Chapter 5 Summary

In Chapter 5, Mergel discusses a series of directives that have aimed at creating a more transparent government using modern technology. The purpose was to create more public collaboration and participation. One such directive issued was Obama’s Open Government Directive. It was an intiative created by the Office of Management and Budget (Essentiality the president’s right hand for handling the other agencies within the executive branch). The directive required all agencies within the federal government to provide a strategic plan to show steps by which those agencies would implement systems for allowing public participation, transparency and collaboration. The steps outlined by the directive included:

Create policies that would reflect future changes in technology to preserve open government
Each Agency would be responsible for publishing their agencies information online. This included allowing access through open formats
Improve the quality of information ensuring accuracy and accountability
Foster within the agency a culture of open government …show more content…
Open Government Directive required that all agencies post at least three high-value data sets online and register them on data.gov within 45 days of the OGD’s release. The mandate required the agencies to publish their Plan on their websites. I found this directive interesting because it established a specific timeline to pushing a digitally open government. I was curious whether most agencies met this requirement.

I came across an article authored by John Wonderlich, writer and Policy Director for the sunlight foundation, whom provides a short review of the progress of this initiative 2 years after its implementation. Although every federal department had presented a plan by April 2010, Wonderlich sights mixed results in terms of how many agencies actually met their own goals established by their agencies strategic