The Obama administration’s expansive effort to bring transparency to the federal government is moving forward, but not without its share of challenges.David McClure, associate administrator of the Office of Citizen Services and Communications, highlighted the idea that the initiative is not an overnight prospect for government and private executives at the General Services Administration, reminding everyone that the most important focus was to “do it well.â€
A common criticism of the program has been the idea that if the government puts forth mountains of unrefined data for public consumption, it could muddy the process, making it worse than before.
To keep this from happening, McClure stressed the importance of refining and clarifying data for the public.
He also regards the dialogue between the government and the people as crucial. The worst possible approach the government could take would be soliciting the opinions and the feedback – and then ignoring it.
Also the plan moves forward, attention must be paid to the matter of striking a balance between promoting the information the public needs and protecting the information the government needs to keep private.
