A Citizen’s Guide to Open Government, E-Government, and Government 2.0

On this site, users can create a petition for almost any cause and then easily distribute it on Twitter.

The personal blog of journalist and Gov 2.0 advocate Ariel Hampton, this site  tracks the progress of Gov 2.0 activity nationwide.

Apps.gov, a service provided by the GSA, helps agencies gather information about how cloud computing can create sustainable, more cost-effective IT services for the federal government.

The Networking Exchange Blog, sponsored by AT&T, features articles about mobility and security issues for state and local governments.

Created by the Australian government, Skills Connect is a reference site for employers looking to gain support for their workforce development needs.

Developed by Gov. 2.0 advocate Ben Balter, this site is a collaborative resource for government employees looking to participate in the open source community. The site’s goal is to increase information sharing and efficiency within government.

Booz Allen Hamilton, a technology consulting firm, presents impact stories on services using technologies on this site, which presents the company’s ideas and visions to evolve the dynamics of government initiatives.

This site is an open government resource for policymakers, the media, advocacy groups, community organizations, and the public. The Center for Effective Government’s mission is to build an open, accountable government that advances the national priorities defined by an active, informed citizenry.

The Center for Technology in Government at the University at Albany works to foster public sector innovation, enhance capability, generate public value, and support good governance through applied research, knowledge sharing, and collaborative problem solving at the intersection of policy, management, and technology.

The site is a Google group in which the goal is to assist the nationwide campaign for greater government transparency, from city councils to Capitol Hill.

City Ethics is a non-profit organization formed in 2000. Its purpose is to provide a centralized location for information and resources for all forms of local government ethics programs.

CitySourced is a mobile app platform aimed at civic engagement that empowers residents to identify civic issues (public safety, quality of life, environmental issues, etc.) and report them for quick resolution.

A non-profit group helping governments become more connected through Internet technology, Code for America encourages opportunities for public service, both inside and outside government.

Data Portal India is a platform for supporting the Open Data Initiative for the Indian government. It intends to increase transparency in the functioning of government and also opens avenues for innovative uses of government data.

Data.gov allows the public to easily find, download, and use datasets that are generated and held by the U.S. government. Data.gov provides descriptions of the federal datasets (metadata), information about how to access the datasets, and tools that leverage government datasets.

This government and technology blog founded by David Fletcher discusses and informally monitors Utah’s digital government activities.

This site was developed by the Washington, D.C., government and includes more than a dozen apps for helping citizens make the most of city services. Apps include D.C. Police Crime Mapping, local transportation information, and D.C. Atlas.

The D.C. Open Government Coalition is an advocacy group advocates for transparency and accessibility in D.C. government.

A citizen led initiative to promote open government in francophone countries.

Hosted by Danube University Krems University for Continuing Education, this site focuses on e-governance, featuring  news and analysis with an international perspective.

Hosted by GSA’s Center for Excellence in Digital Government, this blog discusses using digital tools to deliver agency-mission, customer-focused experiences in government.

A project of New York Law School, Do Tank projects address the role of legal and political institutions, social and business practices, and the visual and graphical technologies. Its goal is to strengthen the ability of groups to solve problems and govern themselves by designing software and legal code to promote collaboration.

The eGovAU blog provides news, practical advice, support and commentary on Government 2.0, eGovernment and public sector innovation across Australia.

e.Republic is a publishing, research, event, and new media company focused on the state and local government and education markets. Its publications include: Governing, Government Technology, and Emergency Magazine, among others.

Electorate.Me is social media platform that allows citizens to discuss the social and political issues that affect them in their communities. The site is built around the communities people live and vote in: state, county, city, and school district.

FCW is a news and information site that provides federal technology executives with information, ideas, and strategies to navigate the federal government.

Fed Scoop is a media company focused on government technology, as well as a news source and platform for education and collaboration.

This site, a project of the Center for Effective Government, is dedicated to tracking U.S. federal government spending.

A publication of FierceMarkets, FierceGovernmentIT tracks technological developments in the U.S. government, specifically in the areas of IT, government cloud computing, cyber security, and open government.

The Fix My Street platform is an open source project to help people run websites for reporting common street problems, such as potholes and broken street lights.

Matt Miszewski’s global open government blog discusses politics, open government, and other related issues.

The National Institute on Money in State Politics maintains and monitors statistics for state-level candidates in primary and general elections. It provides information on the influence of campaign money on state-level elections, public policy, and how money is spent.

FutureGov is a digital consulting firm in the U.K. that works with governments to use technology toward improving public services. Their blog explores issues in digital government.

FutureGov is a publication aimed at informing readers about the governance, efficiency, and citizen engagement of public sector organizations in Asia and the Middle East.

GCN delivers technology assessments, recommendations, and case studies to support public sector IT managers who are responsible for technology solutions.

Global Integrity is an innovation lab that produces research and creates technology to advance the work of a global network of civic, public, and private reformers pursuing increased transparency and accountability in governments.

This site is Google’s cloud-based software suite optimized for government organizations.

Alan Silberberg’s blog about Gov 2.0 and relevant upcoming conferences and speakers.

