email address for comments about the State Department's Open Government Plan - OpenGovPlan@state.gov

[Andre G]

Greetings all,

It was a pleasure to be able to meet with some of you at the Open Government Plan event.  I very much appreciated the feedback on the direction of the State Department's plan.  Following up on several suggestions that we have a way for members of the public to send their comments about the State Department's Open Government Plan to us by email, rather than the more transparent forum we established at https://govup.course.tc/2016-DoS-OGP/, we created the following email address:  OpenG...@state.gov

Please feel free to circulate this email address for those who would like to comment on the plan by email.  

Regards,

Andre

M. Andre Goodfriend

Senior Advisor

Office of eDiplomacy

U.S. Department of State 

[Stephen Buckley]

Hi Andre,

Thank you for being so considerate of people's feedback about your process for updating and improving the State Department's OpenGov Plan.  Your responsiveness is a great example for other agencies to follow, since OpenGov is supposed to be about informing and engaging with people outside of government (in a meaningful way).

And, so I have a suggestion in response to your decision (cited below) to accept comments by email addressed to OpenG...@state.gov.

Although it offers privacy, the downside to the "suggestion-box" approach (which many agencies do have on their OpenGov webpage) is that only two parties, in the whole world, are privy to the comment, i.e., the sender and the recipient.  And, so, only the recipient sees all the comments received.

You are reading this suggestion in an email, sent by me, because we are using an "email-group" (aka, email-listserv, google-group, etc.).  At the same time, it is sending a copy to more that 400 other people who, basically, have asked to be "cc:'d" with anything sent to the main address (us-open-g...@googlegroups.com).

That means, in an email-group, everybody can see everyone else's comments, unlike the "suggestion-box" where only one person might see all the comments.  All that is needed to "subscribe" (or unsubscribe; see bottom of this message) is an email-address.  No online registering, no password, no terms-of-service.

When we try to solve a problem with other people, we are collecting "pieces of the puzzle", and so, when we allow everyone to see those pieces, then we are enabling those people to discuss and collaborate on how those pieces might fit together in solving the puzzle.

So I would suggest that you set up a google-group (just like this one) for information and discussion of OpenGov by the State Department.  As such, it would be on a continuing basis (just like this one), not just every two years for updating the State Department's agency's OpenGov Plan.

In fact, I would like to go on-the-record, here, and make that an open suggestion to all federal agencies' OpenGov points-of-contact.  That is, in addition to a providing a single email-address for OpenGov, each agency set up an email-group (just like this one) that allows any citizens with no more than an email-address, to see what other citizens are saying about any agency's OpenGov program.

I believe that Gray Brooks at GSA set up this email-group, so I expect that he would be the first person to contact about setting up a similar email-group on OpenGov for any other agency.  (If anyone thinks it should be someone else, then please let us know here.)

best,

Steve Buckley, #OpenGov liaison
International Association for Public Participation, U.S. Chapter
http://www.IAP2usa.org

Collaboration Engineer
Cape Cod, Mass.
http://www.OpenGovMetrics.com
G: 508-348-9090

======================================================

At 04:16 PM 8/25/2016, Andre G wrote:

Greetings all,

It was a pleasure to be able to meet with some of you at the Open Government Plan event. Â I very much appreciated the feedback on the direction of the State Department's plan. Â Following up on several suggestions that we have a way for members of the public to send their comments about the State Department's Open Government Plan to us by email, rather than the more transparent forum we established at https://govup.course.tc/2016-DoS-OGP/, we created the following email address: Â OpenG...@state.gov

Please feel free to circulate this email address for those who would like to comment on the plan by email. Â

Regards,

Andre

M. Andre Goodfriend
Senior Advisor
Office of eDiplomacy

U.S. Department of StateÂ

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[M. Andre Goodfriend]

Steve,

Like you, I support engaging in a forum where the discussion is publicly visible.  That being said, if I understood correctly, not all members of the public are comfortable in communicating in such an open forum.  In order that there not be any obstacles that might inhibit a citizen from communicating with his/her government, we set up this email channel.   I'd be interested in hearing the perspectives of others with regards to the "suggestion-box" approach.

Regards,

Andre

M. Andre Goodfriend

Senior Advisor

Office of eDiplomacy

U.S. Department of State

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[Stephen Buckley]

Hi Andre,

Thank you for responding, because I see that I might not have been clear enough on one point.

