Schneider, Scott. "Government Without Walls." Diss. Print. <http://www.thepolicytree.com/Government_Without_Walls,_August_2011.pdf>.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
The Ease of Accessing Information
Approximately 15 years ago, most government agencies barely had made a presence for themselves on the internet. Since then, however, government agencies have made great strides and in the year 2000, over 90% of all federal and state government agencies had an up and running internet website. Currently, the public is pushing more and more for government websites to release information that should have already been made public. Social networking sites and helping this push, making it easier for the regular citizen to view agency information as well as individual political figure information. This is bringing us closer to the state of transparency that we need to eventually get to. The increase of the internet to help governmental agencies share information that would otherwise be lost in a file cabnet somewhere has essentially networked the country, making it much easier for the average citizen to look up something on a government agency if they have a question. The rise of e-government has been one of the most striking movements on the web, giving citizens a new understanding of government if they so choose to take advantage of it. Government web portals are now virtually the face of government, with sites becoming easier to navigate. The accessibility to these portals to find out information on things like education, commerce, research, and healthcare, has truely made our government much more transparent.
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That's good that the internet has helped make the government be more transparent. We the everyday citizens need to be able to access the information about what the government is doing whenever we want to. We should be able to know where our money is going and to what the people we voted in the offices are doing so we can determine their worth. If "Joe Blow" is calling the shots and he is doing things we don't agree with but we never hear about it, then that's not good. I believe it should continue to increase in its transparency.
ReplyDeleteThanks for agreeing Daniel, I think it is no secret that our government does some shady things that we for the most part aren't aware of. Having this ease of accessibility to government websites can alleviate that if we so choose to take advantage of it. Like you said, it can even help us make better informed decisions as to who we want in office locally and nationally.
DeleteWhat type of information is made available on the government websites? Also, along with the increasing popularity of government agencies using the internet what is the likelihood of security issues? I have heard, in the past, of important information being leaked on the web from government agencies so I know that the security is not necessarily where it should be. I have mixed feelings about governmental agencies using the internet because I really feel that the security is not up to par. Just as hard as the government is working to make this information available to us, there are individuals working to gain illegal access to it.
ReplyDeleteThat's very true, Whitney. Even though government websites are very beneficial to us as U.S. citizens, other countries can also view them and, in some scenarios, maybe use the information in a negative way. Government agency websites have the highest securities in place to combat anyone hacking into them but there are some people that I'm sure still can get around these measures.
DeleteThe information that is made available on government websites actually helps me on a day to day basis for my job. I have to find creative ways to get medical bills paid that a lot of people that I speak with weren't aware of.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, if someone was injured in a public place, if there was criminal intent involved and they filed a police report, I give them the Attorney Generals crime victims phone number for their state to see if they are eligible for coverage.
Unfortunately, I also come across very large medical bills of a deceased person. When I do, I look up the county they passed in and use the governments website to either see if they have an estate or to locate a number to call and see if there is an estate. Some government websites are more user friendly than others.
Very interesting Christine, I like your first person real life example of how government website ease of access is helping people on a day to day basis.
DeleteI think that more e-government presence would be a good thing. Citizens of this country want to feel like they have a say and citizens have the right to be informed about what is going on in their government. The government has the right to keep highly classified information from citizens though for safety purposes. Plans for future healthcare, education, and economic reform should be clearly presented on government websites so that citizens can stay informed about what exactly is going on.
ReplyDeleteEven thought the internet has made the government more transparent, it is still not eliminating the fact that they only post information that they only want us to know. So the transparency its still not sufficient to some extent.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is more helpful when the government has their information online. It helped out a lot with taxes of the past year with being able to do them online and all that. Also being able to see what you need before you go to a place, for example the dmv, is helpful because you can be better prepared. I wonder how transparent the government agencies should be though before it goes to far.
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