1. Tools for Transparency

2. SECRECY TRANSPARENCY
 Lack of Accountability  Participation
 Corruption  Oversight
 Waste  Feedback
 Cynicism  Trust

3.  Only partially available online
 Formatted as web page or PDF
 Hard to search
 Can’t subscribe
 Can’t visualize
 Can’t re-use

4. Publishing Structured Data Visualization
Feeds • Makes it easy to find new
• Ability to subscribe to patterns.
interesting data
• Data streams can be ‘mashed’
in new ways.
Collaborative Crowdsourcing
Organization • Combines skills and input of
• Tagging, Voting large numbers of people

5. • Governments publish
Governments data streams
publish data
streams
• 3rd parties create tools for
analysis and oversight
3rd
Issues are
Party
Citizens
monitor data
• Citizens collaboratively
resolved
Tools streams monitor their
government
• Citizens detect issues,
Issues are
detected
give feedback
• Issues are resolved

7.  Government has no incentive
▪ Usually has disincentive
 Don’t want a single
Why can’t the
monolithic solution
government do ▪ Want to allow evolution of best-
everything? of-breed tools
 Tools created by citizens, for
citizens
▪ Ensure participation

8.  Focus:
 US Congress
 California
Legislature
 Gives grants to
online
transparency
tools
 $3.5 M Seed

9. A recent US
Congress bill
Groups for Groups
bill against bill

10. Votes
Donations

11. Publishing Structured Data Visualization
Feeds • MAPLight makes relationship
• MAPLight is a mashup of between money and votes
data streams from different visible.
sources.
Collaborative Crowdsourcing
Organization • Thousands of journalists,
• Advocacy group tags advocates, and citizens can
donating companies as browse data and flag issues.
belonging to interest groups.

13. People submit project
ideas
Core team defines tools
Engine for Donation-
Based 3rd Party Tool
Development
Web development groups
bid for implementation
Supporters donate to
fund development

14. Travel and Hospitality Expense Access to Information Request
Database Front-End
• Make it easy to sort and • Make it easy to file an access
visualize expenses to information request
• Make it easy to screen new • Collect statistics on requests
expenses and response times
• Highlight the areas that
receive the most requests

15. Advisors Volunteers Money
• Technical • Planners • Donations
Domain Experts, • Organizers • Grants
Academics • Evangelists
• Advocacy Groups
• Journalists

16. Jennifer Bell
visiblegovernment.ca