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November 30, 2010 by
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You bet. And I say that because I’m a woman. 
But in all seriousness, others—of the male gender—are willing to back me up. Mainly, Andrea Di Maio, who is VP of Gartner Research. Di Maio hasn’t conducted any official surveys, but has been spoken to several hundred people around the world for the past three years on web 2.0 and government 2.0 development. And at a recent Open Government at Gartner Symposium Di Maio observed that women tend to be “nimbler” at implementing Gov. 2.0 strategies.
My comment about women and government 2.0 is rooted in how many interactions with female CIO and IT leaders have shown a better appreciation of the potential of these technologies, but also a smarter way of striking a balance between internal vs. external collaboration and the blurring of boundaries between the two.
I do not mean to say that men do not get it. On the other hand, while there seems to be an overwhelming majority of men among the government 2.0 evangelist community (some of whom may have been offended by my observation), women on the government 2.0 implementation side (i.e. not those who preach, but those who have to deploy and use these technologies) seem to be faster and nimbler in getting to the bottom of it.
So, even without online surveys, interviews and desk research, I think I am in a position to state, sadly as a man, that women really get this more than we do. It would be interesting to figure out why, rather than fighting the evidence, and this is where I hope I’ll be able to do some research.
Apparently, some men in the Gov. 2.0 field were offended by Di Maio’s observations, saying that men are just as quick to grasp and implement the concepts.
So, I put the age-old question to you:
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November 29, 2010 by
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Wikileaks is, like Sunshine Review, a wiki, which means that it is (generally) open to all to contribute to to make edits. It is an ideal platform for collecting information.
Wikileaks expressly exists “,” which has gotten it much negative attention.
The site had come under fire earlier this year, and has again stirred the pot. .
The Huffington Post mentions that two are security and privacy. It seems uncontroversial to note that controlling information and leaks provides vital advantages in a time of war.
But the question people are asking is: is this transparency? One change in transparency is the internet and social media:
Increasingly, citizens are turning to the Internet for data, policy and services. Alongside the efforts of government webmasters at .gov websites, citizens will find the rich stew of social media, media conglomerates or mashups that use government and private data.
But is transparency the motivation behind the leaks? Derrick Ashong, also at the HuffPo, :
Exposing the cover-up of civilian murders in Iraq is clearly important work. Publishing private emails of diplomats strikes me as… sort of petty.
However, it is only private e-mails at the ground level. A bigger picture view of the information leaked reveals insight into North and South Korea’s potential future, funding of extremist groups by public officials in Eritrea, and several U.S. diplomatic failures. It’s not mere gossip or tidbits; it’s new chapters to the stories.
So the information is valuable. But that leaves us with questions still:
1) Is this government transparency?
2) Do the ends justify the means?
and, most importantly perhaps,
3) What are the implications for the future of the relationships between governments and citizens?
For more on the leaked cables and the insight they offer, see the
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November 22, 2010 by
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With long-time Chicago Mayor , aspiring mayors are already trying to set themselves apart from other potential candidates.
has decided to focus on transparency. today that aims to make government information and data more available and accessible to Chicagoans. The idea is called”Sunshine Chicago,” and it would use the city’s existing data site as a foundation to establish a central clearinghouse that pulls data from all City of Chicago departments to make it easily accessible. Currently, the City’s existing site only provides data from FOIA requests and does not include responses.
“For far too long, government has not effectively kept people informed about how the city spends its money and the way we make important decisions,” Chico said. He noted that Chicago leased its parking meters for more than $1 billion two years ago, and of that only $76 million is left. “Many Chicagoans want to know – where did all that money go? With this initiative, citizens won’t have to ask.”
By opening up more data to the public, Chico’s initiative would make it easier for web developers, entrepreneurs and citizens to create innovative tools that improve transparency and access at no additional cost to the city.
· Improving access to an unprecedented amount of data;
· Empowering ;
· Providing a responsive outlet for citizen ideas and feedback.
Sunshine Review gives the a B- on website transparency, a decent score. But there is much more to transparency than our checklist, that is merely the start. Hopefully, Chico’s bringing of transparency to the spotlight will get other candidates talking about how to make Chicago more open.
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November 19, 2010 by
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The TSA is a government agency, the . wrote about this issue—”“—highlight the scandalous nature of recent events regarding the administration’s actions.
A legislature in Florida is calling for airports to , instead encouraging them to choose private contractors for security. One powerful tool in holding the TSA accountable is the Freedom of Information Act. Today in #FOIAchat, our weekly Twitter conference on FOIA issues, we talked about private/public companies and requesting information. One can currently , though because of its relationship to the Department of Homeland Security, it is possible many exemptions apply. If more airports do opt out, it will be interesting to see what the transparency implications will be.
