Category: open government

Who’s up for a challenge?

February 4th, 2011 · admin · open government No comments - Tags:

Challenge.gov, created by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and ChallengePost, is an online platform that brings pressing federal challenges  to the public. Designed to source innovative solutions or improvements to existing ideas, products and processes, Challenge.gov is an easy means for federal agencies to launch challenges for public participation  and collaboration.

While only federal agencies can post a challenge, the site is free and open to the public who are encouraged to support, discuss, and propose a submission to a challenge. Participants are also able to vote on submissions, and share information about challenges online.

The GSA has defined a challenge as “any problem in search of a creative or innovative solution”. The types of Challenges submitted vary considerably, ranging from suggestions, logo creation, video, game and mobile application production to proof of concept, project design, or complete products. Often prizes, both monetary and non-monetary, will be given for the best submission. It is through this structure of challenges and prizes that the government is looking to engage the public for innovative and competitive solutions for the key problems of the 21st century.

Some of the many participating federal agencies include:

  • NASA
  • FEMA
  • U.S. Air force
  • U.S. Army
  • U.S. Department of Education
  • U.S. Department of Energy
  • U.S. Department of Homeland Security
  • U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
  • The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Challenge.gov is another great example of the collaboration innovation in open government that the Obama Administration is pioneering. When Thomas Jefferson discussed a participatory democracy where governments and citizens collaborate to solve major problems, did he envision crowd sourcing and contests? Maybe not, but I think he would have approved.

The Open Government Initiative: What has been achieved?

February 4th, 2011 · admin · open government No comments - Tags:

On his first day in Office, President Obama signed the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government. The Obama Administration’s philosophy is that government should be transparent, participatory and collaborative:

“My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, pubic participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.”

As well as tracking the government’s use of economic stimulus funds with public websites such as recovery.gov, USASpending.gov, and IT.usaspending.gov, the Administration is empowering citizens to influence policy decisions.

The Open Government Initiative was rolled out in three phases. First, The White House invited citizens to brainstorm ideas online for a more transparent, collaborative and participatory government, and then vote on these suggestions. For three weeks, which started on June 15, 2009, the public collaborated on recommendations through a wiki. After this brainstorm period, the White House reviewed the collated concepts and developed integration strategies.

Then, On December 8, 2009, the White House issued the Open Government Directive requiring federal agencies to take immediate steps to achieve milestones in transparency, participation, and collaboration. The Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Officer were called to create an Open Government Dashboard to assess the state of open government in the Executive Branch. On April 7th, 2010, all Federal departments published an Open Government Plan that outlined how they would make their operations and data more transparent, and allow for further citizen collaboration.

In its first year year, the Dashboard revealed that 45 projects were critically over budget, behind schedule or both. These projects were halted or terminated, resulting in cost savings of $54 million.