Chris Rasmussen’s talk on the Intellipedia effort in the US intelligence community really hammered home that “open government” is not necessarily about openness at all. Since, clearly, the intelligence community is not going to be sharing their data with others. But Intellipedia and the efforts around it are about changing the way government works with itself and perceives effectiveness — looking beyond organizational silos to the actual users. In the case of the intelligence community, that would be the White House, the Pentagon, the Congress, and so on.
If government can learn to be more open within itself, to build business processes that cross the barriers of organizational silos (maybe using high-tech tools like wikis or just “talking to one another more”) then expanding those conversations outside the government silo will also come more naturally. If the spooks can do it, probably anyone can.
One Response to ““Open” feels insufficient”
As someone working on the inside I am routinely frustrated by the lack of access to the information I need to do my job. Greater openness on the inside is paramount to better decision making, policy and program delivery. Greater openness on the inside may lead to a more permeable barrier between citizens and the public service.