Look for the #FOIAchat archive . And let us know your opinion.
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November 18, 2010 by
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The superintendent of in North Carolina stated that the .
The school district’s budget advisory committee, which held its first meeting Wednesday, is a good start in engaging citizens. The committee includes administrators, two principals, two teachers, one student, the head of the Durham Association of Educators, two members of the business community and six general community members.
The school is going to use its website a means of communicating with citizens. For guidance, they should use the , which lays out the minimum amount of information that should be available on a government website.
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November 17, 2010 by
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The Illinois Freedom of Information Act is still on a rocky path.
The has overturned Governor Pat Quinn’s veto on Freedom of Information Act exemptions in the state. Quinn passed an amendatory veto of a bill that effectively exempted the performance evaluations of all public employees; Quinn’s veto would only exempt law enforcement. If the Senate accepts the House’s bill to reverse Quinn’s veto, all employee evaluations will be exempt from disclosure.
Earlier in the year, Quinn actually passed the new Illinois FOIA that had stricter penalties for noncompliance and response times. But , which limited the exemption but also accepted their validity.
Performance evaluations are like the year end reports you and I have to deal with, but more important. Because public employees are paid by tax funds to which all citizens contribute, we all have a right to keep them accountable. Also, the groups of public employees whose reviews are exempt are exactly the employees we have an great interest in as citizens: children spend most of their days with teachers, and interactions with police officers involve a great power disparity. Information can help prevent incompetent officials from staying on the public payroll, like one officer who was .
Hopefully, enough watchdogs will continue to guard the Illinois FOIA so that there are fewer instances of lawmakers chipping away at it.
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November 17, 2010 by
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Alabama school districts earned an overall “D” transparency grade for information available on their websites according to an analysis conducted by Sunshine Review, a pro-transparency group.
Sunshine Review employs a “10 Point Transparency Checklist” to assess state and local government websites on proactive disclosure of government information. The checklist measures content available on government websites against what should be provided. Checklist items include information about budgets, meetings, elected and administrative officials, background checks, audits, contracts, academic performance, public records, and taxes.
The highest scoring districts in Alabama were Auburn City Schools and the Mobile County Public School system, each earning “B-” transparency grades. However, school districts overwhelmingly failed the transparency test, with 47 of the 132 school districts earning an “F.” Many of the school districts failed to post audits, contracts, and or academic performance.
“Well, I’m not surprised,” said Gary Palmer, President of the Alabama Policy Institute. “We have had a legislature that is not interested in transparency or accountability at any level of government. I think the new legislature is much more reform oriented.”
The President of Sunshine Review Michael Barnhart believes that proactively disclosing audits will have a positive impact on Idaho’s schools performance.
“It is crucial for parents and taxpayers to have access to complete information about how school districts operate,” said Barnhart.
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November 16, 2010 by
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When we advocated for more government transparency, we didn’t mean the government releasing naked pictures citizens who passed through the full body scanners at airports. Yet, that’s exactly what they’ve done. Gizmodo filed a FOIA request and received in return.
Privacy advocates are already arguing that the body scanners are violations of our rights and nothing but “” It’ll be interesting to see what the release of the “unstored” photos means for FOIA as well.
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November 12, 2010 by
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Last year it took the Illinois State Legislature less then 15 days to limit the new and improved state when it added exemptions for performance evaluations of teachers, administrators and superintendents.
Other public employees thought this was a grand idea, which lead to , which would exempt all performance evaluations (even though it was allowed even the under previous version of the law). In July, Gov. Pat Quinn , saying that only emergency personnel would be exempted.
But the bill is back from the dead, and expected to be voted on during next weeks veto session. The Illinois Press Association (IPA) is anticipating :
- Representatives could approve the governor’s amendment and send it to the Senate (IPA thinks it’s unlikely)
- The House could override the veto with a three-fifths majority vote (which they need only more to do) and send the bill to the Senate (IPA believe this is possible)
- Or the House could do nothing, which would kill the bill and leave FOIA intact (IPA preferred)
I’m with the IPA, option number three please.
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November 11, 2010 by
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Sunshine Review has rated more than 5,000 city, county, and school district website using out Ten Point Transparency Checklist. out of these, a mere 40 have scored a 9 or 10.
There’s clearly a need for some sort of legislation to encourage governments to disclose key information to citizens. That’s why Sunshine Review is proud to introduce the .
In the coming weeks, we will talk to more than 7,000 legislators to ask them to review the legislation and to support it.
What is the Sunshine Standard? You can hear it right from our president .
The Sunshine Standard website includes model legislation for public officials to use as a tool, but also to start making a change in their state and local governments. We hope you’re as excited about this as we are, and that you’ll join us in making your local government more transparent.