Making Government Transparent and Accountable
The Sunlight Foundation uses cutting-edge technology and ideas to make government transparent and accountable. Underlying all of our efforts is a fundamental belief that increased transparency will improve the public's confidence in government
The Sunlight Foundation Blog
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The Transparency Campaign: Who We Are
A few weeks back, we asked members of our community to tell us a little about themselves: What are people looking for from our government? When it comes to transparency, what is the most important priority? What’s the best way we can build movement for open government at the state level?
The first thing we asked was “What is the single most important political issue in your state?” Followed by the same question for “our country.” Many of the responses were what one might expect considering the state of the economy and the political climate—the economy, heath care, government spending, education and immigration all topped the list. In addition to the responses we might expect, though, were also a wide array of opinions on other important factors to make government more transparent like copyright reform or financial deregulation. There were some as well, who share our aims of improving access to government information and ensuring our elected officials are accountable:
“Lack of transparency in government (legislation created behind closed doors) and personal agendas.”
“TRUST in the political process and politicians again.”
“More objective, trusted and transparent information about how money is spent and decisions are made in government.”
“Our government does not represent the citizens’ interests first.”
As an organization, the Sunlight Foundation has spent more than three years trying to show not just the public, but lawmakers, reporters and opinion leaders as well, why a more open and transparent government is a good thing. But this movement is much larger than just one organization, so we also asked respondents to explain simply why “government transparency” matters to them.
Again, the range of responses was broad, but here are some that I wanted to share: (Continue reading…)
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An Emblem for Open Government
As we’ve written about quite a lot so far in 2010, we are launching a national campaign to make government more open, transparent, and ultimately: accountable.Today, we’re excited to put out one of the most important parts of building this campaign: the “mark” that will be emblematic of what we as an open government community stand for.
If you hadn’t noticed it yet, this is it at right –>
This mark (as part of a full logo below) is a very important step because we’re not just building a campaign. This is a movement we’re part of. And when we say “we,” it is not just “the Sunlight Foundation” that we are talking about. It’s all of us who care about changing the relationship citizens have with their government by making it more transparent, participatory and collaborative. It’s anyone who thinks that government can work better on their behalf and has a responsibility to do so.
We hope this emblem is a first step in giving us something we can all own and point to as a symbol for what open government means to us, and what we believe. We hope it becomes a rallying point for those standing up to make an open, transparent government something we can hang our hat on …or our iPhones and Androids on. (Continue reading…)
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Open Government: Collaboration, Transparency, and Participation in Practice
A new book from O’Reilly media, entitled Open Government: Collaboration, Transparency, and Participation in Practice, discusses the possible ways government can utilize the power of citizen engagement to become more efficient and transparent. The collection of essays features well-known visionaries such as Carl Malamud, Beth Noveck and Tim O’Reilly.
Open Government includes chapters by Sunlight’s Ellen Miller, Bill Allison and Micah Sifry. Their chapters deal with everything from the role of transparency in countering the weight of monied interests to the need for useful and open government data. The forces of co-innovation and transparency must be in government moving forward and this book brings together some illustrative case studies about how to proceed. Follow this link for a sample of the first eight chapters.
Here’s a nice excerpt from the preface:
What is open government? In the most basic sense, it’s the notion that the people have the right to access the documents and proceedings of government. The idea that the public has a right to scrutinize and participate in government dates at least to the Enlightenment, and is enshrined in both the U.S. Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution. Its principles are recognized in virtually every democratic country on the planet.
But the very meaning of the term continues to evolve. The concept of open government has been influenced—for the better—by the open source software movement, and taken on a greater focus for allowing participation in the procedures of government. Just as open source software allows users to change and contribute to the source code of their software, open government now means government where citizens not only have access to information, documents, and proceedings, but can also become participants in a meaningful way. Open government also means improved communication and operations within the various branches and levels of government. More sharing internally can lead to greater efficiency and accountability.
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Campaign Lessons from Dancing Guy
Derek Sivers is changing the way music is bought and sold. It has nothing to do with a transparent government.
BUT, Sivers posted something really brilliant on his blog yesterday – based on a TED talk he’s given – and it’s something that we can learn a lot from as the movement for open government builds across the country. This is very much worth your three minutes of viewing time if you’re an organizer or even remotely interested in why or how people come together. This “dancing guy” illustrates for us the elements of movement and campaign building in an incredibly condensed amount of time – at what appears to be a music fest of all things.
We often say that when it comes to an open, transparent government, if it were easy to create, it would have been done already. We need fresh, innovative ideas from everywhere in order to succeed. And I gotta say, I personally love it when lessons and ideas come from such unexpected places as dancing guy.
We’re at a point in the open government movement where first and second and third followers can and should be joining the initial leaders – or “lone crazies” as Sivers refers to them – and that’s when things really take off. It’s actually some of the most exciting and fun time for a movement as it hits a tipping point – which we can safely we say we’re starting to hit as I referenced in my post on Tuesday. We’re still largely a group that when we say we’re for “making government transparent” our friends say, “you’re trying to do WHAT? <insert eye roll>.”
But that will soon change.
Would love to hear your thoughts as always!
