Transparency and The Business of Government
When I was in college, a radical campus group petitioned for funding from Student Government. I was Student Body President, and we were happy to supply these radicals with the tools they sought, portable video cameras (back then, portable was a 40 pound contraption with trailing cables to a big box recorder on a dolly, that trailed behind the cameraperson. They called themselves National Town Meeting.
Their idea was that technology was reaching a point at which democracy could be a reality. That is, that voters, if provided the information in a video feed, could decide for themselves what government should or should not do, rather than relying on representatives to make the decisions for them. They traipsed around putting all sorts of meetings on the campus television channel. It was radical stuff to roll in and broadcast a Board of Trustees meeting. This level of publicity was uncomfortable at the time. National Town Meeting dared to tape the Illinois State Legislature in session and were threatened with arrest.
Years later, CSpan was authorized and it became normal to tune in to local, state and federal governing sessions in action. Boring, but normal.
Today, we call this Transparency and consider it a virtue to be willing to lay bare the mechanics of governance.
President Elect Obama used the internet to communicate with his campaign volunteers and staff to an overwhelming extent.
During the transition they continued the practice. One example, was a “Seat at the Table.” This policy provides notes of all meetings with outsiders, and posts documents from those meetings on-line. The website is set up as a blog, with the opportunity to comment and make suggestions.
Websites for transparency of the spending on the stimulus package are already up at www.recovery.gov
I love hearing that government agencies are gearing up to get more on-line than ever before. GSA is leading the way with management of their site, www.USA.gov encouraging new uses for the site and assisting agencies.
Some state governments have already learned the economics of transparency. Here in Wisconsin, an amazing amount of state business can be conducted on-line, saving plenty of labor and time for both government and citizens. The expense of transitioning might be born by the stimulous bill, with savings that continue long after.
If your clients are government agencies, how can you help? Are there ideas you have about digitizing technical data for public access? What would streamline services if only you could . . .
Are you on-line to the extent suitable?
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