- From: Sharron Rush <srush@knowbility.org>
- Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:02:50 -0500
- To: eGov IG <public-egov-ig@w3.org>
- Message-Id: <20090417142558.0A9E6582E9@prnetwtsv020.primusnetworks.com>
Hello folks, First congratulations and deepest thanks for the work you have all done in producing this document. I can't think of any more important use of technology than to establish an effective two-way dialogue between citizens and their governments. So please know that my comments are offered with sincere respect and appreciation for all that you have done. We have been reviewing the document in the WAI Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG) from the point of view of the treatment of accessibility for people with disabilities. EOWG has been compiling those comments and they will be submitted separately. My comments here will be more general and are offered as an individual rather than a group representative. The idea of a W3C document about open government/e-government is tremendous and timely. In my opinion, we must make the first document a model of the openness and transparency we hope and expect for governments to achieve. With that in mind, I suggest a reorganization of the document as follows: 1. Clarity - why is the document being developed? statement of principles and goals 2. Simplification - move some of the more detailed aspects into related documents, but keep first working draft on higher level 3. Improve focus - The Introduction and a few of the other sections are somewhat rambling and do not seem related to each other and/or to specific to governmental issues. The document needs to be edited for coherence and narrative flow. I hesitate to be more specific in my comments since I know that there are serious time constraints. I have been sending the URL around to others that I know are interested in e-government and who are working on related issues. One reported back to me that she was unable to make her way through the entire doc without getting "lost." Another noted to me (and I hope sent public comment) that the citizen viewpoint needs to be included more strongly and that more acknowledgement is needed of the way technology enables two-way interactions, not simply a way to make existing government more efficient. I am not sure how the editing is organized, but would suggest that whoever leads the development of each section look for ways to shorten and clarify and that the editors look for ways to improve the structure and the way that sections relate to the overarching principles. Please let me know if this is useful and/or if I can help in any way. Thanks again for taking this on - it is tremendously important! Best, Sharron ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sharron Rush | Executive Director | www.Knowbility.org | 512 305-0310 Equal access to technology for people with disabilities
Received on Friday, 17 April 2009 15:03:32 UTC