Something’s missing from the public debate about recovery.gov, the Web site proposed for public stimulus disclosure. ...
What’s missing ... is a recognition of what has changed.
The Internet has been recognized as having a central — even fundamental — role in enabling oversight and public access. The gap between public expectations and legislative initiatives has become significantly smaller, as Congress and President Obama recognize that a recovery or economic stimulus without a public Web site would be an immediate public disappointment — car without a dashboard, or a school without grades. Beyond that, we’re even seeing lawmakers and staff explore the positive aspects of realtime disclosure.
Recent amendments show that Congress is being forced to think through Internet’s real policy relevance. ...
This is a new enthusiasm, and shouldn’t be overlooked. The same Congress that fought their way through enacting and implementing the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act is learning to apply digital public disclosure lessons to everything they do, albeit slowly. This is no small task.
Somewhat devoid of technological expertise, lawmakers, staffers, legislation drafters, Congressional Leadership, and even Presidents are learning what they can require, and what they have to gain, from engaging in our publicly networked culture. The Open Government community has swiftly pivoted from pressuring for digital disclosure to prescribing how it should be donebetter. ...
[W]e should recognize sea changes as they occur. Recovery.gov, now appreciated only as a matter of course, has been accepted by lawmakers as an integral part of the recovery plan - emblematic of just such a fundamental shift. ...
Comment. One wonders how widely this thinking applies. Lawmakers have recognized public access as vital for government spending data -- to what extent does the same thinking carry to other types of public sector information, or to publicly-funded scientific information?
Posted by
Gavin Baker at 1/29/2009 08:44:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
