Open Government in Austin, Texas

The city of Austin, Texas’s official web site, “AustinGo” is currently seeking input from the public as to how to make it more accessible in order to foster a climate of open government. While other cities, such as San Francisco and Washington D.C., are much farther ahead on creating workable open data portals, Austin is unique primarily because it places a heavy emphasis on retaining its intrinsic “weirdness” in both web and economic development. As part of a white paper authored by the city council, the government portrays the city’s future as the “intersection of innovation, creativity, and quality of life.”

Although Austin is probably best known as being the host of the annual South by Southwest music festival, the city has long had a reputation as a place where creative individuals could prosper. Its location in Texas, a state not traditionally known for encouraging alternative thought, has kept it from becoming trendy, allowing its sleepy cultural outlook to grow at an organic pace. When viewing the bios of the individuals who form the city council, one gets the impression that these people are a part of their community in a way that all politicians should strive to be: in other words, they’re in government to create a better life, not to necessarily seek power for power’s sake.

Austin’s emphasis on actively encouraging and growing a creative economic class that will not only boost the local economy but also contribute to the current cultural climate is heartening. As the global economy continues to sputter and groan, locating positively minded individuals, let alone entire government bodies, has become an enormous challenge. Very few people seem to have the necessary optimism to invest in the future. Luckily, Austin is currently in the process of setting up a panel of stakeholders to review economic development proposals, including those that are proposals for start-up businesses.

Perhaps Austin could borrow some of the open data applications from other cities, if other cities could borrow some of Austin’s inspired developmental outlook. To regenerate our economy and preserve our quality of life, we have to get started somewhere. Go, Austin.