Government 2.0

President Obama issued a Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government in which he called for recommendations on making the government more transparent, participatory, and collaborative. The Whitehouse has announced an Extension of Phase III: Drafting of Open Government Recommendations which gives every citizen a chance to participate and make comments to draft recommendations that translate good ideas and lofty principles into specific actions that can be taken to achieve open government. To join in working on these recommendations go to http://www.mixedink.com/OpenGov.

Two of the goals of The Dalles City Council over the next few years are Civic Responsibility and Government Transparency. These areas actually go hand in hand. As citizens participate in the governing process and government is accountable to those they serve, this encourages more participation and promotes greater transparency. We are facing serious challenges and we will all need to work together to find solutions to help our community continue to thrive.

Responsibility cuts both ways, and every generation of Americans shares the responsibility of participating in the democratic process. One of the foremost responsibilities of a citizen is to vote. If someone is not involved, then they have little room to complain. Participation in roles of active citizenship through public service is an important aspect of a free society. Hopefully, we will see more names on the ballot in future local elections. Anyone interested in serving on a committee or commission should contact City Hall and submit their name for consideration by the Mayor.

It has been very satisfying to see so much interest lately in the governing process, particularly at our City Council meetings. Please do not be discouraged by the process. There are obviously some things that might be changed to allow every voice to be heard, while still following correct procedures. I am committed to giving the public greater opportunity to participate in decision making at all levels of our city government. Citizens have a duty and an obligation to respectfully communicate their views to those who serve them.

People should also consider becoming a member of a service organization that works to improve our world like the Rotary or Lions Clubs. Service clubs can perform many services for their community and also support other worthy causes. Civic responsibility extends beyond government service into all areas of our common life together: church, school and other organizations. Volunteering time with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the Hospital, Hospice or Families First can make a huge impact on the lives of those around us. Greater participation by citizens will make our community a better place to live.

Of particular interest is the civic involvement of our community youth. Mayor Nikki Lesich will soon be unveiling exciting plans to create a Youth Advisory Council. We should encourage the next generation to prepare themselves to run the world, and it our responsibility to model for them how to be good citizens. Seeking information and serving the community is an attribute we should pass along to the next generation.

But civic responsibility can only happen in tandem with the government’s duty to operate transparently. Transparency in government increases citizen access to information and helps to facilitate their understanding of the decision making process. It helps to instill public confidence and allows the informed participation of citizens. Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing.

There are some balancing needs which include the privacy rights and needs of employees and officials, other subjects of a confidential nature, and the ability of officials to discuss issues without fear of attack. Draft proposals and discussions of possibilities are not necessarily published. However, making information which is already available more accessible helps to provide sunlight through the window of government. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said, "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants."

One of the best ways of providing transparency in government is through the use of technology. The Internet has changed the way many people obtain information and there are ways of providing a searchable database of public documents which can have a great effect on the ability of citizens to find the information they want. Publishing this data on the Internet can also provide the additional benefit of saving on printing costs and can help promote environmental sustainability by reducing paper use. Another important new goal of our city is to develop a comprehensive Information Technology strategy.

"The Government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears," President Obama said in the recent memo ordering the director of the Office of Management and Budget to issue recommendations on making the federal government more transparent. And at the local level, greater transparency in government can be a great help in promoting more citizen involvement in governmental affairs.

I am very pleased that the City Council of The Dalles has adopted goals and corresponding objectives which will promote transparency in our city government and encourage civic responsibility. We will be continuing to work alongside City Staff and other elected officials to make our city government even more efficient and transparent. I hope that our efforts will coincide with federal efforts to make this dream a reality.

