Public invited to participate in drafting Open Government Directive

OMB Watch reported last week that the Office of Science and Technology Policy was preparing to invite the public to make recommendations for the Open Government Directive that President Obama assigned on his first day in office to the Chief Technology Officer. The public engagement process will have three phases, according to the Open Government Blog on the White House Web site. An initial brainstorming online session will allow the public to vote on suggested ideas or add their own. On June 3, the best ideas "will be fleshed out on a weblog in a discussion phase." On June 15, phase three will use a public wiki to "draft recommendations in collaborative fashion."

On January 21, 2009, his first full day in office, the President issued a Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government and called for recommendations for making the Federal government more transparent, participatory, and collaborative.

As Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President says in the video below, we are proud "to announce an important next step in this historic call to action – one that will help us achieve a new foundation for our government – a foundation built on the values of transparency, accountability and responsibility."

Read the initial OMB Watch blog here.
Access the White House Open Government blog here.
Participate in the brainstorming session here.