On the podcast this week, Jennifer Shkabatur, Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet Society at Harvard University, discusses her new paper, “Transparency With(out) Accountability: The Effects of the Internet on the Administrative State. Shkabatur begins by discussing the focus of her paper, a critical look at open government initiatives. Shkabatur believes promises of transparency in government fall short and do not promote accountability. She then discusses innovations in accountability facilitated by the Internet, which she divides into three categories: mandatory transparency, discretionary transparency, and involuntary transparency. Shkabatur then sets forth types of reforms that she believes would improve government transparency. According to Shkabatur, context and details on agency processes are necessary along with details about how an agency performs various tasks.
Related Links
- Transparency With(out) Accountability, by Shkabatur
- “Transparency Through Technology: Evaluating Federal Open Government Efforts”, Mercatus.org
- “The Power of Open Government”, Brookings Institute
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The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.
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