MetaFilter posts tagged with transparency and government

The perils of openness in government

homunculus — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 10:35:26 -0800

Against Transparency. "How could anyone be against transparency? Its virtues and its utilities seem so crushingly obvious. But I have increasingly come to worry that there is an error at the core of this unquestioned goodness. We are not thinking critically enough about where and when transparency works, and where and when it may lead to confusion, or to worse. And I fear that the inevitable success of this movement--if pursued alone, without any sensitivity to the full complexity of the idea of perfect openness--will inspire not reform, but disgust. The 'naked transparency movement,' as I will call it here, is not going to inspire change. It will simply push any faith in our political system over the cliff." [Via]

Data.gov - a new toy for data geeks, librarians, and transparency advocates everywhere

gingerbeer — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:46:00 -0800

Data.gov is live! The Obama Administration is trying to bring transparency and a little sunshine to those cold, hidden government databases, like the FBI, NOAA, and the Census Bureau. Data.gov is getting some mixed reviews. There’s not a lot of data in it yet, although you can suggest your favorite federal database (you do have a favorite federal database, right?) It may not be any better than what private citizens have already done. The Sunlight Foundation has already announced a competition to build the best application and visualization for the data. What can you find?

The First 100 Days

Cochise — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:39:39 -0800

Oh those vaunted "first 100 days," they are finally upon us. Roosevelt's legendary time period has long been applied to new administrations, but never so emphatically or with such hope as to the Obama administration. And now you can follow them! For commentary, there's The First 100 Days, for mainstream media there's Obama's First 100 Days, for a comparison between old and new there 100 Days: Starting the Job, From FDR to Obama, for new media there's Obama's First 100 Days, and finally, for a government perspective there's First 100 Days. I smell an idea for an ironic t-shirt...

Nerd-In-Chief

designbot — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 09:41:39 -0800

He collects Spider-Man comics. He video chats on his MacBook. He name-drops Jor-El of Krypton. He gave the Vulcan salute to Spock and jokes about "lithium crystals" (surely a misquote). He's got his own high-definition vlog on YouTube. Now, the Geek-in-Chief and his Team of Nerds are using their powers for good. Change.gov has been under a Creative Commons license for a while now, but yesterday, they took transparency a step further by announcing that "all policy documents from official meetings with outside organizations will be publicly available for review and discussion." What's next: revision control?

riley370 — Fri, 29 Jun 2001 12:13:01 -0800

Corruption Perceptions Index 2001 highlights worldwide corruption
"There is no end in sight to the misuse of power by those in public office - and corruption levels are perceived to be as high as ever in both the developed and developing worlds.
It does not reflect secret payments to finance political campaigns, the complicity of banks in money laundering or bribery by multinational companies. Corruption in the most prosperous countries in the world has many manifestations."