May 28, 2009 —With Congress in recess, it's time to highlight a few government resources I've discovered of late. In its efforts to make government more transparent and participatory, the Obama Administration - with considerable leadership from the new Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra - has launched the Open Government Initiative. Two parts that can potentially be key resources for the public make up the initiative: the twin websites, Data.gov and Regulations.gov. Data.gov is a new effort to warehouse all, or most, of the data the government collects, and provides the public both the tools to sort it and the capability to provide input on the data. It's an amazingly easy website to navigate; I researched some federal contracts and identified how much the state of Virginia received in federal contracts, and I identified the top 100 contractors. You can get a quick summary, or agonizingly detailed reports - all by choosing what you need in a drop-down menu.
Regulations.gov has been around for about a year, but had some serious start-up pains. Even as I researched extensively on the website, I never felt comfortable manipulating the data, nor was I reassured that I was accurately combing the relevant sources. Apparently some higher-ups have caught on that this website is clunky, because they've re-launched it and are trying to make it more user-friendly (it would be difficult to imagine it being more unfriendly.) If nothing else, they're seeking public input on improving the website, and it has yet to have the ease of use that the data.gov website features.
Finally, if you just want to know how our billions - excuse me, I think it's trillions - are being spent, check out Spending.gov. It's an easy website to poke around, and inevitably one discovery will lead you to researching other government expenses.
No matter what your total rewards need, these websites can provide you useful information. They are opportunities to learn about our government, and to further engage in civics.
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