Moves by President Barack Obama’s administration to open up government data in the US need to go further but have succeeded in creating a culture of greater openness, according to an independent report.
The report ( http://bit.ly/ds4TIy ), from non-partisan think-tank the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, looks at how technology has been used to implement the Open Government Directive, a memorandum written by President Obama on his first day in office focusing on three areas: transparency; public participation; and collaboration ( http://bit.ly/duz9JA ).
The first of these areas, transparency, has been the biggest success of the directive, the report says, with an “unprecedented” volume of data available to citizens online. However further moves are needed, it says, including addressing problems with access to government datasets through the central portal data.gov ( http://bit.ly/9yd810 ).
Usage statistics should also be made available for all government datasets and websites, and online tools, such as “expert forums”, provided so users can publicly identify any problems with data, it says.
The Obama administration has used a variety of online tools to increase public participation including hosting a town hall meeting on YouTube, and using an online crowd-sourcing platform – IdeaScale ( http://bit.ly/cJX4dc )– to let users submit policy proposals, the report says.
However, the response to these participation tools has been “lacklustre”, the report says. “It is not enough simply to create online forms that allow citizens to submit and rank ideas and questions.” Digital tools, it says, should be used by the government to extract meaningful information, not just collect a “mass of electronic data.”
Overall, the report says the President’s memorandum has succeeded in shifting attitudes in government. “While the Open Government Directive has yet to create radical transformations in government, its most important contribution may be a new culture of openness in government that embraces technology”, it says.
NOTE: Article originally published in E-Government Bulletin issue 309.
Click here to visit/return to issue 309 index