Gov 2.0 Radio is a podcast on “connected government” in all its forms: E-Gov, Gov 2.0, Open Gov and more.

Run by the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership at Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy, this blog focuses on helping solve public problems by promoting citizen engagement.

A section of Governing magazine’s online portal, Tech Talk focuses on government and technology issues. The publication seeks to advance and improve government performance and outcomes through research, support, and education.

Mike Kujawski created this site to compile a central list of current initiatives involving social media engagement by governments around the world.

This is a course blog for the PPA730 Government 2.0 class taught by Professor Ines Mergel at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University. The blog posts comments and ideas from MPA, MAIR, and EMPA students studying the use of social media in the public sector.

A community for social media engagement for governments around the world.

This site was created by the Australian Government Information Management Office to foster the efficient use of information and communications technology (ICT) by Australian government departments and agencies.

Government Futures is a platform for community thought leaders to build collective intelligence around issues that move government forward.

A division of e.Republic, Government Technology has IT news for state, local, and city government, and includes government events, videos, and articles.

GovFresh was founded by Luke Fretwell, an advocate for technology in civic life, and features public servant innovators, civic entrepreneurs, and the ideas and technology changing the way government works.

The Governance Lab (the GovLab), housed in New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service, is an organization that designs, studies and implements experimental, technology-enabled solutions that advance a collaborative, networked approach to re-invent existing democratic institutions and processes of governance.

GovLoop is an online social network for people in and around government. The community includes those in federal, state, and local governments, as well as students, government contractors, and individuals interested in government service.

GovTrack.us is a tool created by Civic Impulse, LLC to engage public research and follow legislation in the United States Congress and state legislatures. Its goal is to promote government transparency and civic engagement through technology.

Produced by Deltek, this site aims to support awareness and understanding of issues impacting government and government contractors.

E-petitions allows users to influence government and Parliament in the U.K. Readers are able to create e-petitions for any concern being discussed in Parliament; if it gets at least 100,000 signatures, the concern will be considered for debate in the House of Commons.

IAP2 — the International Association for Public Participation — is an international organization with the goal of advancing the practice of public participation among citizens, governments, and institutions.

Influence Explorer, a project of the Sunlight Foundation, provides an overview of campaign finance, lobbying, earmark, contractor misconduct, and federal spending data.

Knowledge Hub is the U.K. Local Government Association’s professional social network, which helps people in local government connect and share in a secure online environment.

LegiStorm is a nonpartisan organization whose goal is to provide U.S. Congress salary, financial, and contact information to the public. The site has expanded to include information on Capitol Hill staffers.

MapLight is a nonpartisan research organization that provides information on how finance influences politics in the U.S. Congress and in the California and Wisconsin state legislatures. It provides tools that connect data on campaign contributions, politicians, legislative votes, industries, companies, and more to show patterns of influence.

MeriTalk is an online community and resource for government IT. Focusing on governmental issues, MeriTalk hosts Big Data Exchange, Cloud Exchange, Cyber Security Exchange, and Data Center Exchange, which are all platforms dedicated to support public–private dialogue and collaboration.

This Microsoft website includes articles, tools, guides, and web solutions for Open Government and Gov 2.0.

MuniGov 2.0 is a coalition of federal, state, local, municipal, and international governments focused on exploring the use and principles of Web 2.0 in an effort to improve citizen services and communication via technology.

mySociety’s mission is to help people become civically and democratically powerful. The organization builds websites that make it easy for people to write to their politicians, and also provides free consultancy and develops free, open source software.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s collaborative platform for the open government community to share success stories and projects NASA employees and contractors are working on.

The National Association of State Technology Directors (NASTD) works to advance the effective use of information technology and services to improve the operation of state government. NASTD represents information technology professionals from the 50 states who manage government IT services and facilities for state agencies and other public entities, often including hospitals, prisons, colleges, and universities.

This site provides updates on transparency, participation, and collaboration from the National Archives and Records Administration.

This site includes NCDD Director Sandy Heierbacher’s list of what she considers to be the best books, guides, and tools about dialogue, deliberation, and public engagement.

Founded by previous Business.com CTO Jim Gilliam, NationBuilder is an online community organizing system dedicated to empowering leaders with the tools they need to influence change.

New Media and the Air Force Guide helps entry-level air force personnel tell their U.S. Air Force stories to a broader audience using Internet tools.

Nextgov is an information resource for federal technology decision-makers. Through news, analysis, and insights from journalists and other sources, Nextgov provides information on technology and government.

A small nonprofit based in Washington, DC, the Open Forum Foundation works both domestically and internationally on citizen engagement, open government, and the complexities of the culture change that these ideas and the advancement of technology are pushing governments into. The 20 Basics of Open Government resource was created to answer the questions: Why should citizens care about open government? How do all the different aspects of open government work together?

This Tennessee government page tracks information about services and local municipal spending.

This site seeks to serve as a hub for the open government community around the world. The Open Knowledge Foundation acts as a community that both creates open data and helps others to do the same.

The website of the White House provides speeches, policies, initiatives, and milestones regarding the Obama administration’s directives and vision on ensuring an open government.

The Open Government Partnership is a new multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.

