Open Government Initiative Faces Hurdles
The Obama administration's open government directive is a step toward enhancing transparency and democracy, but it still has a ways to go, technology observers said Tuesday. Nextgov reported that panelists at a State of the Union for Technology event hosted by The Atlantic magazine said that while the mandate could have meaningful results, the challenge is translating innovative ideas into actual government policy.
The administration has to find inexpensive ways to innovate, federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra said in his opening remarks. The open government directive gives agencies a free online platform to gather feedback, and since agencies launched their individual pages earlier in February, the administration has received 7,500 comments and ideas from the public.
Chopra said the administration doesn't expect these initiatives to be perfect from Day One. "[We] launch with 'good enough,' get feedback and improve over time -- that's our philosophy," he said.
The initiative indicates a renewed push to get information out, said Daniel Castro, senior analyst at the nonprofit Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, adding that increasing transparency is where the most progress has occurred.
But other panelists said that the administration still has an uphill battle. "The problem is that it is all being done in a highly partisan, highly critical environment, so 'good enough' is attacked in a way that makes it hard to move forward," Center for Democracy and Technology President and CEO Leslie Harris said.
Panelists also questioned whether public wikis and comment periods are effective tools for innovation and agreed that feedback should relate to deliverable outcomes.
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