[open-government] What would an "Action Plan" for open government in your state/city look like?

Tue Apr 8 13:13:32 UTC 2014

I just sent this around Minnesota, inspired by the OGP process and
previous discussions on the OGP civil society online group about the
opportunity to engage local/regional/state/provincial government in
OGP or OGP-like processes.

Steven Clift
E-Democracy.org

From: Steven Clift <clift at e-democracy.org>
Date: Tue, Apr 8, 2014 at 8:06 AM
Subject: What would an "Action Plan" for open government in Minnesota look like?

New Zealand recently jointed the 60+ nation Open Government Partnership:
http://www.opengovpartnership.org

New Zealand has a similar population to Minnesota. So, what can we
learn from them??

I've been active on the OGP international civil society online group -
http://www.ogphub.org - promoting the idea that local and state
governments matter as well. Government closest to the people, that
interacts directly with the public the most, should be the leading
engine for open government that builds service and trust people can
feel and see.

I am quite impressed by the OGP process and action-oriented engagement
framework. It is summarized nicely by New Zealand:

"As part of our membership to the forum we are required to demonstrate
how the government will implement transparency, accountability,
technology and innovation and civil society participation in
government.  We are required to prepare an Action Plan of commitments
that will demonstrate how we are working towards these OGP
objectives."

See New Zealand's outline for their next steps:
http://www.ssc.govt.nz/open-government-partnership

Because of Minnesota's similar scale, we could learn a lot by watching
New Zealand over the coming months.

Governments essentially:

1. Endorse these principles:
http://www.opengovpartnership.org/about/open-government-declaration

2. They develop an action plan with essential "civil society" engagement:
http://www.opengovpartnership.org/how-it-works/requirements

3. They make commitments of action and report on their progress.
Here is the U.S. government's second report:
http://bit.ly/usopengovplan2

Also, similar to the Open Twin Cities online group -
http://opentwincities.org - open government folks in New Zealand hang
out here: http://groups.open.org.nz/groups/ninja-talk/

The UK has one of the most active civil society efforts -
http://www.opengovernment.org.uk - with an active online group -
http://lists.openrightsgroup.org/mailman/listinfo/ogp-cs-uk - and
links to the official UK government action plans here:
http://www.opengovernment.org.uk/national-action-plan/

As part of the Open Minnesota legislative proposal website (which will
be bigger and better in 2015, a full budget session), "The Plan" -
http://openminnesota.org/plan/ - includes, "Adapt "best of" for
Minnesota - Promote awareness of the global Open Government
Declaration, available civic technology code, and open data"

So, while definitely not a mandate, in Minnesota we'd be leveraging
the millions being invested into OGP action plan work, models, and
methods around the world and share how our own governments can
adapt this engine to our state's benefit toward more open and
effective government. My vision includes some sort of OGP-lite
framework government units in Minnesota could use voluntarily to
accelerate their open government accomplishments and actually get
credit for the good work they are doing (and better compare notes
across communities.)

Thoughts?

Steven Clift
E-Democracy.org

P.S. The White House and OpenTheGovernment.org just opened a new
online group about U.S. Federal open government efforts:
http://bit.ly/usopengovgroup

"The White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)
recently launched a new Federal Open Government Discussion Group to
create space for open government advocates from inside and outside the
government to collaborate on issues. The group is open to anyone and
intended to support on-going discussions about U.S. Federal open
government efforts, including the Open Government Partnership, Federal
agency Open Government Plans, the Freedom of Information Act, and
other related issues. The list is co-moderated by OSTP and
OpenTheGovernment.org. To join, visit the group page and request to be
added."

See: http://bit.ly/usopengovgroup

Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
  Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.org
  Twitter: http://twitter.com/democracy
  Tel/Text: +1.612.234.7072