Information Policy Meta-Principles: Stewardship and Usefulness

The ideas that democratic governments should be open, accessible, and transparent to the governed are not new ones, but they are receiving renewed emphasis through the combination of government reform efforts and the emergence of Web 2.0 social media tools that promote information sharing, integration, and public discourse. Although these initiatives are young, they already exhibit daunting complexity, with significant information management, technology, and policy challenges. A variety of traditional and emerging information policy frameworks offer principles for considering and addressing these issues. Diverse research perspectives highlight both challenges to and opportunities for promoting transparency. The early implementation of public participation in the US Open Government Initiative suggests that two meta-policies, stewardship and usefulness, can help structure and balance the choices for action.