Government on Rails
Is agile government an oxymoron?
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Daniel Lathrop
• Chief Data Evangelist for InvestigateWest
• Investigative Reporter
• Data journalist
• Political junky
• DB developer for Web
• Computational Journalism Consultant
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

What is open
government?
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Open Government 1.0
• “Open” Records and Meetings
• Most reforms in 1910s (progressive era) or
1970s (post-Watergate)
• Everything is after-the-fact
• Consumer model of citizenship
• Government only releases requested info
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Professional Citizenship
• Professional journalists monitor
• Professional lobbyists represent interests
• Professional policy makers draft policies
• Professional politicos run campaigns
• Professional politicians serve in office
• Professional PRs spin everything
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Who does 1.0
empower?
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Politicians
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Contractors
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Media titans
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The rich
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Bureaucrats
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Open Government 2.0
• Participation is in real time
• Data are released in real-time
• Public involved in decision making
• Asynchronous
• Anyone can participate
• Transparent
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The age of the amateurs
• Bloggers monitor
• Interest groups go grassroots
• Wiki-policy making
• Campaigns are social networks
• Incumbency is less powerful
• People tell their own stories
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Who does Gov 2.0
empower?
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Digitally savvy
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

You
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Challenges
• MSM used to fight for OG, now it’s broke
• Policymakers will be happy to create
Potemkin openness
• The digital divide is nothing to laugh at
• Politics is a dirty business
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

What can I do?
Build an App
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

What can I do?
Analyze the data
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

photo by Scott Eklund/Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

What can I do?
Attend #Gov20BOF
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

What can I do?
Buy Open Government when O’Reilly publishes it
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Photo of Rupert Murdoch courtesy of
World Economic Forum on flickr
Photo of the Bill courtesy of World
Economic Forum on flickr
Photo of bureaucrats used without
permission from the Ocala Star Banner
Photo of Beth Noveck, Jay Rosen and David G.
Post courtesy of Joi on flickr
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Daniel Lathrop
daniel.lathrop@gmail.com
206.718.0349
http://www.linkstainedwretch.com
http://invw.org
Tuesday, May 5, 2009