I can’t overstate how exciting a time it is in Washington, DC right now. We’re just two days into the Obama administration, and all signs point to once-in-a-life-time-change in every corner of the capital – and therefore in America and the world.
If there is one principle that can steer this hulking battleship we call America into a auspicious future, it’s that the government should be as TRANSPARENT as possible in all areas. If you have any doubt about whether we’re headed for the most transparent version of the US government we’ve ever seen, please read President Obama’s memo calling for transparency across all government agencies and his memo on Freedom of Information Act requests. Excerpts:
Government should be transparent. Transparency promotes accountability
and provides information for citizens about what their Government is
doing. Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national
asset. My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with
law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public
can readily find and use. Executive departments and agencies should
harness new technologies to put information about their operations and
decisions online and readily available to the public. Executive
departments and agencies should also solicit public feedback to identify
information of greatest use to the public.—
A democracy requires accountability, and accountability requires
transparency. As Justice Louis Brandeis wrote, “sunlight is said to be
the best of disinfectants.” In our democracy, the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA), which encourages accountability through
transparency, is the most prominent expression of a profound national
commitment to ensuring an open Government. At the heart of that
commitment is the idea that accountability is in the interest of the
Government and the citizenry alike.
iStrategyLabs is proud to be doing our part to push the transparency movement forward – Apps for Democracy was our first experiment in this area, we’re hosting Transparency Camp with the Sunlight Foundation and we’ve created Government 2.0 Camp with Maxine Teller, and Mark Drapeau (organized in cooperation with Jeffrey Levy, Director of Web Communications, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Co-Chair of the Federal Web Managers Council’s Social Media sub-council).
There’s no other organization I know of that has done more for the transparency moment than the Sunlight Foundation, who recently announced an innovation contest – Apps for America.
Sunlight Labs was certainly inspired by Apps for Democracy contest, as well as their own mashup contest in 2007. Just as the contest iStrategyLabs 
spearheaded for DC’s CTO, Vivek Kundra, inspired developers to remix DC data and show the importance of making such information freely available in open formats, it is Sunlight’s hope that Apps for America will result in the creation of innovative and compelling applications that, in turn, inspire Congress and the new Obama administration to see how access to government data catalyzes the invention of Web applications that are both innovative and beneficial for us all.
I’m honored to be juding the contest along with EveryBlock founder Adrian Holovaty (who is also co-founder of the Django open source framework); technology journalist Xeni Jardin of BoingBoing.net; Aaron Swartz, director of Watchdog.net (and a founder of Reddit.com) and Clay Johnson, director of Sunlight Labs. Are you going to particpate?
Comments
Everyone is diong amazing work! It continues to blow me away. The energy in the air here in DC, is motivating and energizing. I plan on attending the Gov’t 2.0 camp, so I look forward to meeting in person. Cheers!
Keep up the good work! Very excited to see what is going to come out of this new year of change!
Indeed, DC is a great place for technology as applied to government and transparency. It’s also a great place to talk about civic participation outside of the government sphere. I’d like to give a shout out for the upcoming, second annual eDemocracy Camp coming up: http://barcamp.org/eDemocracyCamp2
To what degree does a American Request tranparency be brought to the table ?
One has to condone America does have some serious enemies.
How does one decide and regulate what you can see and What America’s enemies should not see? If a child can create a mini stun gun with a capacitor and a battery and bring it to school What kind of transparency should a Nation have with a 700 Billion dollar Military Budget. Isn’t this really why Nations do not like us. What did Ike E. say “Military Industrial Complex” or should I say Military Insecurity Complex ? http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-military-spending... Just Blogging valid Doctrine.
@phil I’m not sure I get the relevance of your comment.
Excuse me if I went to far to fast, Lets start here.
With permission referancing
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/government_ethics/introduction/open-meetings.html
Step1 …What is the definition of transparency?
Of course, transparency means that something can be seen through. When we talk about transparency in government, we mean that citizens must be able to “see through” its workings, to know exactly what goes on when public officials transact public business. Government that is not transparent is more prone to corruption and undue influence because there is no public oversight of decision making.
Step 2
Open Records:
Public records also must be publicly accessible, though here again there may be exceptions, such as classified information. A key issue facing governments is the proper balance between open records and security. For example, safety reports on nuclear or chemical plants may be public records, but should they be widely available? What information must be protected to keep citizens safe, and what records are classified simply because their publication would reflect badly on those in power?
Now look at the Statement in your second paragraph which I quote here.”it’s that the government should be as TRANSPARENT as possible in all areas.”
My point is, your kidding yourself if you cheer lead and think government is going to have transparency in all areas. Its a security breach for Nations that might not like us. Thats my point…. So I am saying “How does an American regulate or format his requests for transparency because he will never have complete transparency into the goings on of his Government. Don’t you find it intertesting that the Media and investigative Journalism is relied upon for the historic (after the fact of impact) of the goings on of Governments in General ?
Prompting Complete Government trasparency can have adverse effects and if not advocated properly can do more damage than good. Hope this clear things up. Thanks again … …The CT Observer.