[LINK] Gov transparency, participation & collaboration

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Promoting Transparency in Government

 www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/12/08/promoting-transparency-government

 By Peter Orszag, December 08, 2009


On his very first day in office, President Obama signed a memorandum to 
all federal agencies directing them to break down barriers to 
transparency, participation, and collaboration between the federal 
government and the people.

As an example of the steps taken in response, the White House, for the 
first time ever, now publishes the names of everyone who visits.  

We are also publishing online never-before-available data about federal 
spending and research.  

At www.data.gov, for instance, what started as 47 data sets from a small 
group of federal agencies has grown into more than 118,000 today – with 
thousands more ready to be released starting this week.  

And in March, the Attorney General published updated FOIA guidelines, 
establishing a presumption in favor of voluntary disclosure of government 
information – an important step toward enabling the American people to 
see how their government works for them.  

There have been other advancements, from providing online access to White 
House staff financial reports and salaries, adopting a tough new state 
secrets policy, reversing an executive order that previously limited 
access to presidential records, and web-casting White House meetings and 
conferences.  

By themselves, however, these steps do not provide the transformation in 
the philosophy of governing that the President wants.  They are 
improvements over past practice, to be sure, and valuable ones.  

But more needs to be done.

That is why, at the end of May, the Administration launched the Open 
Government Initiative (OGI).  

This unique outreach effort, led by the Office of Science and Technology 
Policy, sparked a never-before-seen collaboration between the public and 
the government.  We asked questions, and you provided answers.  We 
responded, and you offered alternatives.  

By the end of the three-month outreach period, tens of thousands of 
Americans participated, and thousands of ideas were generated.

Since the OGI outreach ended, we’ve been pouring over the suggestions.  

We’ve talked with outside experts.  We’ve evaluated and re-evaluated the 
steps we want to implement government-wide.  

And as a result, today we are releasing two documents:

• The Open Government Directive (view as html, download as pdf, txt, doc
  or view on Slideshare)

• The Open Government Progress Report to the American People (download
  as pdf or view on Slideshare)

The directive, sent to the head of every federal department and agency 
today, instructs the agencies to take specific actions to open their 
operations to the public.  

The three principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration 
are at the heart of this directive.  Transparency promotes 
accountability. Participation allows members of the public to contribute 
ideas and expertise to government initiatives.  Collaboration improves 
the effectiveness of government by encouraging partnerships and 
cooperation within the federal government, across levels of government, 
and between the government and private institutions.

Peter Orszag is the director of the Office of Management and Budget

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Cheers,
Stephen