Open Gov Plans Released, And . . .

. . . Both the White House and the Open Government advocacy groups plan to assess them. No good deed goes unnoticed!

Open Gov Plans Countdown

Next week, agency Open Government Plans are due to the Office of Management and Budget.

Congressional Transparency Caucus Formed

Government Executive’s Elizabeth Newell writes that a bipartisan congressional Transparency Caucus has been formed. Led by Republican Representative Darrell Issa (CA) and Democratic Representative Michael Quigley (IL), the Caucus will advocate greater government transparency and provide support and oversight of government efforts.

Key National Indicators Are Now Real

Almost three years ago, I blogged on the need for a Key National Indicator System so we, as a nation, could track our progress using data, not diatribe. It’s happened. A provision buried on page 1,489 of the health insurance reform bill makes it real!

Virtual USA and Web 2.0

I’ve seen a number of intersting mapping applications being developed “on the ground” that engage citizens in a collaborative efforts to provide details about their communities. The most common of these is OpenStreetMap.org, which advertises itself as an editable map of the world.

Topic 4: Technology, Transparency, and Participatory Democracy

President Obama issued a memorandum on Transparency and Open Government following his inauguration in early 2009. The memo outlined his commitment to greater transparency, increased citizen participation, and more collaboration. This commitment acknowledges that government cannot solve by itself the challenges facing our nation.

Framing a Public Management Research Agenda

The IBM Center for The Business of Government hosted a forum in November 2009 to examine the Obama Administration’s themes for a high-performing government and to frame a public management research agenda.

Participants included nearly 50 of the nation’s top public management researchers, scholars, and distinguished practitioners.  The forum was an effort to help bridge the gap between research and practice, and to collectively develop a research agenda that would help government executives move things forward.

Doing What Works

The Obama Administration’s favorite think tank, the Center for American Progress (CAP), has launched a new project, “Doing What Works.” Led by Reece Rushing and Jitinder Kohli, it has three objectives:

Obama's Stealth Management Revolution

“Where is Obama’s big-bang reform of government?” laments an insightful article by University of Maryland public administration dean, Donald Kettl, in a forum on President Obama’s management initiatives in the current issue of The Public Manager. He says that President Obama is quietly reshaping the way government works and dubs it a "stealth revolution."

Making Sense of Open Gov Dialogues

Two dozen federal agencies are running on-line dialogues between now and March 19th to gather insights on what citizens would like to seen them include in their OMB-required Open Government Plans. These first-ever open dialogues are an important symbolic step toward better engaging citizens in their government. But in the end, how will agencies make sense of thousands of comments and ideas?

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