Idea Not Accessible

How can we strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness by making government more transparent, participatory, and collaborative?

June 26, 2009

The Open Government Dialogue is now closed. Because of your participation, this dialogue has generated a rich collection of ideas that will shape the President’s commitment to making our government more transparent, participatory, and collaborative.

This dialogue represented the first of a three-phase process that is soliciting public input in crafting recommendations on open government. Summaries of the brainstorming that has occurred here, and of subsequent phases in the process, can be found on the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Blog.

Visit the White House Open Government Initiative website for more information.

The National Academy of Public Administration

On January 21st, the President issued the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government, calling for an unprecedented level of openness in government. In the memorandum, the President outlined three principles for promoting a transparent and open government: transparency, participation, and collaboration. Now, the President is calling on you to help shape how that commitment is fulfilled. This online brainstorming session, open from May 21st to 28th, 2009, will enable the White House to hear your most important ideas relating to open government.

This platform allows you to submit ideas, discuss and refine others' ideas, and vote the best ones to the top. We are seeking innovative approaches to policy, specific project suggestions, government-wide or agency-specific instructions, and any relevant examples and stories relating to law, policy, technology, culture, or practice. The National Academy of Public Administration, a Congressionally chartered, non-profit, non-partisan institution, is hosting this brainstorming session on behalf of the White House.

The most important themes and ideas to emerge will provide the basis for two more stages of interaction: A Discussion Phase, when we will deepen the conversation about compelling topics raised during the brainstorming, and a Drafting Phase, when we will ask you to use a wiki to draft language for recommendations collaboratively.

Some questions to consider in formulating ideas include:

  • How might the operations of government be made more transparent and accountable?
  • How might federal advisory committees, rulemaking or electronic rulemaking be better used to drive greater expertise into decisionmaking?
  • What alternative models exist to improve the quality of decisionmaking and increase opportunities for citizen participation?
  • What strategies might be employed to adopt greater use of Web 2.0 in agencies?
  • What policy impediments to innovation in government currently exist?
  • What is the best way to change the culture of government to embrace collaboration?
  • What changes in training or hiring of personnel would enhance innovation?
  • What performance measures are necessary to determine the effectiveness of open government policies?

Please note: On Saturday morning, we made a small change to this site. Posting, commenting and voting on ideas now requires users to log in. This change was made in response to concerns that settings that allowed anonymous posting may also have allowed users to vote more than once on the same idea. Our privacy and moderation policies can be accessed here.

Getting Started

Here is a discussion question to get you started:

While you're here:

  • Search for Ideas to make sure that your idea or area of interest hasn't already been covered.
  • Vote, Vote, Vote! Your votes are critical to ensuring that the best ideas "bubble up" to the top.
  • Add Your Idea by clicking on the "New Idea" button to the left.
  • Spread the Word! E-mail a link to this website to your network, and invite them to get involved.

Browse Ideas

Displaying all 10 Ideas