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Create an Open Government project directory and knowledge base
The basic idea is to make sure that any important information about past, current or upcoming government projects or programs in the areas of transparency, participation and collaboration is captured and shared in a timely manner and easily accessible to anyone interested in or affected by these projects/programs.

The project directory would contain project briefs, contact information, key performance indicators, lessons learned, media coverage, citizen feedback etc.

The knowledge base could include information on key people and organizations, tools, metrics, case studies etc. as well as checklists, how-tos and other best practices.

This information would benefit everyone involved (citizens, government, research, media, vendors etc.) by helping design better projects/programs as well as increase the likelihood of project/program success.

Why Is This Idea Important?

Because a lot of the work that will be performed in this area is relatively new and fairly experimental, it is important that successes as well as failures (or experiences in general) be captured and shared so as to avoid reinventing the wheel too many times.
Comments
Tim Bonnemann 8 months ago
Another idea "Establish a federal institute for public engagement" (http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/2434-4049) also suggests to "develop a knowledge-base."
Tim Bonnemann 8 months ago
It should be noted that this could probably be achieved in a light-weight and decentralized manner as well, as long as government is required to somehow "register" their project/program work and provide the necessary or available information in some standards-based format. That way, multiple third parties could work on exposing that information back to the end user (of course, there are pros and cons to this approach well).
Tim Bonnemann 8 months ago
Also, please expand on this idea (e.g. note the kind of information/resources you would like to see in such directory/knowledge base). Thanks!
Tim Bonnemann 8 months ago
Another related idea: "Research and share best practices for targeted outreach to involve more than the usual suspects in public decision making" (http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/2961-4049).
Linda Blong 8 months ago
I appreciate how you continued developing this idea with more posts Tim to further the conversation. It sounds like you're talking about this knowledge based focusing on federal projects and programs (perhaps also tools and strategies?). And one of the things to explore in moving this idea along would be how to capture the kind of knowledge that you reference when it is demonstrated in how a given federal program or project is implemented at the state or local level. I'll bet we could all name programs that sounded highly transparent and participatory in the federal guidance, but when implemented turn out quite differently. And of course, we could probably name examples of the opposite, where states and local governments (or other entities implementing federal programs) do their work collaboratively, transparently and involving broad participatory processes.

So the task of building the knowledge base quickly becomes quite complex (and more interesting!) and a decentralized approach more appropriate for lots of reasons.

Great idea to build upon!
Stephen Buckley 8 months ago
Dear fellow "Idea" brainstormers and commentors:

For news and moderated discussion (public, but unofficial) about the
continuing development and implementation of the "Open Government
Directive", you are invited to either:

1. send mailto:opengovernmentdirective+subscribe@googlegroups.com

2. visit http://groups.google.com/group/opengovernmentdirective

NOTE: Because I am posting this to the Comment section of some
(but not all) Ideas, you may see this message more than once.
I apologize for that.

vr,
Stephen Buckley
http://www.UStransparency.com
Tim Bonnemann 8 months ago
A matchmaking component that connects participation projects with research (e.g. universities, foundations) would also be nice.
klingspoon.troy 8 months ago
Certainly using mass review to communicate on upcoming projects that may have complex ideas is great. I just want to ensure that all citizens have affordable access to such powerful concepts of learning.

A standard citizen portal connection that is highly affordable, wireless and miniturized and uses extremely low amounts of power is the way forward. To combine efforts of cyber security, affordability and wireless connectivity into a single device is a significant strategy that will be a cornerstone that when combined with other great ideas mentioned on this site and elsewhere will have no equal for years to come.
Debra Bryant 8 months ago
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and support Campaign for Liberty
Debra Bryant 8 months ago
Do a search in Google on "Government Wealth" then if you are inclined, support this man that has provided this great service for us that make up the USA. We need volunteers to audit their city, county, state, etc...
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