Chat of Open Government Federal Advisory Committee public meeting (Number 01)

Oct. 23, 2024

01:08:10 Amy Holmes, Member: I am present.

01:09:08 Joshua Tauberer, Member: I’m here…  Did it not go through?

01:09:36 Daniel York: We got you Josh

01:09:49 Joshua Tauberer, Member: Thanks.

02:07:44 Beth Cron, GSA OG FAC Support: Members: As a reminder, please raise your hand if you have a question.

02:09:06 MacKenzie Robertson: Can you please have the members in the room state their names before asking a question so we know who is speaking?

02:13:35 Mike Gifford: The Pew graph is pretty stark - https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/06/24/public-trust-in-government-1958-2024/

02:16:44 Mike Gifford: I believe this is the OECD report on Trust that has now been mentioned twice in this meeting https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/oecd-survey-on-drivers-of-trust-in-public-institutions-2024-results_9a20554b-en.html

02:41:58 John Dierking, Member: As a preliminary matter, we may wish to consider adopting the timeline, as presented, at least in principle.   I support the Chair’s proposal to proceed with the preliminary meetings prior to substantive discussion.   John Dierking, Member.

02:42:03 Joyce Ajayi: Sounds good

02:42:25 Joyce Ajayi: Replying to As a preliminary mat…

Agreed

02:42:51 Janice Luong, Member: Replying to As a preliminary mat…

Also agree

02:43:29 Beth Cron, GSA OG FAC Support: John - please unmute to make your comment.

02:44:21 Beth Cron, GSA OG FAC Support: Members - Please unmute to make comments. Those in the room cannot see the chat.

02:49:53 Daniel York (GSA): Members may come off mute, or raise your hand in zoom and I can let the Chair/DFO know you have some thoughts to share

02:55:31 John Dierking, Member: The by-laws contemplate subcommittees, but are silent on the structure of subcommittees- standing or ad-hoc.  The by-laws do provide that the Chair “recommends the appointment of an OG FAC member, who has confirmed an interest, to a sub-committee, in consultation with the DFO, for approval and appointment by the Administrator.”
Preparatory meetings, as conceptualized by the Chair, seem to be a reasonable way to proceed.
Question- are there public notice and agenda requirements for “preparatory meetings,” as would be required for subcommittee meetings?

03:09:15 Alexander Howard: It would be great if GSA could host public comments this on Github, as back in 2016. There’s even a template for the agency plan: https://gsa.github.io/opengovplan/ Use wikis and collaborative drafting. Pol.is is a direction.

03:10:26 Joshua Tauberer, Member: Unpopular opinion: I love email.

03:10:39 Alexander Howard: The NARA FOIA FACA found it fruitful to collaborate using Google Sheets for research and the Google Documents for reports, instead of emailing documents around. Please discuss how that work was successfully done using modern tools. You could then discuss in public meetings. That did not violate the law.

03:11:57 Mike Gifford (CivicActions): Replying to The NARA FOIA FACA…

Sadly, there are still people in government without access to Google…  In 2024…

03:13:21 Alexander Howard: Replying to The NARA FOIA FACA f…

Yes, we encountered that. But it’s possible to work around by exporting a PDF to share over email. Part of this committee’s remit will be figuring out how to collaborate with one another and the public to co-create draft comments. Posting a draft on Github is a play the GSA has pursued before: https://github.com/usnationalarchives/opengovplan

03:13:56 Amy Holmes, Member: We cannot hear you anymore.

03:14:01 Alexander Howard: Imagine if the Committee forked the GSA Open Government Plan and then took comment. https://gsa.github.io/opengovplan/

03:14:32 MacKenzie Robertson: We are back

03:15:10 Mike Gifford (CivicActions): Replying to It would be great …

Pol.is is great, but someone would have to set it up. GitHub is great too, and everyone can access it. Lots of options that are radically transparent.

03:15:57 Mike Gifford (CivicActions): Replying to The NARA FOIA FACA…

Good to hear that there was a work-around.

03:16:24 Daniel York (GSA): Note, only OG FAC members may provide comments at this time

03:16:42 Mike Gifford (CivicActions): Replying to Imagine if the Com…

That would be brilliant.

03:17:02 Daniel York (GSA): Public comment will be starting shortly

03:17:11 Daniel York (GSA): after the Committee Disucssion

03:17:31 Alexander Howard: The GSA tried co-creating the 4th NAP in 2018 using Github and workshops: https://github.com/GSA/participate-nap4/issues

03:29:14 Rob Martin, FinOps Foundation: FOCUS details are available at focus.finops.org and I’m happy to speak with anyone interested.

03:31:51 Alexander Howard: Wait, I got left out?

03:32:38 Mike Gifford (CivicActions): I had planned to be there in-person, but want to be presenting virtually.

03:32:51 Alexander Howard: https://www.regulations.gov/comment/GSA-GSA-2024-0002-0037

03:33:05 Alexander Howard: https://blueprintforaccountability.us/progress-report/

03:33:05 Beth Cron, GSA OG FAC Support: Mike Gifford - You will be next.

01:02:21 Stephen Buckley: The widely-known Spectrum of Participation, created in 1998 by IAP2 (Int’l. Assn. for Public Participation), is   seeking public input for the first update of the Spectrum .. before the end of Oct. 31. — https://www.IAP2spectrum.com

01:02:24 Joshua Tauberer, Member: Thanks for those comments, Alex.

01:07:47 Mike Gifford (CivicActions): More on Digital Public Goods

https://www.un.org/techenvoy/content/digital-public-goods

01:14:52 Amy Holmes, Member: Thanks everyone!

01:15:00 Janice Luong, Member: Thank you everyone!

01:15:00 John Dierking, Member: Thank you, All!