With the inauguration of Barack Obama just a few days a way, it seemed like a good time to check-in on what’s become a bit of a regular series for us: embracing wiki, transparency and openness of information in government.
Wiki Presidency discussion at New America Foundation
Since even before the election, we’ve been following closely this the idea of a “wiki-presidency” and steps in that direction as well as wiki and collaborative initiatives by the Obama transition team.
Last week, the New America Foundation had a 90-minute discussion with a variety of minds in the field, including Craig Newmark (founder of Craigslist), Mindy Finn (E-Strategy director of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign), Ellen Miller (executive director of Sunlight Foundation) and Sascha Meinrath (Wireless Future Program director for New America Foundation).
Moderated by Nicholas Thompson of Wired Magazine, the event titled “Wiki the Whitehouse” provided a fascinating discussion covering hopes for the new administration as well as challenges and advantages to a transparent administration and open/participatory governance. This conversation also featured a live twitter feed for others to chime in and discuss during the event in realtime.
Wikipedia founder shares his thoughts
On a similar note, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales recently co-authored a column on CNN.com discussing ways the incoming administration could embrace technology in five directed thoughts:
- Modernize the technology in the federal system
- Provide for openness of information
- Provide open-ID technology to create single log-in accounts across all government web sites
- Commit to open-source software and open standards
- Develop a single government-wide wiki
A Public Policy Wiki in Canada
A collaboration between the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail and Canada’s Dominion Institute, a Public Policy Wiki was recently announced as an experiment in opening up the governance process in Canada by providing a wiki-based forum for discussion about Canadian policy, starting with a single issue: Canada’s Federal Budget.
Salt Lake City embracing wiki too
As reported in the Deseret News, the Salt Lake City government recently launched a “transparency website” at TransparencySLCgov.com to provide a public showing of their work plans, resource lists, forums and a wiki to encourage public participation.
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