in the next decade we need to be radical about power; realistic about money; and relentless on innovation

July 21st, 2009

I picked up this quote by Liam Byrne MP from Emma Mulqueeny’s post on two recent reports, [1] Cabinet Office Strategy Unit Power in people’s hands: learning from the world’s best public services [2] Lords Information Committee creating connections between people and Parliament.

Emma picks out this excerpt from Power in Peoples hands… which reminds me of a quote from Woodrow Wilson, “The highest and best form of efficiency is the spontaneous cooperation of free people.”

Empowering citizens in the information age
A revolution in the use and re-use of information on public services is being stimulated by new online technologies, giving the potential to empower citizens to hold services to account far more easily than in the past. The leading-edge systems, such as StateoftheUSA.org and data.gov, are not only disseminating information rapidly. They are also breaking down government monopolies on information presentation and use by making it easy for people to analyse information themselves. At the same time, blogs, wikis and other web 2.0 tools are enabling citizens to get more deeply involved in validating information and collectively making decisions. In Cologne, for example, participatory budgeting uses new technology to give citizens a stronger voice over how public money is spent.
The shift required for governments to enable such changes is cultural as much as technical. It is no coincidence that American public services have been at the forefront of these changes, for they already had an understanding that all government information should be in the public domain. Government should, however, do more than just liberate information. The global leaders will be those who invest in ensuring that information is high-quality and balanced, can be shared through common standards and facilitates joint working by professionals and citizens.

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