Attaching envelopes to and releasing balloons, 1932. Photograph by Jerauld A. Manter. University Photograph Collection, Archives and Special Collections, University of Connecticut Libraries.

In a few months the United States will publish its third Open Government National Action Plan (NAP) including new and expanded open government initiatives to pursue from 2016 through 2018. The US is part of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a global effort to make governments more open and accountable to the public. Countries that participate in OGP are required to develop and carry out action plans that include concrete commitments to make the government more open.  “These plans are a true team effort — governments work alongside civil society in all 65 OGP countries to develop and implement the efforts within the plans, ” according to the latest blog post from Corinna Zarek, the US rep to the OGP.

How can you contribute?

Share NAP suggestions via email at opengov@ostp.gov or tweet @OpenGov.

You can also contribute ideas to a publicly available Hackpad — an open, collaborative platform — that the General Services Administration is helping coordinate. (You will need to create an account on that site before viewing and contributing to content on that platform.)

Add your voice and your input!  According to OpenGov, all suggestions including expanded commitments on topic areas from the first two plans such as public participation, open data, records management, natural resource revenue transparency, the Freedom of Information Act, open innovation, or open educational resources, are welcome.  You may also wish to suggest entirely new initiatives.

Read more about the campaign at The National Archives FOIA Ombudsman blog and the Open Government Initiative site.