3.4.1: DOT’s Unified Open Government Policy Framework

Pursue a unified Open Government Policy at the DOT.

Other Information:

The DOT’s Open Government Policy Working Group, that was convened to recommend a policy development strategy to senior leadership, consisted of subject matter experts from policy, budget, performance, strategic planning, human resources, technology operations, and legal. This group has identified that pursuing a unified Open Government Policy at the DOT can accomplish many things: • Direct employees to a “one-stop-shop” for policy areas they must consider when using Open Government principles to meet their business needs; • Identify governance bodies that will be accountable for ensuring compliance and approving data release, technology adoption, and shifts in strategic direction, as appropriate; and • Manage the risks associated with openness by identifying what employees must to do to be more transparent, participatory, and collaborative. Developing a unified Open Government policy for the DOT is a large task. Some major policy areas are well understood, including policies around data transparency and the selection and use of social media tools. However, to create a policy framework that drives towards the DOT’s strategic goals for Open Government, a unified policy should consider more than those well-understood areas. Figure 10 illustrates the scope of what a comprehensive Open Government policy could look like. The DOT will develop and/or update policies in the better understood areas first (e.g., data transparency, digital tools, and Web) and will evaluate the need for more novel policies next (e.g., business culture, information transparency, and non-digital methods). The DOT has existing policies in many of the areas described in this section. However, in order to make them more useful and accessible to employees in the context of openness, by April 2011 DOT will consider updating and tying them together, as appropriate. The segments that have been explored are described in more detail below. These may be “policies” or “guidance,” depending on the nature of the issues. Please note that the final products may look significantly different from the framework introduced in Figure 10. However, this illustrates our preliminary recommendations and roadmap. For more information about all the specific principles (e.g., plain language, records management, security) described in this section, please see Section 3.4.3. Open Business Culture An evolving, open business culture is fundamental to ensuring that the principles of Open Government are woven into the way the DOT does business. It will likely answer the question of “why” Open Government is important. This portion will likely include employee behavior and ethics policies, plain language policies, guiding principles, and a description of governance. Information Transparency Once the stage is set for employees to understand what tools are available to increase public engagement in their daily work, the Department will explore establishing processes for decision makers to prioritize the Department’s resources in posting information. Moreover, those processes must ensure that information posted is “releasable” and “usable” both in content and format. Content releasability is determined with value, quality, security, privacy, and confidentiality interests in mind. Format guidelines will differ depending on whether the information is structured or unstructured. Policies in this area will be tied to the data release process work described in Section 3.1.1. The DOT will continue to release DOT data in a timely manner by proactively making it available online in consistent, open formats, while assuring accuracy and protecting privacy, security, and confidentiality. This will require that the data transparency segment considers content and format releasability in the following areas: infrastructure, records management, enterprise architecture, accessibility, quality, security, privacy, confidentiality, and format. Forums and Methods Once the content and format releasability of the information to be shared is considered, the Department should evaluate which forums and methods it will use to convey information, enable participation and encourage collaboration. There are both digital and non-digital methods for transparency, participation, and collaboration. Accessibility, security, information collection, records management, and privacy issues should be considered regardless of the method chosen. The digital methods segment is largely understood across the Federal Government. Many Departments call these policies “social media” or “Internet based capabilities” policies. Thus, the DOT will leverage those best practices and start developing the digital methods policy in the near term. The non-digital methods segment will be more difficult to develop. Non-digital methods for engagement may include conferences, forums, conference calls, or advisory group meetings (consistent with the Federal Advisory Committee Act). Policies and guidance exist, but can be difficult for employees to locate. This segment will consider locating references to all the policy considerations in one location, making it easier for employees to know the scope of the principles they must consider when transparently engaging the public. Web/Internet The final large segment that will be considered and updated in the unified DOT Open Government policy is the DOT Web policy. Most information that is shared with the public is made available via the Internet. Valuable information is information that is useful, searchable, and findable. Thus, all information that is posted via the Web must follow the DOT’s Web policy. The updated Web policy may consider the following principles: accessibility, uses and development standards, security, privacy, confidentiality, links, cookies, banners/disclaimers, terms of service, site mapping, OMB requirements, intellectual property, and use of the DOT seal or signature.

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