Open Government is not only progressing in the United States , but also in the UK . The United Kingdom recently
invited 30 developers, or hackers if you will, to test their digital platforms
and services including GOV.UK Pay, UK Notify, and Government PaaS. The
developers were given a Hack Day to build their own mock services to integrate
with the current online government products. The UK government application program
interfaces (API’s) were tested to see if any glitches could be found.
This is great news for the UK because they see the value in
transparency and allowing private sector web developers to sharpen their government
tools. The Hackers were given the freedom to experiment and challenge the
government services. Allowing web developers to play in its government “code” is
a prime example of using government as a platform, where “government is a
convener and an enabler rather than the first mover of civic action”. – Tim O’Reilly.
The government platform allows for increased innovation, is only strengthened by
citizen engagement and participation.
The good news is – these outside developers identified areas
of improvement. Weaknesses were exposed, explored and ultimately strengthened. If
only more agencies would open their doors and their code to the expertise of
the citizens and allow them to play with these government systems, the social
media and e-government tools will be strengthened. How much better would your
government agency fare by using hackers to sharpen its online products? I
realize government culture is slow to shift, but thankfully the change is
happening. To encourage platform thinking, governments need to build simple
systems and allow the users and network of application developers to help the
system evolve.
