American Transparency Project
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The American Transparency Project (ATP) is dedicated to fostering an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability within the United States Federal Government. It stands for the principle that a transparent government is an accountable government. We are committed to lighting the path towards a more open, responsive, and trustworthy federal framework where every citizen can understand, influence, and benefit from governmental actions.
Mission
Our mission is to:
Promote Openness
We dismantle the opacity of the Administrative State by advocating for the creation of a comprehensive, public-facing repository of information. This digital platform serves as a dynamic tool for both the administration and the public to explore, understand, and engage with:
- Federal Agencies: Details about all federal agencies, their subcomponents, roles, responsibilities, and the scope of their operations.
- Funding Transparency: Clear, accessible information on how these agencies are funded, including breakdowns of expenditures and budgets.
- Collaborative Networks: Insight into the organizations funded by or partnered with these agencies, whether they are other governmental bodies, NGOs, or private sector entities.
Enhance Public Trust
Public agencies are custodians of public trust. By ensuring transparency in their processes and operations, we uphold this trust, enabling citizens to see how their government functions, spends, and impacts their lives.
Support Stewardship
The Administration commits to being judicious stewards of federal resources. Through transparency, we enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of federal investments, adapting to global changes while maintaining accountability.
Facilitate Accountability
By making federal activities transparent, ATP ensures that government operations are accountable to the public, fostering a culture where efficiency, ethical behavior, and public service are not only expected but are visibly demonstrated.
Drive Informed Engagement
We empower citizens, policymakers, and stakeholders with the information necessary to engage constructively with government processes, enhancing democracy through informed participation.
Why a wiki?
For the American Transparency Project, a wiki acts as a repository and a living document of the government’s operations, open to scrutiny, contribution, and engagement by the public it serves. This platform embodies the principle of transparency by making government information not just available but navigable, understandable, and interactive. A wiki platform like MediaWiki is currently an ideal choice for the American Transparency Project due to several compelling reasons:
Open Access and Participation
Wikis support open editing and viewing by default, which aligns with our transparency goals. This allows not just government officials but also citizens and watchdogs to access information freely.
Collaborative Knowledge Building
Wikis facilitate collaborative editing, tailored for structured input from various stakeholders including government employees, the public, and oversight bodies. This collaborative environment fosters a collective effort in maintaining and updating the information, ensuring it remains current and accurate.
Flexibility and Scalability
- Content Structuring: Wikis can be structured in numerous ways to reflect complex hierarchies and relationships within government organizations, making it easier to navigate through different levels of government.
- Scalability: As the government evolves, a wiki can scale to accommodate new agencies, initiatives, or policy shifts without significant restructuring.
Ease of Use
Wikis have a low entry barrier for users. People familiar with Wikipedia will find it intuitive, making it accessible to a broad audience without specialized training.
Searchability
MediaWiki provides a basic full-text search that looks through page titles, content, and, to some extent, page metadata. Users type keywords into the search box, and the system returns results that match those keywords in the wiki's pages.
Version Control
Wikis keep a history of every edit, providing an audit trail that is crucial for transparency. This feature allows for accountability and the ability to revert changes if necessary, ensuring data integrity.
Integration with Other Tools
Wikis can integrate with other tools for data visualization, analytics, or even external databases, making it a versatile hub for government information. This interconnectivity helps in creating a more dynamic and interactive platform.
While no integration is currently planned, we hope to eventually pull data from sources such as USASpending.gov.
Cost-Effectiveness
Being open-source, MediaWiki reduces costs associated with proprietary software. Customization to fit the unique needs of government transparency can be done without the typical licensing fees.
Multimedia Support
Wikis aren't limited to text; they can include images, videos, and charts, which are used to visually represent data, organizational structures, or explain complex governmental processes.
Community Engagement
Wikis encourage community interaction. This not only fosters transparency but also engagement, as citizens can comment, discuss, or even directly contribute to certain pages where appropriate, promoting a democratic approach to government information.
Real-Time Updates
Information can be updated in real-time, reflecting the latest developments, changes in policy, or shifts in funding, which is essential for maintaining an accurate portrayal of government activities.
Accessibility
Wikis can be made accessible, complying with standards like WCAG, ensuring that people with disabilities can also access and interact with the information.
Why structured data?
By utilizing MediaWiki Cargo, the ATP transforms the way government transparency is approached, making government data not only accessible but also actionable for better governance, public engagement, and oversight. This tool aligns perfectly with our goals of promoting openness, enhancing public trust, supporting stewardship of federal resources, and driving informed civic engagement.
MediaWiki Cargo currently offers several significant benefits that greatly enhance the mission of the American Transparency Project (ATP) to bring greater transparency to the Federal government:
Structured Data Management
- Database Integration: Cargo allows for structured data storage within MediaWiki, turning wiki pages into a database. This is ideal for managing complex information about federal agencies, funding, and organizational relationships in a structured format that's easy to query and analyze.
