Improving Information Access and Transparency Initiatives

OGAG Information Access Subgroup OGAG Information Access Subgroup Mission Mission The Information Access group works on making information accessible to the public and across government. (consensus agreement) This includes open data and records. (consensus agreement) Importantly, the group will consider public access to information under the same guidelines imposed under FOIA for the release or withholding of records. (still open to interpretation)

Possible Project/Initiatives for subgroup Evaluate the District's progress on and make specific recommendations about improving information access: Analyze FOIA including FOIA request metadata and make recommendations to the District. Be a user test group for the FOIA Express system and give advice to the District on ways to improve that system or its successors. Evaluating the information access components of STOAGA, Grosso's transparency bill, and making a recommendation to the Mayor about whether to sign it if passed. Make other recommendations to Mayor regarding information access, e.g. if DCOGC has any, or proposing other legislative/regulatory changes, like more funding for OOG.

Possible Project/Initiatives for subgroup Evaluate progress on and make specific recommendations about implementation of the District's data policy: Be a user test group for the opendata.dc.gov and give advice to the District on ways to improve that system or its successors. Making a formal recommendation on CDO's data policy draft Setting a timetable for evaluating whether CDO implements it. Make specific recommendations about best practices for open data and access to records: Create a simplified checklist that could be used by FOIA requester or Public Body to determine if a given record is covered by a FOIA exemption. Engaging in the criminal justice data issues, like body-worn camera data.

Possible Project/Initiatives for subgroup Make recommendations about specific datasets/records that should be made available: Prepare a matrix of open datasets provided by the District and compares the District that with other cities and states. Making a list of datasets that we know should receive more attention and getting in touch with the data owners. Provide a public forum for doing the above work. Hold a public forum. Work with agencies and public to facilitate connections between data users and data providers.

Transparency and Understandability of Transparency and Understandability of Information Group Mission Information Group Mission The Transparency and Understandability of Information group looks for ways to make the increasing about of information available to the public not only transparent, but also understandable. This includes thinking about how the public accesses information as well providing resources to help residents navigate and understand what is being presented.

Possible Project/Initiatives for subgroup Recommendations serving agencies: Data Publisher Toolkit(s): from perspective of maximizing reach, connecting with known stakeholders, maximizing usability/understandability (data stories/insights) Data-Driven Crisis Management Toolkit(s) Data-Driven Stakeholder Engagement Toolkit(s) DC Data-Driven data literacy/capacity building (curricula featuring DC data) Recommendations serving non-government: Data/information access capacity Data literacy curricula/offerings

OGAG OGAG Engagement Group Mission Engagement Group Mission The OGAG Engagement group helps ensure OGAG is reaching a wide variety of stakeholders who may want to participate in discussions related to Open Government. This includes thinking about locations of meetings, external communications and outreach to specific groups.

Possible Project/Initiatives for subgroup OGAG Website: Each subcommittee should include with focus areas one call to action. Each call to action will require input from the public in some form, and that input will lead to a specific deliverable/recommendation, etc. The calls to action will dictate the type of engagement plan formed by this group. Happy Hour invite public to meet OGAG members, ask questions, etc. Meet at external locations such as the Open Gov Hub, WeWork, Code for DC, Net DC, etc. Create a group on Meet Up so that more people know about OGAG meetings Have OGAG members tweet at our meetings. Can supply canned messages for people to cut and paste