Transcripts From Government Meetings

To answer questions as to how I am able to post the transcripts from the HIT Policy and HIT Standards meetings immediately after the meeting is complete, Gregg Masters suggested I write a blog about it. The method for this relies on closed caption transcription provided by HHS. At the end of the transcription there is an option to save the transcript, which I then reformat for publishing on the web, adding in the appropriate presentation materials when available. The results are like this:

July 15th HIT Policy Committee Adoption/Certification Workgroup Meeting Day 2

July 14th HIT Policy Committee Adoption/Certification Workgroup Meeting Day 1

June 23rd HIT Standards Meeting

June 16th HIT Policy Meeting

May 15th HIT Standards Meeting

Government websites should comply with section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. For web-based intranet and internet information and applications, it assures accessibility to web page graphics by the visually impaired using assistive technology such as screen readers and closed-caption transcription for the hearing impaired. Here is the guidance from Section 508, Subpart B -- Technical Standards, § 1194.24 (c)

“All training and informational video and multimedia productions which support the agency's mission, regardless of format, that contain speech or other audio information necessary for the comprehension of the content, shall be open or closed captioned.”

As an example the video when President Obama hosted a White House Forum on Health Reform at the White House includes an Open Captioned Version of the video.

The government should make every to effort comply with Section 508. Usually there is the option to view captions real-time, and then save the transcript in draft format. Real-time captions are created as an event takes place. A captioner (often trained as a court reporter or stenographer) uses a stenotype machine with a phonetic keyboard and special software. A computer translates the phonetic symbols into English captions almost instantaneously. The slight delay is based on the captioner’s need to hear the word and on the computer processing time. Although most real-time captioning is more than 98 percent accurate, the audience will see occasional errors. The captioner may mishear a word, hear an unfamiliar word, or there could be an error in the software dictionary. This is why the draft transcripts I post are very rough in form.

The value I hope to bring is that the transcript, while still containing errors, is more complete in raw form than the polished minutes which are archived. After a period of time the transcript results from the closed caption on the HHS web site will no longer be available, so I preserve them and make them available for people to look back on. I hope that this work is useful and provides greater transparency into the process.

Declaration of Health Data Rights

I am grateful for those working so patients can control their own health data. At Mid-Columbia Medical Center we have lived by the Planetree Philosophy of care, which includes an open chart policy. This policy encourages patients to read their medical records and write in the Patient’s Progress Notes. Access to understandable health information that can empower patients to participate in their health is one of the core values we live by. Patient's must control their own health data.

From HealthDataRights.org, the
Declaration of Health Data Rights:

In an era when technology is allowing personal health information to be more easily stored, updated, accessed and exchanged, the following rights should be self-evident and inalienable. We the people:

• Have the right to their own health data
• Have the right to know the source of each health data element
• Have the right to take possession of a complete copy of our individual health data, without delay, at minimal or no cost; If data exist in computable form, they must be made available in that form
• Have the right to share our health data with others as we see fit

Their should be NO LOSS OF RIGHTS with the transition from paper to electronic records. This may seem like common sense, but there are some that are trying to take control of our own health data, particularly with the advent of electronic health records. You can endorse the Declaration of Health Data Rights either by submitting your endorsement via this website or by entering the hash code #myhealthdata on Twitter. Please take a few moments to endorse this important declaration and let's make our voices heard loud and clear.

It is a small world after all

We live on an incredibly shrinking globe that allows real time communication from almost anywhere on the planet. My wife can have a chat on Facebook with her friend in Denmark, while I am having a Google Talk conversation with my buddy from Australia, while monitoring updates from the streets of Iran on Twitter. I could watch a You Tube video from my brother’s birthday party yesterday over 3000 miles away, email my entire family all over the country simultaneously, and keep tabs on what is happening in the corridors of the Congress and the Whitehouse.
Web 2.0 tools have allowed us to be connected in ways scarcely imagined in previous generations. Social media has risen to new heights with the incredible use of Twitter, Facebook and You Tube as a means of twitterspondents (citizen journalists) providing news updates and images from the protests regarding the election results in Iran. Streaming video on the web allows for interactive content so that television cannot compete. People are building online communities and creating grassroots organizations around Internet sites that are having a huge impact on political structures around the world. Even the United States recent presidential election was heavily influenced by web 2.0 tools.
I am constantly amazed at how adeptly the next generation is mastering these tools. The digital age has begun and we are in for some very exciting times ahead…