[Invite 11/2 1:30 pm ET] Join the White House, GSA, and Agencies for Updates on Countering Corruption and Ensuring Government Integrity and Accountability to the Public

[Open Government Secretariat]

Dear Colleagues, 

Please RSVP for the November 2nd, 2023 (1:30PM-2PM ET) engagement session and submit any questions here: https://gsa.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJItcO6spjkoHl8M_za-XBNA73TrDetL5dg.

We invite you to attend an Open Government public engagement session from 1:30PM-2:30PM ET on Thursday, November 2nd to hear updates from select agencies on efforts to Counter Corruption and Ensure Government Integrity and Accountability to the Public - International Commitment Focus. During the session updates will be provided on commitments outlined in this theme of the Fifth U.S. Open Government National Action Plan.

In order to ensure a productive and welcoming meeting the Open Government Secretariat is looking to establish "Norms of Engagement" for public engagement sessions. Please review the draft norms document attached to this email and respond back with any edits or comments. We will adjudicate the comments prior to the meeting and also solicit more feedback at the top of the meeting. 

 

After the presentation of updates, attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and share ideas on the work to date and its future direction.

We look forward to hearing from you about how the Federal Government can improve its efforts to counter corruption and ensure government integrity and accountability to the public.

Best,
Open Government Secretariat Staff

[alexande...@gmail.com]

Dear Secretariat,

Thank you for sharing your proposed norms for engagement, which I've pulled them out of the attached .PDF & .docx files and shared below that people in this forum can see them directly:.

Open Government Public Engagement Sessions

Be respectful: Treat all participants with courtesy and respect. Reasonable people can have differences of opinions and disagree with each other's point of view. Avoid personal insults or derogatory language directed at other participants.
Stay on topic: Stick to the agenda and avoid going off on unrelated tangents. Those that joined the meeting for a specific topical reason should have their valuable time respected.*
Constructive criticism: If you disagree, provide constructive feedback and alternative ideas.
Be concise: Allow each participant to speak without interruption and avoid dominating the conversation. Sticking to the designated time limit for each speaker or topic helps to ensure everyone has an opportunity to contribute.
Encourage participation: Promote active participation, active listening, and input from everyone, ensuring diverse perspectives are considered.
Follow the facilitator's guidance: Cooperate with the meeting facilitator and adhere to their instructions for a smooth process.
Stay open-minded: Be willing to consider alternative viewpoints and adapt your opinions when presented with new information.
Keep it civil: Remember that the goal is to collaborate and find common ground for positive outcomes.
*The Open Government Secretariat can address any concerns or off topic comments via email at opengovernme...@gsa.gov or a private meeting can be held at the participants request.

I think this a good first proposal.  I hope you will now lean into the opportunity to rebuild public trust by iterating upon them and adopting specific improvements. What's missing from this proposal, from my perspective as a long-time  moderator of online communities, is:

1) a code of conduct that includes clear consequences for breaking the delineated norms by government staff or public participants.

Moderating a speaker or speech at a public meeting poses obvious First Amendment challenges for a government entity. There are offline precedents set by judges in courtrooms, rules of order set by parliamentarians in legislatures, and clerks in town halls that are relevant. (We've all seen political debates and town halls that were not well-moderated in which the host failed to enforce the rules.) This work is hard, so bringing in staff who have experience with public engagement and facilitation from across U.S. government to help with a government-wide initiative on open government may be key to the mission. If the U.S. government should ever be successful in founding, scaling, and maintaining a multi-stakeholder network that attracts the attention of the press and millions of Americans to participate, getting this right now will really matter later.

2) A clear acknowledgement that these public meetings represent public fora at which members of public, the press, and politicians can reasonably be expected hold government officials accountable for the status of service delivery, overdue guidance mandated by law, or to raise related issues.

3) An expectation of preservation and promulgation

Any public meeting at which a government agency is updating the public on open government also has specific considerations for norms that should also be respected. These meetings should be open by default, as they would be offline. That means that all participants should expect their written or spoken statements to be on the record and to be represented in the archive that's then reshared with the public and press in a feedback loop. While a host might propose that a workshop be conducted under Chatham House rules, for instance, imposing such a condition on a public meeting would break a democratic norm that should always be maintained if the topic is open government. Members of civil society must agree to this condition, just as a member of the press must agree that comments are on background or off the record first, not after. Even if the Secretariat is not formally chartered under FACA, the agency should conduct each public meeting and its public communications in general as if they're governed under the Federal Advisory Committee Act: https://www.gsa.gov/policy-regulations/policy/federal-advisory-committee-management

4) A commitment that each public meeting will have an opportunity for unstructured public comments. I strongly recommend that the Open Government Secretariat review, adopt, and adapt the public comments policy of the Office of Government Information Services at the U.S. National Archives, which chairs the U.S. Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee that was chartered in 2014, fulfilling a commitment in the second U.S. National Action Plan for Open Government. Members of the public and press always have an opportunity to ask any question or make any statement under this policy -- within the norms defined by it:

https://www.archives.gov/ogis/about/public-comments-policy

Thank you for advancing this important set of considerations as the Secretariat considers how to move to the next stage of public engagement. I'm certain many members of this listserv can offer reflections on the proposed norms and the feedback I've offered.

Best,

Alex

[Open Government Secretariat]

Dear Open Government Colleagues, 

This is just a quick reminder to Please RSVP for the November 2nd, 2023 (1:30 PM-3:00 PM ET) engagement session and submit any questions here: https://gsa.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJItcO6spjkoHl8M_za-XBNA73TrDetL5dg.

We invite you to attend an Open Government public engagement session from 1:30PM - 3:00PM ET on Thursday, November 2nd to hear updates from select agencies on efforts to Counter Corruption and Ensure Government Integrity and Accountability to the Public - International Commitment Focus. During the session updates will be provided on commitments outlined in this theme of the Fifth U.S. Open Government National Action Plan.

Agenda:

• 1:30 PM ET - Opening - Daniel York (GSA Open Govt Secretariat)
• 1:35 PM ET - Norms of Engadment Co-Creation - Daniel York (GSA Open Govt Secretariat)
• 2:00 PM ET - NAP 5 Commitments 130.2 and 142 - Abigail Bellows (White House National Security Council)
  
• 2:20 PM ET -  NAP 5 Commitment 131 - Gia Rowley (US Dept of State)
  
• 2:40 PM ET - NAP 5 Commitment 130.1 - Jacob Thiessen (US Dept of Treasury - FinCEN)
  
• 2:55 PM - Closing - Daniel York (GSA Open Govt Secretariat)