Who Should Do What
Who Should Do What
The Executive Branch
The executive branch can continue to set the tone for federal open government initiatives and increase their influence on the implementation of these platforms and standards with state and city governments. The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), whose mission is to advise the President and others within the administration on domestic and international science and technology issues, can drive these efforts. As structured by Congress, OSTP also has the ability to lead federal interagency efforts that advance science and technology policies, budgets and strategic partnerships. With the current Open Government Directive housed within OSTP, their role is vital in promoting both an ecosystem and echo chamber where open government platforms become more of the norm for how citizens, irrespective of where they live, interact with public information. One suggestion is that OSTP develop the Local Open Government Initiative that extends their reach to smaller localities, especially in sharing best practices and potential pitfalls in this area. OSTP can also provide an international perspective to this debate and offer insight into how other countries are addressing information transparency needs and how they are addressing privacy, accessibility and costs associated with open government applications. OSTP might lead the interdisciplinary collaboration that drafts guidelines for developing and managing open government platforms and work with the Federal Communications Commission on the allocation of spectrum to locations and projects that advance public good.
Congress
Since much of the federal legislation around information transparency has not been updated to reflect the growth of the Internet and the Web 2.0 and 3.0 computing environments, Congress can revisit and update existing transparency laws. Recommendations can be made to extend the type of data being made available to the general public and the forms in which it can be accessed. Updates to the Paperwork Reduction Law and the Freedom of Information Act can make data collection and compilation less prohibitive and improve the ability of governments, especially federal agencies, ]to gather feedback from consumers about their user experience. Congress can also earmark support for local governments to migrate their vital services online. As cities like Chicago and New York can afford to deploy e-government platforms, federal grants from OSTP’s Open Government Directive or tiered support from federal agencies can ensure that localities with limited resources are not disadvantaged in serving community information needs.
The Federal Communications Commission
Many of the points around disparities in broadband access fall under the leadership and jurisdiction of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC needs to play an active role in reforming the Universal Service Fund, and targeting resources to underserved and unserved communities. The FCC can lead the charge on developing digital literacy standards that can be promoted at community anchor institutions. It can also work to establish guidelines for content accessibility by literacy, language or physical abilities. The FCC can work in tandem with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Rural Utility Service to ensure that funded programs direct people to government websites and other citizen-focused tools. Finally, the FCC can work with OSTP who is administering the President’s executive order to release unused and unlicensed spectrum to guarantee some provision to national purposes. The ability of government to make applications and communications available in the largest city and the smallest rural town will drive demand for these platforms. The FCC can play a significant role, as outlined in the National Broadband Plan, to ensure that engagement with government is not restricted to individuals with adequate access to a PC and broadband connection.
State and Local Governments
Through their chief information and technology leaders, state and city government leaders can help define the agenda for the current and future state of open government platforms. Chief information and technology leaders can work with their purchasing agents to simplify the procurement processes and develop a more flexible checklist for the types of products and services that support e-government services and platforms. Moreover, state and local governments can be more actively engaged in the national dialogue around spectrum allocation to guarantee their communities are prepared for the future expansion of mobile content.
Local governments can partner with national and community foundations to support citizen application contests and other types of innovative partnerships. Colleges and universities, including small and mid-size public colleges, community colleges and historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), can also be engaged by local governments to generate new content and implement partnerships similar to Code for America. Local students, for example, can gather feedback from community residents on the type of social problems affecting their quality of life, assist in application development and implement widespread communications strategies to market and promote the collaboration. Or they can work within local agencies or non-profits to engineer the next public purpose application that improves how local people find jobs, health care and family and educational supports.
State and local governments can also establish multi-agency task forces that coordinate the expertise of leaders that interface with people with disabilities and seniors. A Chief Technology Accessibility Officer (CTA) can be added to the roster of technical specialists to ensure that standards around language, literacy and accessibility are integrated into all platform designs.
Community Anchor Institutions and Nonprofits
Schools, libraries, community colleges, and other community-based organizations play a significant role in offering high-speed Internet access and digital literacy training. These organizations drive demand for online government content and resources simply because they make the Internet accessible to people. Whereas many individuals are limited in their use of online government resources due to their lack of computer and Internet training, community anchor institutions, along with nonprofits, can accelerate individuals’ understanding of what is available, provide some rules of the road on what they have access to, and serve as a conduit to local governments on what other types of data need to be made available to the public. Community anchor institutions can also play a role in helping citizens learn how to develop public purpose applications that advance community interests through “citizen idea incubators” and other workshops that increase civic participation.
Universities
Universities play a vital role in aggregating thought leaders in this area to engineer new processes and tools for open government platforms. Through the design of research-based standards or in the pooling of resources to build the next killer application, university partnerships can provide the research and development needed to move both technical systems, especially legacy systems, and content development into its next evolution. Universities can also encourage citizens to get more engaged in content creation and sponsor apps contests like the ones described in this paper.
The Private Sector
The private sector plays a critical role in the success of open government platforms. The private sector continues to innovate applications and resources in this space, even when governments trail behind.
Moving forward, the private sector can be helpful to government entities by sharing their own best practices, creating strategic networks and partnerships and being agnostic to technical formats that limit data imports and exports.
Local Citizens
People are the major consumers of government content and platforms. From local journalists to average citizens, the need for community information is even more critical to their quality of life. As stated in the Knight Commission report, “local information systems should support widespread knowledge of and participation in the community’s day-to-day life by all segments of the community.” This statement rings true when government is open and transparent, and people are actively participating in this democracy—one that is not only shaped by the opinions at the top, but also the experiences of people that strive for better communities. Local citizens are vital to driving open government platforms because it will be their approaches to solving community problems that advance robust applications for civic engagement.
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