My post last week raised concerns over the staffing and workload challenges facing the Open Government Partnership Steering Committee, Support Unit, and Independent Reporting Mechanism in the coming months. I suspect many agree with those concerns, but I appreciate why they may have rubbed some the wrong way having aired them publicly. My intent in…
The always thoughtful Al Kags posted a wonderful summary of a presentation he recently made exploring the potential and pitfalls of leveraging open data towards transparent and efficient elections. You should read the full post here, but the thrust of Al’s argument – which goes well beyond elections per se – is as follows: When…
We’re thrilled to welcome Christina Crawley as the inaugural Manager for the OpenGov Hub community, a shared, open workspace for like-minded organizations in downtown Washington, D.C. that’s set to open in early-October. As the primary point of contact for the OpenGov Hub, Christina will play a key role in making the Hub community a gathering point for…
[Edited on 7 September 2012 to remove an inadvertant reference to internal Steering Committee deliberations, and to correct descriptions of staffing levels.] As the Open Government Partnership enters its second full year as an established international initiative, there’s much to be celebrated. More than 50 governments have signaled their commitment to open government reforms by…
On August 14th, the Woodrow Wilson Center hosted a lecture called “Understanding and Responding to Attacks on Civil Society: The Rule of Politics and Law.” Panelist Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy, qualified new Russian legislation as an “attack” on the freedom of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). I was intrigued to hear…
Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina surprised us yesterday with an unexpected initiative – a comprehensive ethics reform at the state level. The reform includes five elements, as presented on the initiative’s poster: “no incumbent exemptions for election filings, mandatory conflict of interest recusals, one ethics commission for all public officials, total income disclosure, freedom…