Much like the recent trend toward organic foods, it is becomming as hip to be transparent as it is to Twitter. In a poll conducted earlier this year by the Coalition for an Accountable Recovery, almost 80% of Americans believed that making the US government more open and accountable was a high priority.
President Obama has ushered in a new era of transparency. With this memo days after he took office, he promised that government would be more transparent, participatory, and collaborative. Government agencies and state and local governments are following suit.
The latest group to take unprecedented steps was the FDA. They have launched the FDA Transparency Blog, with the goal of “eliminating the barriers between the American people and their government”. In addition to the blog, they have formed a Task Force, and in their most recent post, are working to collaborate on ideas for the structure of their upcoming meeting about…transparency of all things.