II,D: Transparency Innovations

Look for technology as a vehicle to help us broaden our reach and share more information

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EPA is always in search of ways to be more open to our partners and the public. In particular, we look for technology as a vehicle to help us broaden our reach and share more information. We are also investing in changes to increase transparency on EPA’s Web site. To get feedback on our Web site, we employ the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) to measure online transparency regarding how thoroughly a particular Web page discloses information about what EPA is doing; how quickly Agency information is made available on the Web site; and how easily the public can access information about EPA's actions. We also created an EPA Search Strategy to identify areas for enhancement, and we are researching new tools to help the public more easily find information via the search function on the EPA home page — the most commonly suggested improvement raised during the 2008 National Dialogue on Access to Environmental Information (www.epa.gov/nationaldialogue), described in more detail in Section III. We are tagging and categorizing our Web pages with keywords so that any time a public user searches on a particular term, such as ― global warming,‖ he or she will find Web pages that use that word in addition to documents. Other examples of innovation include: * Opening up EPA’s research work: A recent addition to the transparency toolbox is a new searchable database - Health and Environmental Research Online (HERO) (www.epa.gov/hero) - that allows the public to find key studies used by the Agency to develop environmental risk assessment documents. We also operate the Science Inventory (www.epa.gov/si), a searchable database of EPA research activities and scientific and technical products produced or funded by EPA. * Not all of our data are in formats that lend to searchable databases. We are, therefore, pushing to present useful information in reports that the public can access. In 2009, EPA issued the first Vehicle and Engine Compliance Activity Report (www.epa.gov/otaq/about/420r08011.pdf), which summarizes a large volume of environmental data on mobile sources of pollution, including automobiles, engines and other motorized equipment that produce exhaust. * EPA frequently uses Real Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds to provide information and data to our stakeholders, and our Central Data Exchange (CDX) (www.epa.gov/cdx) can accommodate live streams of data. Through CDX RSS feeds, the public can subscribe to news updates or data for a particular system or program at EPA (https://nodewebrss.epa.gov/user/RSSChannels.aspx). This capability provides a foundation for the Agency and our partners on the Exchange Network to create new feeds as well as automated feeds for submitting data to EPA from other points on the Exchange Network. The feeds can be secure if necessary and can also be configured in minutes with built-in workflow tools that permit content approval. The CDX program is working across EPA's program offices to incorporate this powerful new service into Agency business processes. * EPA began using Web 2.0 tools in 2007. We engage the public through blogs, discussion forums, and podcasts. We also go where the public is, using sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr. We make it easy for people to share our information through widgets, RSS feeds, and social bookmarks. See http://www.epa.gov/epahome/socialmedia.html for more details and links. * One example of a unified Web 2.0 strategy is our AIRNow program, which uses Facebook and Twitter. In addition, AIRNow's EnviroFlash is a free e-mail alert system that delivers air quality information to subscribers. * EPA will publically release our GeoData Gateway (GDG), a central access point for EPA’s geospatial resources in Q3/Q4 of 2010. The GDG, which will also feed data to Data.gov, is described in Appendix C.

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