Open Governance Policy

• Open Governance Policy (broad openness and civic engagement policies)
• See Model Policies at OpenGovernmentInitiative.org

Transparency

• Open Data Policy
• Open Data Guidelines

Participation & Collaboration

• Social Media Policy
• Open Source Policy

Accessibility

• Open Standards Policy
• Intellectual Property Policy
• Terms of Use

Policy Frameworks

Why To Use A Policy Framework

Establishing policy is not necessarily a prerequisite to running an open government initiative, but it can significantly help to structure, sustain, and bootstrap one. These policies can come in many forms, they might be a simple memorandum as was the case in Washington D.C. , they can be city council legislation, as was the case in Vancouver, or like San Francisco, they can even be an executive directive.

Policy can help ensure that your city reaches, or at least measures, the goals of an open government initiative. Good policy also helps provide a comprehensive and coherent approach across agencies and ensures that they are all fully participating for the mutual benefit of the initiative. Establishing stable policy also helps ensure that the initiative can be sustained beyond the current administration.

Goals of policy:

• Improve the overall effectiveness (capability/efficiency) of government and public services
• Transparency / Accountability (grow trust and thwart corruption)
• Participation: better foster and facilitate civic engagement
• Collaboration
  • Between government agencies
  • Between government employees and citizens
  • Between government jurisdictions at different levels of gov or in different locations.
• Accessibility: Providing greater access to important data
• Cost savings, ROI

*Policy