OGPL is a joint project from the governments of India and the United States to promote transparency and greater citizen engagement by making more government data, documents, tools, and processes publicly available.

The Open Knowledge Foundation (OKF) is a non-profit organisation based in Cambridge, UK and was founded in 2004. OKF is dedicated to promoting open data and open content in all their forms – including government data, publicly funded research and public domain cultural content.

Open Local Illinois is a nonprofit education organization that works to educate residents on local government practices through research.

The Center for Responsive Politics is a research group that tracks money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy. Nonpartisan, independent, and nonprofit, the organization aims to create a more educated voter, an involved citizenry, and a more transparent and responsive government.

Run by nonprofit organization OpenPlans, this website seeks to facilitate an international effort to build open interoperable systems that allow citizens to more directly interact with their cities.

OpenCongress is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public resource that brings together official government data with news and blog coverage to give readers more information about pending legislation.

This workspace is for open government practitioners at the federal, state, and local levels to share questions and effective practices about open government.

OpenPublic is an organization whose site provides a content management system specially designed for open government goals.

A product of Red Hat, this blog looks at the intersection of open source and government with a focus on how government can cultivate communities.

The Open Source Center (OSC) provides foreign open source intelligence, including information on foreign political, military, economic, and technical issues.

OpenTheGovernment.org is a coalition of 80+ organizations united to make the federal government more open and accountable. They were formed in 2003 to help organize and amplify the voices of government groups, environmentalists, journalists, library and consumer groups, labor, and others who support open government.

The P2P Foundation is an international organization focused on studying, researching, documenting, and promoting peer-to-peer practices.

Run by entrepreneur and technology strategist Andrew Rasiej, this site promotes citizen engagement, including new ideas, tools, and practices.

A nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that seeks to ensure a system of checks and balances in candidates and their campaigns, Vote Smart’s goal is to provide citizens with reliable information to make an informed voting choice.

This site is a collection of information and resources, including videos, aimed at offering citizens a look into government happenings.

A product of the Sunlight Foundation, PublicEqualsOnline is a national, nonpartisan campaign seeking to create a transparent government built on open data and information.

This is Microsoft’s corporate blog where employees and subject matter experts discuss how the entrepreneurial spirit impacts government, politics, education, and nonprofits.

IBM’s user-generated Tumblr is focused on how to make cities smarter.

This site, run by Ines Mercel, assistant professor of public administration at Syracuse University, looks at social media policies. It gives a guide and references to help readers move through new media strategies and policies within their own organizations.

Through research, education, and advocacy, SPUR — a nonprofit organization — promotes strong planning and transparent government in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Stanford Social Innovation Review is an award-winning magazine covering strategies for nonprofits, foundations, and socially responsible businesses.

The Sunlight Foundations is a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that develops and encourages new government policies that promote transparency and accessibility.

This forum offers users a platform to exchange information and ideas relating to federal, state, and local government as well as defense, intelligence, and education.

A content platform for PersonalDemocracy.com, TechPresident covers how political campaigns — local, congressional, and state — and voters are using the web to affect voting outcomes.

This blog is a publication from the IBM Center for the Business of Government focused on management issues facing governments today, including e-Government, financial management, human capital management, as well as managing for performance and results.

The Civic Commons aims to bring people together with conversation and emerging technology, and provides tools and a platform for citizens to connect with and inform one another and to take action.

The site serves as a resource for public sector information technology, procurement, and business intelligence.

Alan Silberberg, a well-known blogger on transparency issues, writes on the progress of Gov 2.0.

The Open Government Guide from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is a complete compendium of information on states’ open records and open meetings laws.

The U.S. Congress Votes Database from The Washington Post documents every vote made by every member of the House and Senate since 1991. Data is pulled from several sources, including the House clerk, the U.S. Senate and the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress.

This Google group is a space where citizen journalists and bloggers can express ideas and give input on government 2.0.

TransparencyCamp is a yearly gathering on the topic of open government. The conference seeks to develop strategies that help citizen use new technologies to be more active and informed in government issues. The site contains information and resources.

This site is part of an effort to encourage Congress and its staff to converse with citizens via Twitter.

The United Nations Public Administration Network promotes the sharing of knowledge, experiences, and practices throughout the world by means of information communication technologies, sound public policies, and effective public administration.

A government site that provides information on federal spending as mandated by The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (2006).

The state of Utah’s open government data portal.

Part of the Washington State Office of the Attorney General, this site gives information about the state’s open government initiatives.

A product of Seattle-based DotGov, Inc., YouTown makes government data accessible through location-based mobile technologies. The mobiles app provides community information, including events, news, maps, and services.

Hosted by CBS Interactive’s Distinguished Lecturer David Gewirtz, ZDNet’s government blog discusses politics and policy that concern IT professionals.

For more than 70 years, the UNC School of Government’s Legislative Reporting Service has informed local governments, state agencies, and North Carolina citizens about the status and content of North Carolina legislation. The new Legislative Reporting Service website contains a summary of every bill introduced and every amendment, committee substitute, and conference report adopted. In addition, subscribers can easily search for bill summaries, monitor bills through the “My Bills” feature, and create personalized reports.