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What makes open government really work? Paley forum

by: Amy Gahran |

Last week in New York City, leaders in the open government movement explored where open government is heading next, what it's achieved so far, and what more it can do -- including in local communities.

Open government is a concept popular with people involved in efforts to inform and engage citizens and residents -- but how it looks and what it means depends largely on the angle from which it's viewed. Successful open government requires empathy and collaboration from all players, including (and especially) government agencies.

On Nov. 6, The Next Big Thing in Open Government (an gathering hosted by the Paley Center for Media, with support from the Knight Foundation) drew together senior media and business leaders, investors, entrepreneurs, public officials, journalists, and influential advocates of open government.

Watch the archived video of this event.

The opening panel, moderated by John Bracken (Vice President of Media Innovation for Knight), explored high-level lessons from open government experiences. While most of this discussion focused on federal and state governments, key themes can apply to any open government efforts.

Community convenors -- whether local funders or community news, information or engagement projects -- are increasingly getting involved with open government efforts as a way to empower communities and enhance the relationship between government and citizens. These insights from the Paley forum provide useful perspective on how to help open government succeed anywhere.

How do you make ordinary people care about open government?

"They shouldn't have to care," said Waldo Jaquith, director of the U.S. Open Data Institute. "People should just be able to access whatever they need to make government work for them. The less that people know how the services they use function, the better. It should just work, and give them the answers they need."

The user experience is paramount

Kathy Conrad, Associate Administrator of the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, U.S. General Services Administration, observed that across all major demographics, "People increasingly expect seamless service from government. A driver of change is the rising citizen expectation that the experiences they have in private life should happen with government, too."

Creating a seamless experience rooted in open government data and practices means, in part, connecting all levels of government -- at least as far as the user experience for government information and services is concerned. "People don't care which level of government they're interacting with; it's all just government. That means it's important to bring together stakeholders from all levels of government, to encourage cooperation," said Conrad.

Bringing in people with user experience design expertise also helps. This "translation layer" in the open government process helps put data into human terms -- and it's an increasingly important topic in open government circles.

"This isn't just about tech or design skills, but about culture," said Jaquith. "Government needs to honor that IT people are now an important part of how they connect with the people."

Build trust to change culture

It's common for government officials to hesitate to open access to government data due to fear of scrutiny, misinterpretation, misuse, or political/bureaucratic consequences. Or if they're already overloaded with duties, they may view efforts to open more data as lower-priority or unnecessary work.

Changing this culture takes time and patience. "You have to cultivate trust in any relationship," said Seamus Kraft, Executive Director, Cofounder and Vice Chairman, of the OpenGov Foundation. "You can't do it all in a hackathon over a weekend. You have to work together with people in government. Patience and time makes a big difference."

Laws and leadership help

While the open government movement started with grassroots efforts, top-down direction can often provide necessary impetus to overcome cultural and procedural obstacles.

"It helps to have laws and policies requiring the release of open data," said Andrew Hoppin, CEO of NuCivic and former CIO of the New York State Senate. "If there's a baseline expectation that this data will be open, that makes it culturally much easier to move past the fear of being subjected to outside analysis or critique."

Strong support from top elected and appointed officials (governors, mayors, directors, administrators, etc.) can personally help by consistently showing strong support for open government policies and practices.

"Make it clear that this is not a fad," Conrad recommended. "Make it clear that this is something government will be doing by default. It's just how government will operate from now on."
 

See the Knight Blog for more highlights and lessons from this event.

Amy Gahran

Amy Gahran is a journalist, editor, trainer, entrepreneur, strategist, and media consultant based in Boulder, Colorado. In addition to writing
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