Does transparency add VALUE?

The Obama Administration has made openness and transparency a priority.

But three years in, people are starting to ask does transparency add VALUE?

John Wonderlich is the Policy Director at the Sunlight Foundation. He’s written extensively on the status of open government.

He told Chris Dorobek on the DorobekINSIDER program why transparency matters.
“It shouldn’t be surprising if there is some soul-searching going on,” said Wonderlich, “but people need to keep in mind that open data is broader than than it’s sometimes perceived to be. Open data is really people knowing things about government with the use of technology.”

Accountability: “Our ability to know and understand government is all based on our access to information. Who you vote for, what you decide to support — it’s all based on the information you have. So the more information the more informed decisions you can make,” said Wonderlich.

Openness from within: “It’s not something that gets talked about a lot, but sharing information across agencies and even sometimes within agencies is also essential. All sort of efficiences can be gained. I’ve thought for a longtime that CIOs should not just manage IT contracts but they should also manage the sharing of information as well,” said Wonderlich.

Digital Government Strategy: “We’ve heard it all before that open is the new default. But it hasn’t happened. So I’m skeptical. VanRoekel and Park talk a big game so hopefully the can make some real changes,” said Wonderlich.