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 <[email protected]> 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 ----------------------------------------- Group home for Newswire - Steven Clift's Democracies Online Newswire: http://groups.dowire.org/groups/newswire Replies go to members of Newswire - Steven Clift's Democracies Online Newswire with all posts on this topic here: http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/6IpwtngkOaOHMsAxakT2zT For digest version or to leave Newswire - Steven Clift's Democracies Online Newswire, email [email protected] with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*. Newswire - Steven Clift's Democracies Online Newswire is hosted by Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.