I do not mean to suggest that any federal agency is faced with an "either/or" choice, concerning feedback via a "suggestion-box" address or a public email-group.

I believe that federal agencies should, at least, offer citizens both options, since both of them provide the simplest, most inclusive, method (i.e., email) to provide input and/or feedback.

best,

Steve Buckley, #OpenGov liaison
International Association for Public Participation, U.S. Chapter
http://www.IAP2usa.org

Collaboration Engineer
Cape Cod, Mass.
http://www.OpenGovMetrics.com
G: 508-348-9090


 ====================================================

At 05:46 PM 8/26/2016, M. Andre Goodfriend wrote:

Steve,

Like you, I support engaging in a forum where the discussion is publicly visible.  That being said, if I understood correctly, not all members of the public are comfortable in communicating in such an open forum.  In order that there not be any obstacles that might inhibit a citizen from communicating with his/her government, we set up this email channel.   I'd be interested in hearing the perspectives of others with regards to the "suggestion-box" approach.

Regards,

Andre

M. Andre Goodfriend
Senior Advisor
Office of eDiplomacy
U.S. Department of State

On Friday, 26 August 2016 17:05:07 UTC-4, Stephen Buckley wrote:

Hi Andre,

Thank you for being so considerate of people's feedback about your process for updating and improving the State Department's OpenGov Plan.  Your responsiveness is a great example for other agencies to follow, since OpenGov is supposed to be about informing and engaging with people outside of government (in a meaningful way).

And, so I have a suggestion in response to your decision (cited below) to accept comments by email addressed to OpenG...@state.gov.

Although it offers privacy, the downside to the "suggestion-box" approach (which many agencies do have on their OpenGov webpage) is that only two parties, in the whole world, are privy to the comment, i.e., the sender and the recipient.  And, so, only the recipient sees all the comments received.

You are reading this suggestion in an email, sent by me, because we are using an "email-group" (aka, email-listserv, google-group, etc.).  At the same time, it is sending a copy to more that 400 other people who, basically, have asked to be "cc:'d" with anything sent to the main address (us-open-g...@googlegroups.com).

That means, in an email-group, everybody can see everyone else's comments, unlike the "suggestion-box" where only one person might see all the comments.  All that is needed to "subscribe" (or unsubscribe; see bottom of this message) is an email-address.  No online registering, no password, no terms-of-service.

When we try to solve a problem with other people, we are collecting "pieces of the puzzle", and so, when we allow everyone to see those pieces, then we are enabling those people to discuss and collaborate on how those pieces might fit together in solving the puzzle.

So I would suggest that you set up a google-group (just like this one) for information and discussion of OpenGov by the State Department.  As such, it would be on a continuing basis (just like this one), not just every two years for updating the State Department's agency's OpenGov Plan.

In fact, I would like to go on-the-record, here, and make that an open suggestion to all federal agencies' OpenGov points-of-contact.  That is, in addition to a providing a single email-address for OpenGov, each agency set up an email-group (just like this one) that allows any citizens with no more than an email-address, to see what other citizens are saying about any agency's OpenGov program.

I believe that Gray Brooks at GSA set up this email-group, so I expect that he would be the first person to contact about setting up a similar email-group on OpenGov for any other agency.  (If anyone thinks it should be someone else, then please let us know here.)

best,

Steve Buckley, #OpenGov liaison

International Association for Public Participation, U.S. Chapter

http://www.IAP2usa.org

Collaboration Engineer

Cape Cod, Mass.

http://www.OpenGovMetrics.com

G: 508-348-9090

======================================================

At 04:16 PM 8/25/2016, Andre G wrote:

Greetings all,

It was a pleasure to be able to meet with some of you at the Open Government Plan event. Â I very much appreciated the feedback on the direction of the State Department's plan. Â Following up on several suggestions that we have a way for members of the public to send their comments about the State Department's Open Government Plan to us by email, rather than the more transparent forum we established at https://govup.course.tc/2016-DoS-OGP/, we created the following email address: Â OpenG...@state.gov

Please feel free to circulate this email address for those who would like to comment on the plan by email. Â

Regards,

Andre

M. Andre Goodfriend

Senior Advisor

Office of eDiplomacy

U.S. Department of StateÂ

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