Written by: Karen Suhaka | April 20, 2014

In some circles, change is happening fast inside the Beltway – One issue on the front burner is the issue of open government itself. OpenTheGovernment.org is a key player in coordinating the work of non-profit organizations with the Federal Interagency Open Government Working Group. A priority is to ensure that the process itself is open. One concrete action is establishment of the Open Government Discussion Group, a unique opportunity for federal open government and FOIA professionals to collaborate with concerned colleagues in productive dialogue on issues related to federal open government policies and practices.

Open to anyone interested in open government, the list is intended to support on-going discussions about the US federal open government efforts, including US participation in the Open Government Partnership, FOIA, and federal agency Open Government Plans initiated by the President’s 2009 Open Government Directive. The list is co-moderated by the White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP) and Open the Government.org. With questions or to join the Open Government Working Group, email Amy Bennett at OpenTheGovernment.org, abennett@openthegovernment.org or search for the US Open Government discussion group within Google Groups.

note from Karen: There’s a meeting of the Open Government Working Group on May 14.  Official announcement below. Send questions or comments or requests to Amy at abennett@openthegovernment.org.

Please mark your calendars for our next meeting with the White House’s Open Government Working Group at 10 am on May 14.

As a reminder, the Working Group is an interagency group that has been meeting monthly to discuss open government initiatives for several years. Membership of the group is listed here:http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/about/working-group The Administration committed late last year to open these meetings to outside stakeholders on a quarterly basis.

During our last meeting with the Working Group, we discussed the Administration’s new guidance on the development of new agency open government plans (http://www.openthegovernment.org/node/4355). As a result of the discussion at the meeting, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) launched an open discussion group to connect agency officials working on open government issues and people outside of government on an ongoing basis (http://www.openthegovernment.org/node/4362).

Please RSVP to  (abennett@openthegovernment.org) if you plan to attend the May 14 meeting. The meeting will be in the Truman Room at the White House Conference Center (located just off of Layafette Park on on Jackson Place). There will likely be a call-in number for those not in DC.

 

 

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