UPDATE: June 8, 2009 — – flooding the OpenGov website…
As OpenGov moves out of the safe area of discussions within groups of us (that basically agree with each other) and into the harsh light of the more public forum, the road ahead gets strewn with rocks, roadblocks and attempts to divert attention away from the thoughtful discourse we all cherish.
The first phase, completed last week was the Brainstorming phase. While that effort garnered very good attention and many good ideas, it also attracted the attention of those whose political slant seems more appropriate on the ‘rant’ blogs that are so prolific. That trend has continued in the Discussion: Transparency Principals phase, where the single thread commenting structure allows the off-topic slamming of politically motivated agendas, rather than the discussion of the questions put before the venue by the OpenGov organization in the Office of the President.
OpenGov21 asks all members of GovLoop to wade in to the fray, and make a case that our goals and principals can be taken to the public venue for reasonable discussion. While it is tempting to answer the off-topic and politically inspired comments, we have found that it is best that we NOT engage in these diversionary arguments, but gently re-direct the discussion to the principal and process of Transparency. We cannot do this without more voices from this group sharing in this discussion.
Open Government Initiative Discussion Phase: Transparency Principles – Read This Background
Transparency Principles – Discussion Here
Transparency Governance – Discussion Here
This speaks volumes, and as I have said during my entire tirade over the past two years evangelizing Interactive Media, New Media, Web 2.0, etc., “This stuff is hard, and it takes resource investment and a 24/7 approach to government.” We cannot simply go to our meetups, listen to wonderful speeches, have lunch and add each other to our friends list, and expect that OpenGov will bring about real change.
See my Forum entry: Please Add Your Voice…