Transparency advocate: Fed Web sites have moral obligation

Government transparency carries a moral aspect that is embodied on government Web sites as links, or connections to other Web pages, according to David Weinberger, a fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society and a former presidential campaign adviser.

As opposed to viewing transparency in terms of accountability -- as lawmakers and open government advocates typically do -- Weinberger likes to think of transparency as a virtue. It ultimately means connections, he said on Tuesday at a Washington conference of federal and industry leaders interested in employing social media to foster government openness. The event was facilitated by the Defense Department and hosted by 1105 Government Information Group.

"At the very heart of morality is that it's a shared world, and that matters to other people," he said. "The architecture of links and the architecture of the Web mirrors the heart of morality." Weinberger advised presidential candidate Howard Dean on Internet policy during the 2004 campaign and presidential contender John Edwards in 2008.

"Transparency is a way in which we come to believe things as true or false. It's very unlikely that I'm going to drill down in [the data] and hold somebody responsible and go after them with the pitchforks," he said, adding that transparency is a way of "changing my mind."

The federal site Data.gov, which provides citizens with free data sets for repackaging into other services, does not set facts in stone, Weinberger noted. Instead, the site fosters discussions, debates and politics. "Data.gov is not about nailing things down. It is the great un-nailing," he said.

Data.gov's forbear is the Constitution, Weinberger hinted. "We've done this in 1776, when we declared ourselves free of the king," he said. "[We] came up with a new piece of paper, the Constitution," which promotes free speech and dialogue.

Other government sites aimed at disclosing financial data, such as USASpending.gov, which tracks federal contracts; Recovery.gov, which monitors stimulus spending; and FinancialStability.gov, which traces bailout funds; also create forums for conversation, Weinberger said in an interview with Nextgov.

"When you set this information free, the benefit is we don't know what people will surprise us with" their own interpretations on other sites, he added.