Modeling an Open Government Information Polity

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  • Presentation speakers
    • Natalie Helbig, Senior Program Associate, Center for Technology in Government, SUNY Albany

  Video (starts at 6:30)

  This presentation discusses a new approach to improving government openness that is under development at the Center for Technology in Government, in collaboration with SAP. The research is developing a way of modeling, what we are calling an opening government information polity, that will aid government decision makers in understanding and evaluating the impact of different technology, management, and policy choices before they are implemented.. Modeling an opening government information polity takes into account the many informational relationships, particularly the changes in information flows and governance, that are affected by changes in openness and how those changes shift over time, either improving or degrading government’s performance in meaningful ways. Our preliminary modeling efforts use a familiar open data initiative-publishing restaurant inspection data in New York City-to demonstrate the value of an opening government information polity approach and to establish the basis for further case studies in order to develop a more general and useful model for government decision makers.