in its conception to Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary’s landmark Openness Initiative of the 1990s, but now extended for the first time to the entire executive branch.

Success is not guaranteed.

The previous Administration used to invoke the theory of “the unitary executive,” which generally holds that all executive branch power and authority is vested in the President.  But the opposite may be closer to the real state of affairs, in the sense that the exercise of presidential authority is dependent on innumerable acts of compliance by scattered officials any of whom can, whether through disobedience or incompetence, frustrate the implementation of policy.  And the more ambitious the proposed change, the more likely it is to encounter resistance.

via fas.org

Filed under  //   government 2.0   opinion and analysis   transparency in government  

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