eGovernment at W3C
improving access to government through better use of the Web

Ian Jacobs (W3C Head of Communications) had the chance last week of testifying at a New York City Council hearing on opening up data and open source software use. The handouts at the hearing had a reference to the eGov IG's Improving Access to Government through Better Use of the Web Note. Ian has blogged about his participation. Thanks, Ian!

The eGovernment Interest Group has just formed an Editorial Task Force. The mission of the Task Force is to ensure the documents published by group can be easily understood by non-technical readers, to bridge the gap between technology and policy.

Tim Berners-Lee has just released a new Design Issues paper titled Putting Government Data Online. The document, still not mature (per its status) acknowledges input from eGov IG Chairs and Members. This paper has several similarities with the sort of deliverable the IG expects to publish on Year 2. Stay tuned.

The eGov IG is discussing its new charter. There is a rough draft already available. Some of the areas of most interest so far are those around Open Government Data and how to put government data on the Web, and also how that data could be best consumed and accessed by citizens and other interested parties. The group expects to work on the draft in the coming days and deliver a final version before the end of July.

As part of its ongoing online process for public engagement in policymaking, the White House launched on May 21^st the Open Government Dialogue to collect ideas to inform the development of open government recommendations and the writing of subsequent policy and the development of open government projects.

Kevin Novak, co-Chair of the eGovernment Interest Group, submitted on behalf of the group an "idea" to the Dialogue entitled Ensuring Availability and Accessibility of Government Data and Information, where the importance and benefits of adopting Web standards is highlighted.

The group intends to monitor this and similar initiatives and provide input where necessary.

The eGovernment Interest Group charter has been extended until 30 September 2009. The group published its primary deliverable, an Interest Group Note on Improving Access to Government through Better Use of the Web, and has also met its other success criterion to form a community bringing together various perspectives on eGovernment and the Web. The eGov IG has asked for additional time following the publication of this Group Note to prepare a draft charter for subsequent eGovernment work in W3C. The Group hopes to deliver this draft in the coming weeks for W3C review. If you are still not a group member but want to join the group or subscribe to the group's mailing list, please see the information on participation.

The eGovernment Interest Group has published a Group Note of Improving Access to Government through Better Use of the Web. This document is an attempt to describe, but not yet solve, the variety of issues and challenges faced by governments in their efforts to apply 21st century capabilities to eGovernment initiatives. It provides examples of existing, applicable open Web standards. Where government needs in the development of eGovernment services are not currently met by existing standards, those gaps are noted.

The W3C's eGovernment Interest Group has published a Meeting Summary from its 12-13 March eGovernment stakeholder meeting in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the meeting was to obtain feedback on the First Public Working Draft of the group's Improving Access to Government through Better Use of the Web, published on 1 March 2009. Featured speakers at the meeting included Beth Noveck, US Office of Science and Technology Policy, Ellen Miller, Sunlight Foundation, and Steve Ressler, GovLoop, as well as meeting co-chairs Kevin Novak, American Institute of Architects, John Sheridan, UK National Archives, and W3C Team contact Jose Alonso. Key subject areas addressed by participants were: Openness and Transparency in Government; Social Networking; Data Interoperability and Semantic Web in Government; and Multi-Channel Deliver and Information Access via Mobile Platforms. The term "eGovernment" refers to the use of the Web or other information technologies by governing bodies (local, state, federal, multi-national) to interact with the citizenry, other stakeholders, and between governments themselves. Learn more about the W3C's eGovernment Activity. (Permalink)