"The tool, which will be made available free of charge to any federal department or agency, will allow members of the public to submit ideas and vote or comment on others' ideas. The tools will go live on the Web site of each participating agency or department on February 6, and will be active for five weeks.
The hope, at least among participating departments and agencies, is that having a single tool that can be used across the federal government will make it easy for members of the public to engage with as many agencies as they wish, and to help government bureaucrats meet the requirements of the Open Government Directive, which is built around fostering transparency, participation and collaboration. "
Such public information gathering has been mandated by the Obama Administration's recent adoption of the Open Government Directive, which aims to improve participation, collaboration and transparency at the federal level.
Thanks to Governing Magazine
