One of the themes that’s emerging as I look at the North Carolina budget is the need to rethink how government works. Gov. Perdue and the legislative leaders next January cannot simply do less of the same thing or tax more to fund the same projects. State government’s role in society has to change. Transparency and openness is a big part of that change.
L. Gordon Crovitz quotes from Don Tapscott’s MacroWikinomics, which covers similar ideas, in his column today:
“Why not open-source government, education, science, the production of energy, even health care?”
[…]
Mr. Tapscott says politicians should view government as a “platform” rather than the dominant provider of services. Asked recently for an example by city officials in Melbourne, Australia, Mr. Tapscott urged them to focus on releasing data. He suggested they disclose information on where bicycle accidents occur, which he said would prompt someone in the city to analyze the data, mapping the risky areas online and giving bicyclists ways to reduce risks. Using wikinomics terms, Mr. Tapscott says, “Government can become more of a context provider than a content creator.” [emphasis added]
Becki Gray and I will be going across the state this month to show Freedom Club members the tools available to help state and local governments provide more information to citizen taxpayers.
