–This is the first entry in the “No Hash Tag blog series: Low-Tech Approaches to Open Government and Transparency.” Despite being a country still reeling from decades of civil war and abuses of power, Guatemala is making its way, haltingly, towards open government and citizen participation. The country is not only a member of the Open…
DetailsTechnology plays an important part – a huge one, many might argue – in the success of the worldwide open government movement. People are creating apps, websites, databases and many other digital ways of enhancing and fostering government transparency. Our friends over at techPresident are tracking this wonderfully through their WeGov series, which we highly…
DetailsIf you haven’t read the recent terrific posts from Tom Steinberg over at mySociety and Tiago Peixoto worrying about the labeling confusion around open government/data/everything, you should. They raise important points about the naming conventions we “practitioners” use and abuse to describe the novelty of our work. Tom has concerns about the fact that as…
DetailsThough not a new debate, it’s worth revisiting the core arguments around what can or should come first: open data or open government? I was jolted into this discussion again after haphazardly glancing at the World Bank-sponsored “crowd sourcing” process to stimulate ideas for how to make a Smart Rwanda (yes, you can groan a…
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“Nobody is listening to your telephone calls,” said a defiant President Obama—now in full damage control mode—to a crowd Friday in California. Unfortunately for the administration, the claim is too little, too late. Had the disclosure come at the program’s inception and been justified as a way to prevent attacks at home and overseas, perhaps…
DetailsThe nomination of Open Government Partnership architect Samantha Power for US Ambassador to the United Nations represents a tremendous opportunity to promote government transparency and accountability around the world, especially in those countries not yet part of the nascent initiative. (Disclaimer: Jeremy Weinstein, who sits on our board, also worked closely with Power in launching…
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