- Data Consistency: By defining templates for data entry, Cargo ensures that information about agencies, their roles, funding, and partnerships is entered in a consistent manner, reducing errors and improving data reliability.
Advanced Query Capabilities
- SQL-like Queries: Cargo enables users to query data using SQL-like syntax, making it possible to retrieve information in sophisticated ways without needing to navigate through unstructured wiki text. This is crucial for understanding relationships, financial flows, and operational details across different parts of the government.
- Dynamic Reporting: Agencies, funding details, and organizational connections can be dynamically queried and displayed, allowing for real-time updates and insights.
Data Visualization
Cargo supports various display formats like maps, charts, and timelines, which visually represent how funds are allocated, the structure of agencies, or the history of policy changes, making complex data more digestible for the public and policymakers.
User-Friendly Interface
The wiki format is designed for ease of use, allowing not just government officials but also the general public to access and understand federal operations without needing deep technical knowledge.
Interactivity and Collaboration
Public Contribution
While maintaining necessary security and validation, Cargo allows for contributions or corrections from the public, enhancing the collaborative aspect of transparency. This crowdsourced approach helps in maintaining up-to-date information.
Cross-Linking
Information can be linked across different pages, reflecting the interconnected nature of government functions, which is essential for understanding how policies, funding, and agencies interact.
Scalability and Performance
Handling Large Datasets
Cargo is built to manage large volumes of data efficiently, which is necessary given the vastness of federal information.
Performance
By storing data in structured tables, Cargo reduces the load on the system compared to traditional wiki setups, improving the responsiveness of the platform even with extensive data.
Compliance and Accountability
Audit Trails
Every edit or data entry can be tracked, providing an audit trail which is vital for transparency, ensuring accountability in how information is managed and updated.
Regulatory Compliance
For government use, ensuring that data handling complies with regulations is easier with a system like Cargo, which can enforce data type constraints and validation rules.
Difference than Wikipedia
While Wikipedia excels as a general-purpose knowledge repository, a specialized wiki platform for the American Transparency Project provides a more secure, structured, and controlled environment tailored to the unique requirements of government transparency, ensuring that the information presented is both accurate and actionable.
This a specialized wiki platform with extensions like MediaWiki Cargo is better suited for the American Transparency Project compared to Wikipedia:
Customization for Specific Needs
Tailored Structure: Unlike Wikipedia, which serves as a general-purpose encyclopedia, a specialized wiki for ATP is customized to reflect the unique structure and needs of government transparency, with templates and categories designed specifically for government entities, funding models, and agency roles.
Data Integrity and Validation
Structured Data: With Cargo, data is entered in a structured format, allowing for automatic validation and consistency checks that are not as feasible with Wikipedia's general text-based editing. This ensures the accuracy and consistency of government data.
Advanced Querying and Analytics
Complex Queries: Cargo enables SQL-like querying which allows for detailed analysis of data, something Wikipedia isn't designed for. This feature is crucial for understanding government operations beyond simple text searches.
Controlled Access and Editing
Security: Wikipedia's open editing policy is not suitable for sensitive government information. A specialized wiki implements better access controls, allowing edits from verified sources or with certain permissions, which is critical for government data.
Integration with Government Systems
Interoperability: A wiki for ATP integrates with existing government databases or systems for real-time updates, ensuring that the information is always current, which Wikipedia cannot offer.
Compliance and Accountability
Regulatory Compliance: Government data requires compliance with specific regulations. A specialized wiki is set up to meet these legal standards, including data protection, privacy, and public record laws.
Public Engagement with Controlled Interaction
Moderated Interaction: While public input is valuable, government data might need more moderation than Wikipedia's model allows. The ATP wiki offers mechanisms for public input that are moderated or filtered, ensuring quality while still engaging the public.
Visualization Tools
- Enhanced Display Options: With extensions like Cargo, complicated government data can be displayed in various visual formats (graphs, timelines, maps) directly on the wiki, providing immediate insights in a way Wikipedia’s standard layout does not support.
Version Control and Audit Trails
Enhanced Accountability: Every change in a specialized wiki is logged with full detail, providing a clear audit trail for accountability, which is more robust than Wikipedia’s history logs.
Educational and Informational Focus
The ATP wiki avoids the breadth of unrelated topics found on Wikipedia, focusing solely on government transparency, funding, and operations, making it a more authoritative resource in its domain.
Scope
The American Transparency Project (ATP) is dedicated to fostering an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability within the United States Federal Government. We will be be onboarding our first wave of editors soon. If you are interested, please SM us.
Promotion
These blurbs will be used to promote the project.