|Back to Home|
|Research and Referencing|
Open Government 101
So you're pumped about an open government, but what comes next? We want this space to not only provide you with the resources to learn about transparency but also teach you how to use those resources to hold government accountable at all levels. Of course, what's listed here barely scratches the surface of all the great transparency resources out there. If there is some great open government web site or resource that's missing from this page, please add it. Think of this space as your starter guide to Open Government. We've got some links about the federal government, and others about state government, but most of the resources are applicable at different levels of government. We also know that you might have some resources to add as well! This is your campaign, so help us make this space a great resource for everybody involved.
Here are some of the sites we'll be using:
- OpenCongress.org — An excellent resource for tracking lawmakers and legislation, we'll also be using the OpenCongress Wiki for articles about How Congress Works.
- The Open House Project — The OHP has been a starting point for people interested in making Congress a more transparent organization.
- Sunshine Review — SR has checklists for local government Web sites and has reviewed local sites across the country.
- Transparency Hub — A wiki (like ours!) that collects information on transparency legislation and open government in the Executive Branch.
Not really required, but if you're new to the Open Government movement, these are definitely worth your time:
- Open Data is Civic Capital by Josh Tauberer. Of all the documents included here, this is likely the one that could be considered "essential reading." Here's an excerpt:
"Creating a well-informed public is a core value of representative government. It is a prerequisite for ensuring the best representatives are elected and a crucial component of government oversight—as well as being important in areas well beyond civics. This document speaks to why public government data (also called "public sector information") is a valuable resource to society if put on the Web and shared freely with the public, and discusses how to go about doing it. We discuss technological considerations and end with guiding principles for best practices in open government data."
Josh's essay has a great breakdown of the some of the principles of open data, how the public should be involved in crafting data policy, and why it's essential that information be released in a useful format.
- The OpenHouseProject Report (PDF version).
- An early OHP post by John Wonderlich, Sunlight's Policy Director, on publishing government data - Whose Responsibility Is It?
- Paul Blumenthal's piece on the History of Transparency.
- SunlightFoundation.com – The non-partisan, non-profit organization behind this campaign and behind a host of other invaluable tools and resources promoting open government.
- The Sunlight Foundation Blog – Learn about the latest developments at the Sunlight foundation and in the larger world of government transparency.
- Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group – A prime example of how to take government data and put it to good use. Read reports and investigations on lobbying, government spending and more.
- Sunlight Labs – A division on the Sunlight Foundation dedicated to digitizing data and creating tools to make that data more accessible.
- OpenCongress.org – A joint project by the Sunlight Foundation and the Participatory Politics Foundation, OpenCongress is one of the best ways to track the legislation and legislators in Congress.
- Bill Pages – For every piece of legislation introduced, OpenCongress features a bill page letting you know who sponsored the bill, what actions have been taken on it, and what various blogs and news outlets are saying about it. The bill pages also feature the full text of the bill and allow you to link to and comment on each individual line.
- U.S. Senate and House of Representatives Member Pages – You can track every member of Congress, see how they voted, what bills they sponsored, and get their contact information.
- OpenCongress Wiki – Get information about an extensive range of issues such as how Congress works to current political campaigns and hot-button issues. And like the wiki you are currently reading, you have the ability to edit and add to it.
- Transparency Hub – A one-stop-shop for information on how government works and where you can go to learn more about government on a federal and state level.
- OpenCongress Blog – Learn about the latest developments in Congress.
- OpenSecrets.org – A project of the Center for Responsive Politics, OpenSecrets allows you to track federal campaign contributions and lobbying. You can check out federal donations by lawmaker, congressional committee, political party, and more. You can also look at donations by industry and interest group.
- FollowTheMoney.org – A useful companion to OpenSecrets, FollowTheMoney tracks campaign donations at the state level.
- TransparencyData.com – Another project of the Sunlight Foundation, TransparencyData combines the resources of OpenSecrets and FollowTheMoney and allows you to download targeted data sets of contribution data at the state and federal level.