by Matt Rosenberg March 25th, 2010
On March 16,
2010 the Federal Communications Commission released its National Broadband Plan, detailing
strategies for making high-speed Internet service more widely available in the
United States and more effective in meeting the varied information needs of the
public. Chapter 15 of the plan, titled “Broadband And Civic Engagement” is of
particular interest for its recommendations to “create an open and transparent
government; build a robust digital media ecosystem; expand civic engagement
through social media; and modernize democratic processes.” Key link and excerpt
follow.
KEY
LINK
Federal
Communications Commission, “Broadband And Civic
Engagement Chapter,” from National Broadband Plan.
KEY
EXCERPT
RECOMMENDATIONS
Create
an open and transparent government
- The primary legal documents of the federal
government should be free and accessible to the public on digital
platforms.
- Government should make its processes more
transparent and conducive to participation by the American people.
- All data and information that the government
treats as public should be available and easy to locate online in a
machine-readable and otherwise accessible format in a timely manner. For
data that are actionable or time-sensitive in nature, the Executive Branch
should provide individuals a single Web interface to manage e-mail alerts
and other electronic communications from the federal government.
- All responses to Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) requests by Executive Branch and independent agencies should be
made available online at www.[agency].gov/foia.
- The Executive Branch should revise its Data
Quality Act guidence to encourage agencies to apply the Act more
consistently and facilitate the re-publishing of government data.
Build a
robust digital media ecosystem
- Congress should consider increasing funding to
public media for broadband-based distribution and content.
- Congress should consider amending the Copyright
Act to provide for copyright exemptions to public broadcasting
organizations for online broadcast and distribution of public media.
- The federal government should create and fund
Video.gov to publish its digital video archival material and facilitate
the creation of a federated national digital archive to house public
interest digital content.
- Congress should consider amending the Copyright
Act to enable public and broadcast media to more easily contribute their
archival content to the digital national archive and grant reasonable
non-commercial downstream usage rights for this content to the American
people.
Expand
civic engagement through social media
- The Federal Chief Information Officers (CIO)
Council should accelerate the adoption of social media technologies that
government can use to interact with the American people.
- Increase innovation within government
- The White House Office of Science and Technology
Policy (OSTP) should create an Open Platforms Initiative that uses digital
platforms to engage and draw on the expertise of citizens and the private
sector.
- The Executive Branch and independent agencies
should expand opportunities for Americans with expertise in technological
innovation to serve in the federal government.
Modernize
democratic processes
- Federal, state and local stakeholders should
work together to modernize the elections process by addressing issues such
as electronic voter registration, voting records portability, common
standards to facilitate data exchanges across state borders and automatic
updates of voter files with the most current address information.
- The Department of Defense (DoD) should develop a
secure Internet-based pilot project that enables members of the military
serving overseas to vote online.