There's no doubt that 2008 was an evolutionary leap forward in the use, and focus on, technology as a main driver of civic involvement in the democratic process. Then-candidate-Obama's masterful use of social networking for both messaging and fundraising took the nation, and the electorate, by storm. By comparison, the Republicans ramped up their focus on technology trends as well, but let's face it, the Democrats fired on all cylinders in this area.
But now that the Obama administration, whose messengers campaigned on "accountable" and "transparent" government, are now in the seat of power, how will they follow through with their campaign promises?
I recently attended the Personal Democracy Forum in New York and one of the guest speakers was Vivek Kundra, the U.S. Chief Information Officer. Vivek unveiled a new website aimed at opening up U.S. federal I.T. spending -- it.usaspending.gov. The website takes a dashboard approach to outlining major U.S. "investments" (aka spending). And while the site is still in a beta mode, the early results look good.
Eventually, anyone will be able to drill down into specific government projects (non-classified of course) and look at spending patters, contracts with private companies, link to GAO and other evaluative reports, and more.
We are seeing this here in Washington state as well. Last year the legislature passed a WPC recommendation for a fiscal transparency website, fiscal.wa.gov. It has been in operation for about a year now and is helping to make Washington state government more transparent and therefore accountable.
Efforts on both state and federal levels are to be applauded. But more needs to be done. More suggestions and ideas on government transparency.
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