The USA in Transition:
Open Government Leading to Connected
Governance
International Symposium
“Connected Governance: Vision or Reality?”
Rome, Italy
21-22 October 2009
Gregory G. Curtin, Ph.D.
Managing Director
Civic Resource Group, USA
Senior Fellow
Bedrosian Center on Governance and Public Enterprise
University of Southern California, USA
CONNECTED GOVERNANCE—WHY?
• UN, WEF, Others: “Connected Governance” as
an Advanced State of Governance Facilitated by
ICT whereby Governments Provide
– Better Delivery of Public Services: Efficiency and
Quality
– Open, Transparent, Accountable Government
– Greater and More Meaningful Participation
– Innovation: Economic, Societal, Government
• Bottom Line: Improved Quality of Life
CONNECTED GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK
• Federal Level—Horizontal
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Collaboration Across Agencies
System Interoperability/Backoffice Integration
Coherent Policy Making
GIS Standardization and Platformatization
Information and Data Sharing
Communications Networks
Cost and Service Sharing
• Federal, States, Local—Vertical
– Information and Data Sharing
– Reporting, Compliance, Tracking
• Connected Publics
– Citizen Feedback, Consultations
– Collaboration
– “Crowdsourcing” of New Public Information, Knowledge
THE USA ENVIRONMENT—A CHALLENGE FOR CONNECTED GOVERNANCE
• $76B in Federal Government Information
Technology Spending
• More than 10,000 Federal Government
Systems
• More than 1.9M Employees
• 100s of Individual Agencies and Departments
• More than 300M “Customers”
• 50 Separate State Governments
• Thousands of Local Governments
THE USA APPROACH—AN OPEN GOVERNMENT STRATEGY
• Leadership and Vision
– Commitment from the highest levels
– Articulation of the value of technology for open
government
• Government is the Open “Platform”
– The web as the foundation
– Enterprise/service oriented architecture
– Focus not on infrastructure, but on value
• Open Data and Information
– Open data stimulates user activity, input, new ideas
and processes, trust in government
– Exposing data to users encourages more and better
backend collaboration and integration
TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP IN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION
“Technology…promises to provide an
unprecedented window into the workings of
government, supporting democratic principles of
transparency and, by inviting more public
participation, making use one of the nation’s
greatest untapped resource: the shared
knowledge of its citizenry.”
TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP IN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION
• Bring government into the 21st Century:
– Establish a Chief Technology Officer position within the Executive
Office of the President
– Ensure that every government branch and agency has the right
infrastructure, policies and services for the 21st century
• Create an Open and Transparent Democracy:
– Develop cutting-edge technologies to create a new level of
transparency, participation, and collaboration for America's
citizens
– Enhance scientific integrity in government decision-making
• Protect America’s Cyber Networks:
– Initiation of new and powerful protection strategies
– Ensure that America’s cyber network remains safe from
espionage and disruption
– Step up efforts to track down cyber criminals
CONNECTIONS WITH THE PUBLIC
• Whitehouse.gov:
Open and accessible
• Recovery.gov
• Regulations.gov
• Open Government
Brainstorm Initiative
• Web Video and
Online Chat Sessions
• White House and
Executive Agency
Social Media: Blogs,
Wikis, Twitter,
Facebook, etc.
CONNECTING WITH THE PEOPLE—OPEN GOVERNMENT DIALOGUE
• Open and
transparent
process for citizens
to discuss…open
and transparent
government!
• Wiki and blog
formats use
allowing citizens to
view the input of
others
REGULATIONS.GOV--TRANSPARENCY IN DECISION MAKING
• Search and find ALL
federal rules and
related documents
from all federal
agencies
• Provide formal
comments
• View comments of
others
TRANSPARENCY IN FEDERAL FINANCIAL BAILOUT (STIMULUS PACKAGE)
• Effectively using the
web and open data
sources to quickly and
reliably provide
dynamic information
• Tracking at the state
and local levels—
structured
“connections”
• Social media for
connecting with
public
DATA.GOV--EXPLODING SOURCE OF OPEN GOVERNMENT DATA
• Started in May
2009 with fewer
than 50 data
sources
• Now has more than
100,000 data feeds
in a variety of open,
machine readable
formats
OPEN DATA—STATE AND LOCAL CONNECTIONS
• Slow start, but
states recently
agreed to
collaborate
• California and
Utah as State
leaders
• San Francisco
and Washington
D.C. initial local
participants
RELATED INITIATIVES AT THE STATE LEVEL
• National Association of
State Chief Information
Officers (NASCIO):
Collaboration with Federal
Gov on Open Data
• Electronic Commerce
Coordinating Council (EC3):
Symposium and Guidance
for Use of Web 2.0 Tools in
Government
• States of California and
Utah: Participating in
Data.gov
• Increase in State EGovernment Activity
– Web 2.0
– Cloud Computing
– Open Data/Gov
ORGANIZATION—THE REAL KEY
• Formalized Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO)
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Strategic Technology Planning and Policy
Federal Enterprise Architecture
Systems Interoperability
“Democratization” of Data
• Created Federal Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
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Technology Innovation
US Broadband Rollout
Economic, Health, Education, Community Connectivity
Deputy CTO for Open Government
• Office of E-Government and Information
Technology within the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB)
REINVIGORATING E-GOVERNMENT AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL
• Renewed focus on
e-government
• New e-gov
initiatives and
policies
• Federal enterprise
architecture—
foundation for
connected
systems
IT DASHBOARD--TRANSPARENCY IN FEDERAL IT
• Window into ALL
federal IT projects
• Details on purpose,
vendors, contracts,
status, ROI, etc.
• Federal agencies
and other
governments can
compare, align
projects, etc.
NEW PROCUREMENT APPROACHES POLICIES
• Apps.gov—new
portal for procuring
cloud based
resources
• New streamlined IT
procurement
• Shared services
initiatives
• Online IT shopping
• Aggressive use of the
web and social
media
USA.GOV: CONNECTING FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL AND TRIBAL SERVICES
CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS
• More Open and Transparent Government
will Lead Naturally to More Connected
Governance at All Levels
• Open Data and Information are the Keys to
Open Government
• New Web 2.0/3.0 Technologies and
Approaches Make Open Government
Feasible
• Leadership is the Stimulus to Make it All
Happen
THANK YOU!
Gregory Curtin
gregc@civicresource.com