Dear Mr. President-Elect,
It is my belief that the government needs to be open and transparent by using the internet.
You have stated the following as part of your Technology Agenda. “We need to connect citizens with each other to engage them more fully and directly in solving the problems that face us. We must use all available technologies and methods to open up the federal government, creating a new level of transparency to change the way business is conducted in Washington and giving Americans the chance to participate in government deliberations and decision-making in ways that were not possible only a few years ago.”
I strongly support your plan to “Open Up Government to its Citizens” and to “Bring Government into the 21st Century”. I would like to present three systems that would contribute to this plan and the work that your administration has planned out for the coming years.
1. The Online Political Information and Participation Center develops a more open and transparent government by allowing the citizens to participate in their democracy.
2. An Open Platform for Service makes it easy for anyone to serve their nation depending on their skills, time, interests, and location.
3. Internal Communications Framework creates a dynamic way for the White House and government to communicate internally.
The new brand and image that America will develop under your administration can be greatly assisted by these three systems. By opening up the government, allowing people to easily serve, and changing the way the government communicates internally, you can change the way we all communicate and work with the government. In doing so you, your administration, and the American people will be able to tell a new story to the national and international community.
I propose developing a team of four groups responsible for these three systems.
The Collection Group would be responsible for gathering and harvesting information. They would create a standardized format for all government data.
The Technology Group would develop the technology and infrastructure of each of these three systems. They would create a secure structure and online environment.
The Design Group would design the visual interface. They would make it extremely easy to navigate and present the information in a simple and interactive format.
The Outreach Group would reach out to the the national and international communities to inform them of the opportunities and information being presented in this new format.
Myself and many others strongly support your plan and encourage you to please make it a priority. I urge you to create these systems during your transition period and have them in place when you take office on January 20th, 2009. Having them in place allows you to focus on the crucial issues that the country faces and use these three new systems to work on those issues.
Please find my thoughts and ideas on these three systems in detail here.
The Online Political Information and Participation Center
The creation of an online location that would open up the government would be a milestone in how the government works. This would be the online presence of the White House and your Administration. It would be broken into three main sections including The Administration, Currently Happening, and Information. By transferring the already established online community during the campaign, there would be a solid group of citizens ready to use this online center.
The Administration section would include general information about the administration and the work that is being conducted. There would be official statements, the agenda, online media, information about the people, and more.
The Currently Happening section would cover everything that is going on within the United States government. It would be a live look at what is happening in all three branches. The information would be able to be sorted based upon People, Issues, Time, Location, and Ideas.
Here people would be able to participate and form an online community. They could voice their approval or make suggestions by leaving comments. This would be citizen involvement in the government like never before.
There would be the ability to track issues and different views. There would be profiles of all the politicians, leaders, and people, and you would be able to see who supports what. Software could be developed that connects different issues and people together based on their similarity. There would be the use of graphics and data visualization to present the information. Well designed printable versions of everything on the site would be available.
By having two different versions, a simple and advance version, the website would be a useful resource for everyone. If you just want the basic information then choose the simple version, but if you would like the entire detailed picture there would be the advance version.
This would become an online center for news, everything that is happening in the government would all be related to news stories from the press. The administration itself would release news through this site as well. It would be important for the online center to embrace criticism in the news as well and not filter anything out. Here press conferences could be broadcasted in high definition online with a live discussion happening at the same time online.
There would be an Information section on the website that would provide a guide on how to use the website. It would educate people on how the government works and provide detailed information. There would also be a part that documents the history of the nation and its policy in the past.
Important general aspects of this online center include video, audio, images, social interactions, statistics, mobile interfaces, blogs, newsletters, social networks, ability to share elsewhere online, RSS feeds, and much more. All government data would be open and transparent through this online center in a standardized format.
The center would start off for national based government and could be expanded to include tools for state and local governments to set up a presence on the site as well.
In order to invite all of the world to participate there would be translations for many different languages. You would be able to filter out the participation of people based on whether they are citizens or not.
An Open Platform for Service
In referring to your Service Agenda, you have said “When you choose to serve – whether it’s your nation, your community or simply your neighborhood – you are connected to that fundamental American ideal that we want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness not just for ourselves, but for all Americans. That’s why it’s called the American dream.”
I propose creating an online platform that can generate ways for anyone to serve their local and national community. In your plan for creating new ways for us, the citizens of this nation to serve, I feel that you must take advantage of the internet.
By simply providing a directory of tasks and ways for people to serve we can make it possible for anyone to contribute to their local and national community. The important element is letting each person sort through the tasks and opportunities based on the time they have, their skills, interests, and location. Even if you have just thirty minutes to give, they can provide change.
Create an index of non-profit organizations and allow them to contribute and make up this directory of opportunity. Also, include tasks and opportunities that state, local, and national government have identified as important to their communities.
Present information on the rest of your plan for service for college students, for seniors, and the other aspects as well. In addition, provide resources such as other ways to contribute, collaborative projects, events, and more. By doing this we empower people to take action, do good, give back, and contribute.
This has be partly inspired by your campaign’s online center for making calls and volunteering. The key element is the simplicity in which one can find an opportunity to serve, along with the online resources and information we provide them about each opportunity.
Internal Communications Framework
While I have no knowledge of how you plan on using technology to communicate internally with your team or how you have done so during the campaign, I believe that it is crucial that your administration deploys an online framework to communicate.
In a sense this would be consider a project management system specifically for the work of the government that is completely secure. Your staff would be able to share documents, delegate work to each other, have discussions, track milestones, schedule meetings and much more.
Policy advisors could keep track of notes from meetings, have discussions online, and share input from others. Speech writers would be able to share drafts and edit them online together. While the internet can never replace actual meetings in person, it can provide useful tools to be organized and collaborate in news ways.
The framework would be able to connect with the Online Political Information and Participation Center. This would allow your staff to interact and be able to control certain aspects of the community discussion. It would also allow your staff to organize the large amount of advice that you will be getting from experts and non-experts on policy. It would be an online place of collaboration. Here everyone would have different levels of access that could be controlled based on what their area of work is.
Much of the above three systems contain original ideas but many others have written and discussed the same concepts and ideas, including your own Technology Plan. On behalf of all of them and myself I urge you to establish these three systems early on so that they may play a vital role in the rest of your agenda and how you go about working on changing our current policy. Citizen involvement in an open government, the simplicity for people to find ways to serve, and the way you and your staff communicate internally will change the way this nation works.
Let me offer my congratulations on being elected as the next President of the United States of America. I thank you for all the hope that you have brought the nation and the world, along with the change that you will bring. This is the first election I have voted in and I am proud to have supported you and your agenda. Thank you.
Sincerely, Ethan Bodnar
Ethan Bodnar is a graphic designer, author, and student who lives and works in the United States. He attends the Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford, is an Eagle Scout, and has interests in creativity, politics, and business. His first book is being published this summer and is working on an additional two books.
Embrace the eight Open Government Data Principles.
Example of open data online in a well designed format is Every Block.
An independent project to provide government data online is Open Congress.
Use of data visualization with Jonathan Harris.
The Technology and Service Plans.
