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Article Excerpt
A dramatic, exciting, and potentially revolutionary vision is sweeping across the nation, one that asks the question, "Does government work?" President Obama posed this question in his inaugural address on Jan. 20, 2009. If it does not, then we need to do something different--we need a new approach to find solutions to the myriad problems facing the nation. This view rejects the argument, "This is the way we've always done it." In his book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--And How It Can Renew America, Thomas Friedman makes the same point: "Just coasting along and doing the same old things is not an option any longer. We need a whole new approach and as they say in Texas: 'If all you ever do is all you've ever done, then all you'll ever get is all you ever got'" (p. 6).
Government today, at all levels, needs leadership, innovation, collaboration, and a willingness to try things with the attitude that if something doesn't work, you try something else. Fortunately we have government leaders, managers, and citizens passionately engaged and committed to making this new vision of government a reality.
On his second day in office, President Obama issued a "Transparency and Open Government" memorandum, in which he laid out his vision of what government should be:
This vision of government wholeheartedly embraces Web 2.0 practices that encourage knowledge sharing, transparency, open standards, multiple approaches to problem solving, championing new ideas and innovations, and encouraging everyone to participate, share, and collaborate.
To achieve this vision of government, President Obama has instructed the executive departments and agencies of his administration to "harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and [make them] readily available to the public ... [to] offer Americans increased opportunities to participate in policymaking and to provide their Government with the benefits of their collective expertise and information ... [to] solicit public input on how we can increase and improve opportunities for public participation in Government." He states: "Executive departments and agencies should use innovative tools, methods, and systems to cooperate among themselves, across all levels of Government, and with nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individuals in the private sector. Executive departments and agencies should solicit public feedback to assess and improve their level of collaboration and to identify new opportunities for cooperation" (Presidential Memorandum, Jan. 21, 2009 [http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/ TransparencyandOpenGovernment]).
This new vision of government takes the features of Web 2.0 and applies them to solve problems and issues. President Obama, demonstrating his commitment to Web 2.0 practices, has nominated two dynamic and web-savvy executives--Vivek Kundra and Aneesh Chopra. Kundra serves as the federal chief information officer and deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget in charge of all federal e-initiatives. Kundra's credentials indicate he brings to the position plenty of experience and expertise. He formerly served as Washington, D.C.'s chief information officer and, prior to that, as the state of Virginia's assistant secretary of commerce and technology.
A closer look at Kundra's past accomplishments may give us an idea of what directions his future as a federal government information officer may take. The D.C. government has dramatically changed its tawdry image of corrupt, inefficient, and ineffective government (the poster child for everything wrong with government) to become a proactive advocate for open, transparent government. For example, look at the DC Data Warehouse, a catalog of more than 275 data feeds from multiple agencies across the D.C. government. The database provides access to a wealth of city government data including, but not limited to, current crime information, building permits, road and construction projects, and housing code enforcement actions.
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The data feeds come in...
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