Open Government: How Does it Matter? A Public Value Approach

1. Open Government: How Does it Matter? A Public Value Approach Meghan Cook Center for Technology in Government www.ctg.albany.edu

2. Connecting Public Value to Government Action Openness & Transparency Good things happen A Better World Good things happen

3. Open Government Leads to Good Things • Significance of openness in our most fundamental ideas of what makes for good government. • High stakes involved in the many open government agendas in play; stakes in terms of large investments by government and the many political interests that can be affected.

4. Open Government Planning and Assessment • Public ROI much broader than traditional ROI • Differing methods & cultures of assessment:accounting v. evaluation v. social science • Public returns are far from the IT in time & space • Looking back is much easier than looking forward • Little consistency among existing models

5. Challenges and Questions • For most government agencies – these expectations are unfamiliar and impose responsibilities that compete for resources within their traditional programs. • How to recognize and plan the most effective means of increasing openness in government?

6. Concept of Public Value as Social Value in terms of individual and group interests – there is no absolute value Seldom full agreement about how to assess value across communities or jurisdictions Individual interests link to institutional and governmental forms—consider health care reform, gun control, immigration, etc.

7. Public Value • Public value is linked to individual and societal interests and to the institutional forms and actions of government. • Public value analysis begins with this distinction • Intrinsic value of government as a societal asset. • Instrumental value of government actions and policies that deliver specific benefits directly to individuals, groups, or organizations.

8. Public Value • Citizen point of view • Improving flows of information about government both to and from citizens. • Increasing opportunities for participation in government activities. • Stakeholder view • Private concept of value. • Public concept of value.

9. Public Value Outcomes Economic income, asset values, liabilities, entitlements, risks to these. Political personal or corporate influence on government & politics. Social family or community relationships, social mobility, status, identity. Quality of life security, health, recreation, personal liberty Strategic economic or political advantage or opportunities, goals, resources for innovation or planning. Ideological alignment of beliefs, moral or ethical values with government actions or outcomes. Stewardship public’s view of government officials as faithful stewards.

10. Means for Achieving Value • Efficiency: • Obtaining increased outputs or goal attainment with the same resources, or obtaining the same outputs or goals with lower resource consumption. • Effectiveness • Improvements in the quality and/or quantity of program results or other outputs of government performance. • Intrinsic enhancements • Changes in the environment or circumstances of a stakeholder that are valued for their own sake. • Transparency • Access to information about the actions of government officials or operation of government programs that enhances accountability or influence on government. • Participation • Frequency and intensity of direct citizens involvement in decision making about or operation of government programs or in selection of or actions of officials. • Collaboration • Frequency or duration of activities in which more than one set of stakeholders share responsibility or authority for decisions about operation, policies, or actions of government.

11. The central question facing government agencies • Does our open government portfolio, taken as a whole, optimize our resources and capabilities, and maximum public value to all stakeholders?

13. OG Decision Making Tool (PVAT) • Treats public value as a set of complex, nonlinear interactions among the operations of a government agency or program, the legitimacy and support for the government in the environment, and how each of these shape and are shaped by public perspectives. • A process perspective • Focus on opening government rather than on the larger and more diffuse question of the overall nature of “open government”.

14. Learning from open government • Stakeholder perspective ensures inclusiveness. • Public value framework – must look beyond financial return on investment when creating a case for ubiquitous and equitable public service. • Efficiency determinations must take a multi-stakeholder view.