The Open Government Directive is the hottest IT buzz in and around D.C. and agencies are heads- down creating their Open Government Plans while inviting dialogue on ways to improve public access to data, what new data sets the public wants/needs to be published, and how to improve public understanding of what each agency does. As it turns out, opening government is not only a good thing for constituents, but a good idea for government as well.

The article Study links online transparency efforts, trust in government - Nextgov summarizes the results of a recent on-line survey of 14 government websites conducted by ForeSee Results.  This study collected information from 30,000 users, and asked questions regarding how the sites disclosed information about agency mission, how quickly agency information is available online, and site accessibility. The survey results show that the more transparent the site ( a transparency score of 80 or greater) the user is more satisfied, more likely to return to the site, more likely to recommend the site, more likely to use it as a primary resource, and has more trust in government. 

This intuitively good news not only confirms common sense, but also should persuade government to use least cost channels in serving constituents when it makes sense for both. An excellent example is the Commonwealth of Virginia vehicle registration renewal process. This state realized that serving citizens in person not only cost more, but long lines taxed citizens' patience as well as their wallets. Virginia now allows citizens to renew on-line and save $1.00 versus paying in person, for a premium of $5.00 and the privilege of waiting their turn. If the users opinions matter (and they should), as agencies are creating their strategic initiatives, they  should focus on serving citizens better, cheaper, and faster – good things for government and constituents alike.