Open Government: Collaboration, Transparency, and Participation in Practice

About the Book
The Obama presidential campaign was historic for many reasons, including its unprecedented use of the Internet and Web 2.0 technologies. Transparency and open government are two primary issues of this administration and we see technology playing an integral part of it, especially with the appointment of the country’s very first CIO and CTO.

The concept of open government has been influenced–for the better–by the open source software movement. Indeed, if government is a platform, and Gov 2.0 is the next release, how can we make it one that shakes up–and reshapes–the world?

Fortunately, in a timely new book from O’Reilly, Open Government (O’Reilly Media, $44.99 USD), Beth Simone Noveck, U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer for open government, and Tim O’Reilly, founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media, along with dozens of leading visionaries and practitioners both inside and outside of government attempt to answer that question. In the new book, they share their ideas on how to achieve and direct this emerging world of online collaboration, transparency, and participation.

“Government 2.0 is the use of technology–especially the collaborative technologies at the heart of Web 2.0–to better solve collective problems at a city, state, national, and international level,” writes O’Reilly in his essay, “Defining Government 2.0: Lessons Learned from the Success of Computer Platforms.” “The hope is that Internet technologies will allow us to rebuild the kind of participatory government envisioned by our nation’s founders, in which, as Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter to Joseph Cabell, ‘every man…feels that he is a participator in the government of affairs, not merely at an election one day in the year, but every day.’”

All these contributors and more offer practical solutions as we step into the future:

• Beth Simone Noveck, U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer for open government, The Single Point of Failure
• Jerry Brito, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, All Your Data Are Belong to Us: Liberating Government Data
• Aaron Swartz, co-founder of reddit.com, OpenLibrary.org, and BoldProgressives.org, When Is Transparency Useful?
• Allen S. Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, Disrupting Washington’s Golden Rule
• Carl Malamud, founder of Public.Resource.Org, By the People
• Douglas Schuler, president of the Public Sphere Project, Online Deliberation and Civic IntelligenceHoward Dierking, program manager on Microsoft’s MSDN and TechNet Web
• Matthew Burton, Web entrepreneur and former intelligence analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency, A Peace Corps for Programmers
• Gary D. Bass and Sean Moulton, OMB Watch, Bringing the Web 2.0 Revolution to Government
• Tim O’Reilly, founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media, Defining Government 2.0: Lessons Learned from the Success of Computer Platforms

Advance Praise
“Open government is one critical part in making happen what some may think impossible: a government that actually works.”
–Lawrence Lessig, director of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics and professor of law at Harvard Law School

“Government is becoming more responsive and effective due to the Open Government movement. This book is written by the people, and for the people, who are interested in making Open Government happen.”
–Craig Newmark, Founder of Craigslist

“Open Government is a comprehensive compendium of the who, what, how, and why of the emergent national “Gov 2.0″ movement; it’s a must-read for all who care about transparent, efficient, and participatory government, which, by definition, should equate to each and every one of us in our capacity as citizens and voters.”
–Andrew Hoppin, CIO, New York State Senate

“We’re living in a world characterized by exponential change. Most government organizations weren’t built for this world. The movement from closed to open is one of the most important ways governments can adapt to faster change. Open Government offers insight on how to get from here to there. It should be required reading for anyone who cares about the future of the public sector.”
–William D. Eggers, Author, If We Can Put a Man on the Moon: Getting Big Things Done in Government and Government 2.0

My Take on the Book
What was most amazing about this book was the fact that this book brought together some very influential individuals in the field of government reform: Ellen Miller, Micah L. Sifry, Mark Drapeau, as well as Fernanda Viegas, Dan Gillmor and many others. Your mind will be opened to the idea of connecting web 2.0 with government to find ways in which we might be able to better run our government.

I liked one of the quotes from the book itself that read:

“Government 2.0 is not a new kind of government; it is government stripped down to its core, rediscovered and re-imagined as if for the first time. … There is a new compact on the horizon: information produced by and on behalf of citizens is the lifeblood of the economy and the nation; government has a responsibility to treat that information as a national asset. Citizens are connected like never before and have the skill sets and passion to solve problems affecting them locally as well as nationally. Government information and services can be provided to citizens where and when they need them. Citizens are empowered to spark the innovation that will result in an improved approach to governance. In this model, government is a convener and an enabler rather than the first mover of civic action.”

While I am not an expert on government in any sense, I will way that I was impressed at some of the ideas presented. These ideas challenged my own thinking and made me think outside of my own comfort zone. The chapters were well laid out and the authors were amazingly thorough in their assessment of the connections between government and technology and makes me want to contact my own representatives to impart my new found wisdom on them!
If this book looks like one that you would like for your own collection, you can find it on Amazon!

This post was written for O’Reilly Media who provided the complimentary book in exchange for my honest review.