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New York Senate’s Big Google Adventure
The New York Senate’s strides toward greater transparency hasn’t stalled since we last visited them. A huge step forward was just announced with the latest portal, Open Legislation. This site is a legislation search engine modeled after the simplicity and function of Google.
I love that you can search legislation by sponsor, committee, by recent actions and/or votes. This is a great way for citizens to navigate a system as complex as the New York Senate. It makes me believe that the creators thought a great deal about user experience and how people search – and for a government site that is a huge accomplishment. What is really exceptional is that they didn’t stop with search but also allow commenting on legislation and is available in formats like XML and JSON. And to put an extra smile on your face the whole site is under a Creative Commons license.
I really encourage people to go digging around, find ways to improve the site and let them know. Given that it’s in beta there is still some room for improvement but what a great start!
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What Gov2.0 Means to Sunlight
Here’s Sunlight answer to the challenge from the folks at Gov2.0 Summit to create a video about what it means to us.
What does Gov 2.0 mean to YOU? O’Reilly Media and the Gov 2.0 Summit want to know.
http://www.gov2summit.com/gov2009/public/content/gov2-video
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Lunchtime Link Round-Up
Some open government/transparency posts from around the web:
The Food and Drug Administration, in conjunction with their Transparency Task Force, launched a transparency blog to discuss ways to make their operations more open to the public.
The White House is asking for more help on the Open Government Directive. They are looking for people to tell them the “three most important pieces of information you think every agency should be required to disclose about its operations.” Also, they are seeking input on how the private sector could help the government mash up data.
Utah launched a new state government web site that looks very cool. Let us know in the comments what you think about this as a state government portal.
And in today’s least surprising news, contracting in Iraq is plagued by a lack of oversight and corruption.
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Senate Doesn’t Ask Questions on Open Government
According to Aliya Sternstein, the members of the Senate Commerce, Science, & Transportation Committee failed to ask Aneesh Chopra, President Obama’s nominee as Chief Technology Officer, questions about his positions regarding open government and the use of technology in advancing open government during his nomination hearing.
The office of Chief Technology Officer will oversee many open government initiatives and is charged with formulating, along with the Office of Management and Budget and General Services Administration, an Open Government Directive directing agency heads to follow the principles set forth in the President’s open government memorandum.
The Open Government Directive is scheduled to be released on Thursday — 120 days after President Obama signed a January 21 memo on ethics in government — without Chopra’s input. (Update – commenter Stanley Buckley writes that the Directive is not set to be released, rather recommendations will be released on Thursday.) “I won’t be [presenting the recommendations] because I’m not confirmed,” Chopra said, according to Sternstein.
Unfortunately, due to the Senate’s lack of questioning, we did not get a chance to see how Chopra views his role as it relates to open government and technology during his nomination hearing.
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Eric Holder Favors Maximum Disclosure of OLC Memos
According to Secrecy News, the incoming Attorney General, who will be confirmed later today, has stated his position that Office of Legal Counsel memos should be made publicly available to “the maximum extent consistent with sound practice and competing concerns.”
“I firmly believe that transparency is a key to good government. Openness allows the public to have faith that its government obeys the law,” Mr. Holder told Sen. Feingold.
More particularly, he said he favored maximum public disclosure of Office of Legal Counsel opinions.
“Once the new Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel is confirmed, I plan to instruct that official to review the OLC’s policies relating to publication of its opinions with the [objective] of making its opinions available to the maximum extent consistent with sound practice and competing concerns,” Mr. Holder wrote.
The Office of Legal Counsel provides authoritative legal advice to the Attorney General that often sets the legal policy of the administration. During the Bush administration, OLC memos were not available to the public and were often used to provide legal justification to many controversial programs and policies, including war time powers, the use of torture, secret prisons, warantless wiretapping, and extraordinary rendition.
As the Secrecy News article notes, ProPublica is providing a database of Bush era OLC memos on controversial topics.
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Memorandum on Transparency
President Obama’s Memorandum on Transparency (still not published at WhiteHouse.gov) is just too important not to post in its entirety. So here it is:
MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
SUBJECT: Transparency and Open Government
My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.
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.
Government should be participatory. Public engagement enhances the Government’s effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions. Knowledge is widely dispersed in society, and public officials benefit from having access to that dispersed knowledge. Executive departments and agencies should offer Americans increased opportunities to participate in policymaking and to provide their Government with the benefits of their collective expertise and information. Executive departments and agencies should also solicit public input on how we can increase and improve opportunities for public participation in Government.
Government should be collaborative. Collaboration actively engages Americans in the work of their Government. Executive departments and agencies should use innovative tools, methods, and systems to cooperate among themselves, across all levels of Government, and with nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individuals in the private sector. Executive departments and agencies should solicit public feedback to assess and improve their level of collaboration and to identify new opportunities for cooperation.
I direct the Chief Technology Officer, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Administrator of General Services, to coordinate the development by appropriate executive departments and agencies, within 120 days, of recommendations for an Open Government Directive, to be issued by the Director of OMB, that instructs executive departments and agencies to take specific actions implementing the principles set forth in this memorandum. The independent agencies should comply with the Open Government Directive.
This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by a party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
This memorandum shall be published in the Federal Register.
BARACK OBAMA
