White House solicits open government suggestions on Web

The White House has launched a Web site in response to President Obama’s Transparency and Open Government memorandum, calling for suggestions from the public on open government policy.

The Open Government Initiative site outlines a process that begins with gathering suggestions, followed by online discussions leading to a wiki-style drafting of recommendations for the Open Government Directive called for by Obama. Recommendations can be submitted, viewed, discussed and voted on until Thursday.

The new data.gov Web site also launched this week, allowing users to browse and download information from federal agencies. The first batch of information includes 47 data sets from 26 agencies, ranging from Migratory Bird Flyways provided by the Fish and Wildlife Service to the Residential Energy Consumption Survey provided by the Energy Information Administration.