Open Government Initiative Blog

President Obama launched the first U.S. Open Government National Action Plan in September 2011, as part of the Nation’s commitment to the global Open Government Partnership, a multilateral initiative to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. The first Plan laid out 26 concrete steps the United States would take to promote public participation in government, increase transparency, and manage public resources more effectively. We are proud of this progress, but recognize that there is always more we can do to build a more efficient, effective, and accountable government. In that spirit, the Obama Administration has committed to develop a second National Action Plan on Open Government: “NAP 2.0.”

As part of our ongoing commitment to the international Open Government Partnership, the Obama Administration has committed to develop a second National Action Plan on Open Government. To accomplish this task effectively, we’ll need all-hands-on-deck. That’s why we plan to solicit and incorporate your input as we develop the National Action Plan “2.0.”

Yesterday, President Obama visited Austin, Texas, to kick off his Middle Class Jobs and Opportunity Tour. At Capital Factory, a local start-up incubator, he met with technology entrepreneurs and innovative companies that are helping grow our economy and create jobs by building new products and services. One of those companies, Stormpulse, uses freely available government weather data to help businesses protect themselves.

During Sunshine Week, we celebrate the ways government can improve public use of government information. We recently took an important step to increase public access to the results of research funded by the Federal Government, focusing on two key products of funded research: peer-reviewed scholarly publications and scientific data.

Sunshine Week seeks to encourage public participation in government, and the U.S. has worked hard to expand opportunities for civic engagement. As one example of this, We the People gives the Obama Administration a way to connect with the public on the issues that matter most to them.

During Sunshine Week 2013, the White House will highlight one initiative a day which demonstrates the Obama Administration’s continued commitment to open and accessible government. This first post focuses on progress made improving the administration of the FOIA. As Justice Louis Brandeis wrote, "sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants."

Since taking office, President Obama has made clear that his Administration is committed to Open Government—that the Nation is made stronger by making the Federal Government accountable to citizens and by giving those citizens opportunities to participate in their government. As part of this ongoing commitment, the United States Government will publish a Self-Assessment Report this spring that outlines our progress to date on Open Government In the true spirit of Open Government—we want you to participate in the process.

Freely available data from the US Government is an important national resource, serving as fuel for entrepreneurship, innovation, scientific discovery, and other public benefits.Our goal, as Presidential Innovation Fellows working with open data, has been to find, unlock, and promote the next wave of government data—the next GPS—that innovators can use to kickstart entrepreneurship, fuel new tools and apps, and create jobs.

This weekend in Denver, Colorado, coders and designers will build on the success of the Code for Livability event, converging on the Uncubed coworking space to participate in the Colorado Code for Communities civic “hackathon”.

Cities around the country are facing challenges, from increasing service demands, to tight budgets, to aging infrastructure. But city leaders are increasingly finding new and innovative ways to tackle these challenges, in part by harnessing the inherent power of the citizens that live there.

The release of version 2.0 of DOT’s open government plan, is a great opportunity to look at some of the great work that they’ve done since the last iteration.

Since Open Government plans were released two years ago, a great deal of work has been doneon implementation. And today, agencies are releasing updates of their plans, which include timelines for completing the initiatives in their previous plans, as well as new commitments.

As we celebrate Sunshine Week, here are just a few examples of USAID’s commitment to implementing the principles of transparency, participation and collaboration that were outlined in the Administration’s Open Government Initiative.

This week is Sunshine Week, a joint project of the American Society of News Editors and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.