Government Transparency of Information (2015-2016)

How well and in what ways do governments communicate with their citizens? How do governments analyze data and create visualizations to promote public access to government information?

This project team set out to explore the normative and theoretical principles underlying the relation between information access and improved governance, and to develop a sustainable model for analyzing large datasets that relate to public issues.

Focusing on Durham, team members accessed data sets available through the Open City Data and Neighborhood Compass websites. They analyzed the data on education, housing, safety and transportation, and created data visualizations demonstrating the performance of Durham public schools. Team members presented the data visualizations to City of Durham officials and made recommendations for ways to improve the website interfaces and efficiency of public access to governmental information. The impact of the team’s advice, analysis and visualization will be assessed through the improvement of Durham citizens’ access to government information.

Timing

Fall 2015 – Spring 2016

Team Outcomes

Orlin Vakarelov, Kenneth Rogerson. “The Transparency Game: Government Information, Access, and Actionability.” 2019. Philosophy & Technology 33:21-92.

Government Transparency of Information (poster by Pimchanok Chuaylua, Blaine Elias, Nathalie Kauz, Lauren Kelly, Tanner Lockhead, Melinda McTeigue, Sai Panguluri, Angie Shen, Ken Rogerson, Orlin Vakarelov)

Data visualizations for the City of Durham (Pimchanok Chuaylua)

The Transparency Game: A Pragmatic Model for the Dissemination of Government Information (article by Kenneth Rogerson and Orlin Vakarelov submitted to the journal Communication Theory)

Epistemic Lenses: The Case of Informed Consent (paper by Kenneth Rogerson and Orlin Vakarelov presented at Philosophy of Information Workshop, Ferrara, Italy, June 13-14, 2016)

Information Media Networks: A Representational Framework for Cognition (paper by Orlin Vakarelov presented at International Association for Computing and Philosophy Annual Meeting, Ferrara, Italy, June 14-17, 2016)

This Team in the News

Pim Chuaylua, Computer Science and Political Science ’18

See earlier related team, Public Access to Government Information: Implementation, Voter Behavior and Rights (2014-2015).

Team Leaders

  • Kenneth Rogerson, Sanford School of Public Policy
  • Orlin Vakarelov, Arts & Sciences-Philosophy

/undergraduate Team Members

  • Pimchanok Chuaylua, Computer Science (BS), Political Science (AB2)
  • Lauren Kelly, Public Policy Studies (AB)
  • Tanner Lockhead, Public Policy Studies (AB), Political Science (AB2)
  • Melinda McTeigue, Philosophy (AB)
  • Kevin Noh, Public Policy Studies (AB)
  • Sai Panguluri, Public Policy Studies (AB), History (AB2)
  • Ashley Qiang, Economics (BS), Public Policy Studies (AB2)
  • Yueqi (Angie) Shen, Statistical Science (BS)

/zcommunity Team Members

  • City of Durham