[Air-L] Do these online transparency, participation indicators jive?

[Steven Clift]

I am drafting a framework for evaluating local governments around the
United States for their online support for democracy. Most academic
reviews have focused on candidate website features or those looking at
e-government general have had only a few citizen participation
indicators (and pretty crude ones). There are some good
explorations(1) of online transparency more or less focused on
information products (which is 1/5 of the picture IMHO).

While this draft guide - http://pages.e-democracy.org/Sunshine_2.0 -
will be used initially by local League of Women Voter chapters, I
fully expect that it will be used by local reporters, researchers and
others.

So, what do you think of these indicators? What you would
change/add/delete? What are you researching?

Full spreadsheet:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0ArhmVl0vhGLVdG5hZ25IYlVSNGx6QWRxa3F4U0V2amc&hl=en

The draft list (w/o detail):

* Information
"Your" Government
How request information via FOI
Accountability Information - The Transparency Ten Pack
Open Data Initiative
Document Register
E-Transparency System

* Representation
Elected/appointed governance body clear on home page and Elected Officials List
Appointed Officials and Bodies
Election Information
Council Member/Mayor Site Section
Council Member/Mayor E-Newsletter or Blog
E-Response Tool - E-Petition Receiver

* Decision-Making
Public Meeting Calendar, Agenda, and Minutes
Public Meeting Documents
Webcasts - Live and On-Demand
Performance Data
Document Register

* Engagement
311/Web Comment Form/General E-mail Inbox
Online surveys and polls or requests for comments on reports or proposals
Policy Pack - Response, Community Engagement, Social Media Use
Online Exchange with Public (External Tools)
Online Government Engagement (Government Managed)

* Online Features
Community Links Section
Site Search
Web Feeds
E-Updates Services
What's New/What's Popular
Personalized E-Alerts


(1) For a review of online transparency measures, wee number 10 -
Lasse Berntzen et al eGovMon project, Norway - listed from:
http://pages.e-democracy.org/Local_Government_2.0