3 ms·

My claim: Everything that the government does should be posted online, unless it violates one of the following: * true national security concerns * personal c

by miked 17y ago

My claim: Everything that the government does should be posted online, unless it violates one of the following: * true national security concerns * personal confidentiality * any monetary transaction information that might cost the taxpayer money by putting the treasury at a disadvantage in some prospective transaction. Objections? What am I missing?

roundsquare 17y ago
I posted this below but I'll put it here also. I think having every report written by the government posted online could potentially make it difficult to be honest in the reports. If a part of the government is commissioned to write a report, and they do honest researchand come to a controversial conclusion (e.g. something about a particular race), what happens if it goes online? People who find out about it will get angry at that part of the government (e.g. call them racist). With that in mind, I'd imagine they might write something less controversial but less honest. In the abstract, I agree with you, everything possible should be posted online. But until people respond to things reasonably, I don't know that it is feasible. I guess its worth pointing out that I'm not sure where I stand on this... as below, I'm sort of playing devil's advocate. Edit: Spelling, grammer.
- miked 17y ago
  >> I guess its worth pointing out that I'm not sure where I stand on this... as below, I'm sort of playing devil's advocate. I also have some concerns about full transparency, just on the general basis that "the best laid plans..." often "gang aft aglay". But all bills should be posted online, where they can be easily found and searched, at least a week before the vote takes place. No ands, ifs, or buts. I'd also love to see time reports of our hard working public servants. You can discover a lot by softing through the details. >> I think having every report written by the government posted online could potentially make it difficult to be honest in the reports. Yes. Not sure what to do about that. Slightly OT, but I would love to see a law that requires every scientific paper that used public funding be posted online, for free, within a year of dead tree publication.
  - roundsquare 17y ago
    Yes, I definitely agree that as a procedural rule, anything that can become law should be posted for a good period of time (with all sorts of exceptions for emergencies... e.g. funding to help a disaster area). I think the necessary action is some sort of education program (yeah, yeah, it'll never happen, I know...). If we can somehow educate people to never get mad at a fact (a quote from a political science textbook I read once) then we might be able to do this. In any event, I think this sort of education is necessary because as things stand, reports are often treated as opinions, which is bad. Edit: Slightly OT, but I would love to see a law that requires every scientific paper that used public funding be posted online, for free, within a year of dead tree publication. Its a interesting idea, but we'd need to find a way to compensate journals. I think they get boatloads of money from academic institutions paying for access to their publications (correct me if I'm wrong).

by miked 17y ago

roundsquare 17y ago

I posted this below but I'll put it here also. I think having every report written by the government posted online could potentially make it difficult to be honest in the reports. If a part of the government is commissioned to write a report, and they do honest researchand come to a controversial conclusion (e.g. something about a particular race), what happens if it goes online? People who find out about it will get angry at that part of the government (e.g. call them racist). With that in mind, I'd imagine they might write something less controversial but less honest. In the abstract, I agree with you, everything possible should be posted online. But until people respond to things reasonably, I don't know that it is feasible. I guess its worth pointing out that I'm not sure where I stand on this... as below, I'm sort of playing devil's advocate. Edit: Spelling, grammer.

miked 17y ago
>> I guess its worth pointing out that I'm not sure where I stand on this... as below, I'm sort of playing devil's advocate. I also have some concerns about full transparency, just on the general basis that "the best laid plans..." often "gang aft aglay". But all bills should be posted online, where they can be easily found and searched, at least a week before the vote takes place. No ands, ifs, or buts. I'd also love to see time reports of our hard working public servants. You can discover a lot by softing through the details. >> I think having every report written by the government posted online could potentially make it difficult to be honest in the reports. Yes. Not sure what to do about that. Slightly OT, but I would love to see a law that requires every scientific paper that used public funding be posted online, for free, within a year of dead tree publication.
- roundsquare 17y ago
  Yes, I definitely agree that as a procedural rule, anything that can become law should be posted for a good period of time (with all sorts of exceptions for emergencies... e.g. funding to help a disaster area). I think the necessary action is some sort of education program (yeah, yeah, it'll never happen, I know...). If we can somehow educate people to never get mad at a fact (a quote from a political science textbook I read once) then we might be able to do this. In any event, I think this sort of education is necessary because as things stand, reports are often treated as opinions, which is bad. Edit: Slightly OT, but I would love to see a law that requires every scientific paper that used public funding be posted online, for free, within a year of dead tree publication. Its a interesting idea, but we'd need to find a way to compensate journals. I think they get boatloads of money from academic institutions paying for access to their publications (correct me if I'm wrong).