Open Government

Research Note: Is Your Government Open or Closed? October 2011 11 As one of the flagships of the Open Government Initiative, Data.gov was launched by then CIO Vivek Kundra. In 2011, new features were added in an effort to transform the site from a data repository to a cloud-based platform for creating new applications and services. Data.gov evolved into a development and service-delivery platform, providing new ways for the public, developers, and the agency to plug into the site. In addition, the office of CIO also instituted TechStat Accountability Sessions, during which the CIO met with agency leaders to discuss IT projects that were behind schedule or inefficient, and sought to improve them. The Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative, a plan to significantly reduce the U.S. government‟s 2,000-plus data centers, is also ongoing with 195 scheduled to shut down by the end of the year. President Obama‟s “Twitter Town hall” outreach in July 2011 was led by the Office of Communications “New Media” in recognition of a different information age, one in which many people are bypassing traditional media and getting their information in different ways, from difference sources, according to director Dan Pfeiffer. The President discussed housing, taxes, debt and education, at the same time making history as the first president to “livetweet,” meeting with his constituents in cyberspace. Furthermore, at the recent Open Government Partnership launch event, the Obama Administration presented the next phase of its open government strategy, unveiling its Open Government National Action Plan with goals for 26 issues. This included new commitments that will improve open government further such as increasing access to data by launching new user-oriented communities on Data.gov, establishing guidelines for greater sharing of scientific data and improving fiscal transparency. Recent initiatives such as the "We the People" e-petition platform and the Government Accountability and Transparency Board, which is developing recommendations to improve spending transparency will also proceed.