Transparency in Government

trans-par-ent — adjective. Open, frank, candid. Admitting the passage of light through interstices.

What is transparency in government?

Transparency is something we hear about a lot, especially since we can make public records and accessible online. Transparency and public accountability is something politicians promise and do not always deliver. Transparency is a fact of the Internet age: because information is increasingly available online to an unlimited audience, we have all grown used to instant and free access to practically anything we want. What’s more, it’s easy to criticize those who are not transparent and accuse them of hiding some deep, dark secret (or taxpayer-paid trip to Tahiti), and make those charges go viral through emails, blogs and tweets. Thus, it is logical that transparency = credibility.

Sez Indiana Code § 5-14-3-1

“A fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of representative government is that government is the servant of the people and not their master. Accordingly, it is the public policy of the state that all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those who represent them as public officials and employees. Providing persons with the information is an essential function of a representative government and an integral part of the routine duties of public officials and employees, whose duty it is to provide the information. This chapter shall be liberally construed to implement this policy and place the burden of proof for the nondisclosure of a public record on the public agency that would deny access to the record and not on the person seeking to inspect and copy the record.”

“Essential function” … “burden of proof for nondisclosure” … nowadays that requires providing information the way people want to access it. The way busy people are actually able to access information. (Who has time anyway to go watch a government proceeding in person?!) The growing cadre of citizen journalists — not certain who’s guarding the hen house anymore with newspapers in a free fall – need concise data that won’t undermine the trustworthiness of Internet information. Taxpayers and families frightened about their economic futures demand straightforward information from their government. And being transparent is good PR for government: “See, here’s what we are doing for YOU.”

But as all of us know who have asked a spouse, “How do I look?” there are good and bad ways to answer some questions. There are good and bad ways of being transparent. A 50-page spreadsheet of government contracts uploaded on a Web site as a PDF is not only a drag to download (and nearly impossible for those in rural communities still on dial-up), it’s ponderous to wade through and will engender negative feelings about the sponsoring agency. (Who has the time to read it?)

A user-friendly, searchable database with video you can watch or listen to while working or making supper, on the other hand, will make people love their government. Okay, maybe they’ll never LOVE it, but because sunlight will shine on what was previously veiled, thanks to the wonders of technology, they’ll at least trust more, and probably won’t complain as much.