Community-Level Transparency Notes @ T-Camp 09

Notes from the group discussion at Rhiza Labs CEO Josh Knauer's presentation on Community Level Transparency Initiatives at Transparency Camp '09 (www.rhizalabs.com)

 

Where are there good initiatives? DC, Philly, Seattle, San Francisco - big places with big budgets.

 

Why are community-level transparency initiatives important?

Accountability (metrics of success), representation, impact on daily life, community engagement, deterring corruption, making governing easier, bringing attention to the local level, empowering citizens through participation to be data producers and not just data consumers, maintaining the enforcement of laws about public officials' conduct, promoting participation in service allocation

 

Challenges to Community-Level Transparency Initiatives

Defensiveness and territoriality (disintermediation), lack of political will, fear of: the unknown, replacement, exposure, being watched, funding, lack of expertise, lack of demand, no training of public staff, lack of inclusion of non-tech savvy citizens, adoption barriers to new technology, obsolete IT systems and management resistance to their replacement, lack of finances

 

Other Community-Level Transparency Initiatives

-Sunshine Week, local data promoting community journalism

-IVR (interactive voice response), a Peruvian initiative to bring new media to non-wired places via cell phones

-Knowledgeispower.org Plain Politics - decoding legalese into plain English

Done