Open Government – A personal lesson from Tim O’Reilly
Below is an opinion based on what Tim O’Reilly shared with me this past New Year’s Eve.
This whole conversation with Tim happened as a result of doing research for my upcoming book entitled Escape Velocity and Tim was kind enough to share an unpublished chapter from his upcoming book – Open Government. He gave me permission to work with small parts of this body of work in support of helping me form thoughts about Government 2.0.
Tim has approved this content which is an important point, as I want to ensure I don’t overstep my bounds.
Being this fortunate means not only has Tim afforded me with the ability to study his work ahead of release, but also to communicate with him directly. This wonderful gift also means that I can share brief thought provoking portions with you here on my blog as part of the process.
You’ll notice elements of his work in my PowerPoint from the recent ALI Social Media for Government Conference available for download here. http://bit.ly/anwOWY
From Tim O’Reilly’s chapter within the book Open Government.
As President Obama explained the idea during his campaign: “We must use all available technologies and methods to open up the federal government, creating a new level of transparency to change the way business is conducted in Washington, and giving Americans the chance to participate in government deliberations and decision-making in ways that were not possible only a few years ago.”
Allowing citizens to see and share in the deliberations of government and creating a “new level of transparency” are remarkable and ambitious goals, and would indeed “change the way business is conducted in Washington.” Yet, these goals do not go far enough.
I agree
I agree with Tim that the idea of an Open Government Initiative as explained by then Presidential Candidate Barrack Obama doesn’t go far enough. The next paragraph that Tim provides starts to talk about “government as a platform.” Why? Simple, just having citizens participate in a government based conversation is only the beginning of the change required and the change that is taking place.
For example, one of the things I’ve personally experienced is that it is the private sector who in many ways is driving innovation within an open and transparent government ecosystem. Open Data is a step towards the foundation of government operating, as Tim would say, a “platform.”
My firm is a direct beneficiary of Open Data and we’re the ones driving a specific form of innovation on behalf of three city governments at the moment with respect to our Route 411 transit application. We’re not the only ones or the first but we’re in the game. As Chris Moore, CIO for the City of Edmonton told a crowd at Pecha Kucha the other night. ”No tax dollars were harmed in the making of Route 411.”
I’m not making the above point to brag, only to reinforce one of the many positive outcomes which go beyond citizen generated conversations or direct participation in government deliberations.
The Open Data movement is a concrete step that governments can take to inspire innovation while saving tax dollars in the process. Our goal as citizens should be to push this effect further via those important digital conversations. Let your government know (regardless of level) that this is important to you.
