Trust and transparency

An opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal about whether President-Elect Obama in office can keep the faith of the digital under 30's, through the way he governs. The Journal quotes Don Tapscott, author of best seller "Wikinomics," "Growing Up Digital," and the just released "Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation Is Changing Your World":

"To win the trust of Net Geners, governments have to be transparent," Mr. Tapscott says. "At a minimum, policy makers should publicize their overall goals and objectives and, for specific issues and decisions, the documents they relied on, the names of the participants in the decision-making process, and their underlying rationales and criteria, and they should provide reasons why alternative policy options have not been pursued."Mr. Tapscott, also .. suggests that Freedom of Information requirements should include "tools of policy making: the models, simulations, problem-structuring tools and geographical information systems that policy makers use themselves."

It's not just a US issue or a matter for Net-Geners:-to restore trust for all of us, governments have to be transparent. A more open attitude to disclosure of this type of information would also improve the quality of decisions.

Unfortunately too many political and public service leaders around the globe regard the sort of thing Tapscott is talking about as state secret material.