Громадська рада при Державному комітеті інформатизації України

Джерело: http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=716&doc_id=177868...

People of all political stripes should be cheering on the Obama administration's embrace of Web 2.0 platforms. They have challenged themselves to make the federal government more open and innovative, and -- considering the bureaucratic barriers to doing new things in government -- the initial steps being taken by the White House and various agencies are a remarkable achievement.

The White House is doing more than showing up on social networks, though. Most recently it launched two much more ambitious projects: Data.gov and the the Open Government Initiative.

• Data.gov aims to make more government data available to the public in a way that is easier to read so that you don’t have to be an investigative journalist to sort it out. They're also inviting users to make their own applications to make the data more presentable, judge the quality of the data, and request that new data be made available. A natural priority is to develop a centralized, easily searchable database for all federal ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance information.

• The Open Government Initiative has a broader goal: It is soliciting ideas and setting priorities for making government more transparent and accountable, and for making it easier for people to participate in improving government. Going a step further, it invites users to make suggestions about such arcane matters as federal advisory committees, rule-making, and personnel policies to improve government performance.

These are just the latest innovations using new media to make government more responsive and effective. There are many more possibilities for citizen engagement.

One interesting experiment is the Peer-to-Patent project, which recruits the public to help the Patent Office "find the information relevant to assessing the claims of pending patent applications."

In other words, the project aims to supplement the existing review process by inviting interested people to search for evidence regarding whether a new invention is really new, or if someone else already owns the rights to it.

Considering the vast amount of information available to the public and the rapid innovation in today’s marketplace, crowdsourcing the patent examination process may be a great way to help protect the creative drive that has contributed so much to American prosperity.

It will be interesting to see whether this can be expanded to other areas. It’s not a big leap from the government’s current efforts with patents to getting the public involved in defining and securing the rights of all kinds of creators. After all, in a digital society, everybody controls the "means of production"; we are all creators and entrepreneurs. It makes sense to empower people to define and protect their own rights.

Perhaps this is a sign of the world ahead of us in a digital society. Instead of invisible bureaucrats making decisions about our lives, perhaps government will feature genuine social collaborations.

Still, there are many difficulties and dangers ahead in this government embrace of Web 2.0. Sunlight may be the best disinfectant, but government does not always like being disinfected. There will be a temptation to embrace social media as a communications platform, rather than a participation platform.

This is not a Left/Right or Republican/Democrat issue. Transparent, responsive, open government is supported by virtually everybody, even (allegedly!) politicians. The problem has always been getting the politicians to put their rhetoric into practice once campaigning ends and governance begins. The Obama administration deserves great credit for the groundbreaking steps they have taken so far.

A more accountable government, receiving more feedback from the people, is something we can all embrace. But the digital society holds far more promises for government; there are miles to go before we sleep.