The Geopolitics of the Open Government Partnership in Action
BY David Eaves | Wednesday, November 21 2012
While in Burma, President Barack Obama welcomed the country into the Open Government Partnership — an example of the OGP as part of a global U.S. strategy to forge a set of alliances with key partners around the world. It may also advance transparency and anticorruption through collaboration and new technology — but there are other chess games in progress, too. Read More
The OGP at Year One: Off the Ground - So Where Next?
BY David Eaves | Wednesday, October 3 2012
In some ways the OGP is like the infamous Spruce Goose: a plane so innovative and big, it was unclear if it could fly while carrying the large and diverse payload it was designed to hold. Thus having generated an international conversation (and sought to spur dozens of domestic conversations) about technology, transparency, openness and engagement can the OGP serve as a vehicle that can simultaneously satisfy the interest of all its stakeholders. Having managed to get this large organization off the ground, can the OGP pilot itself somewhere useful, while keeping its various stakeholders onboard? Read More
[OP-ED] Are Innovation Hubs the Future of Open Government In Africa?
BY Chris R. Albon | Tuesday, September 18 2012
Members of Accadius, a project at the iHub in Nairobi, Kenya. Photo: Courtesy of Juliana Rotich
Set alongside one Nairobi’s main roadways, the Bishop Magua Centre looks on the exterior no different than any other mid-rise office building. However, inside its drab khaki walls are some of the most innovative technology projects in Africa. Why this building? Because the Bishop Magua Centre’s fourth floor is home to what has been named the “unofficial headquarters of Kenya’s tech movement,” less grandiosely called the iHub. More than simply a space to build the next Instagram, these hubs could be home to the next wave of open government innovation in Africa. Read More
Brazil's Open-Government Shock Treatment
BY Greg Michener | Wednesday, June 27 2012
Officials in Brazil's government have had a transparency shock treatment in the past year. Photo: Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz
Countries arrive at more transparency and greater freedom of information either through long training or sudden shock treatment.
The U.S. experience, with decades of incremental law and legal precedent, is synonymous with the archetypical training regime. Brazil, on the other hand, is undergoing the epitome of shock treatment. In one month, May 2012, Brazil formally launched an ambitious freedom of information law that outlines a "right to information" – replete with provisions for the release of information in open, computer-readable formats – and, at around the same time, a new open-data portal. For added shock, the Brazilian government inaugurated a second new fundamental right, the "right to historical truth." This right is embodied by the newly established Truth Commission, whose aim it is to reconcile abuses from the military dictatorship that controlled Brazil from 1964 to 1985. Brazil also currently occupies the co-chair of the Open Government Partnership. In short, Brazil is in the midst of a massive transparency offensive and there are positive signs that it is moving in the right direction.
Read MoreThe Opportunities and Challenges of the Open Government Partnership
BY David Eaves | Monday, April 23 2012
A multilateral partnership on open government and transparency, the Open Government Partnership is still in a formative stage — just learning how to walk. But it will be tested early by a number of issues and how the steering committee reacts over the next few months are likely to determine the fate of the initiative — whether it becomes a transformative body that fosters and supports strong new expectations for what qualifies a country as open and democratic or if it becomes more of a talking shop, like the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which shepherds along more incremental progress. Read More
Open vs Closed: The 21st Century Statecraft Behind the Open Govt Partnership
BY Micah L. Sifry | Wednesday, September 28 2011
Canadian open government activist David Eaves has another of his usually smart posts up today about the emerging foreign policy strategy behind the launch of the Open Government Partnership. He's not the first to note ... Read More
Transparency Advocates React to U.S. Open Government Action Plan
BY Nick Judd | Tuesday, September 20 2011
President Barack Obama on Tuesday led the public unveiling of national open government action plans from the eight countries participating in the Open Government Partnership, a multilateral coalition on openness and ... Read More
Restaurants, Recalls, and Regulatory Data
BY Nick Judd | Tuesday, September 20 2011
Here's Canadian open data and open government consultant David Eaves at the Open Government Partnership event on Sept. 20, talking practical applications for open data. By opening up regulatory data, Eaves says, ... Read More
Advocates Ask for an Open Government to Open Corporate Activity in Africa
BY Nick Judd | Tuesday, September 20 2011
A quick hit on the U.S.' Open Government Partnership action plan, released today — the aspect of that plan that seems most likely to make waves is a commitment, per the summary text, to strengthen whistleblower ... Read More
Big Leap or Big Show? Now Streaming: Open Government Partnership's 'The Power of Open'
BY Nick Judd | Tuesday, September 20 2011
I'll be spending all day at the Open Government Partnership event "The Power of Open" at Google's offices here in New York. Launched in July, the partnership is a multilateral coalition, co-chaired by the U.S. and ... Read More
