Scientists discover Google

In the spirit of Don’t Be Evil, I’ve got something to say.

You see me – can I see you?

Ever notice that when it comes to government sometimes it seems like they are more interested in information about you than the other way around?

Thanks to Kate over at the Punch It In! blog for the idea for this post. She happened to touch on something that is very important to me the other day in her “Let The Sunlight Shine Through” post.

Transparency. Or, more specifically, she was blogging about an organization know as The Sunlight Foundation. Their goal is “transparency in government.” I couldn’t agree more. Transparency is the lifeblood of a democracy.

At the local level I’ve been a foot soldier for the interests of transparency. I’ve filed public records requests and published the materials on my web site. I’ve attended meetings and spoken publicly about making information available to the citizens in my community. I’ve acted as a journalist and written and published coverage of my local government.

I’m a proponent of a loosely defined concept known as “good governance.” Definitions of the concept may vary; there is no enforced standard. In my opinion the key components are:

• Consensus and consent of the governed: voting, ballot initiatives, recall of elected officials
• Public participation: decision making involvement (committees), communicating with elected officials and staff, the right of the public to speak at open meetings
• Transparency: access to information, the right to observe and participate in decision making (which prohibits policymaking by elected officials in closed sessions)
• Equitable and inclusive: open and fair to all and not discriminatory

By coincidence, this is pretty close to the characteristics that Wikipedia says is shared by the United Nations when it comes to human development.

To me, transparency is the key ingredient that works to make all of the other key components possible.

So, thanks to Kate for spreading awareness, I’m going to be researching The Sunlight Foundation to find out how I can help support efforts to make our government more transparent.

Kate’s blog invited readers to join the blog swarm. Well here I am! I’ve always been told I was swarmy.