Lower revenues, Unclear ROI. The attack on open government begins

As you may recall I wrote recently that:

“What was missing in 2010, however, was the requirement to tie open government efforts to results other than open government.  In other words, US Federal Agencies had goals to share data, not to share data that led to certain outcomes.  As we look forward to 2011 and 2012 there will be more pressure, especially in the US, to tie these initiatives to measurable results.  With a Presidential election only a couple of years away there will be a strong push to create jobs, reduce debt, and find operational efficiencies.  Open Government efforts have demonstrated results in these areas and will need to continue to do so to become more than just an experiment pushed forth as part of this administration.

This push, combined with backlash from Wikileaks, will result in a few open government setbacks in 2011.  However, those efforts that survive 2011 will provide us with a blueprint for success.  These efforts will be tied to measurable results like job creation, operational efficiencies, and ethics reforms (the earmark discussion will continue).”

I do believe that the love affair with open government, for the sake of open government alone, is nearing its end.  As I chat with many people inside of government I am hearing several organizations potentially cutting back on their efforts for a number of reasons:

• In the United States, state revenues declined from 2008 to 2009 (and 2010 was not good either) according to US Census Statistics.
• Most are still implementing open government initiatives without clearly defining ROI.  In many cases press releases and other public acknowledgements are the only benchmarks being used to determine success.  With less money to spend there is a strong desire in some circles to invest less.  Too often political motives and benefits are the strongest driver for investment in this area and the elections are over.
• The pain of Wikileaks is fresh and the desire to increase security/privacy may initially negatively impact open government initiatives.

You see these issues starting to play out in places like Tennessee where there is a move to stop posting public notices in newspapers (to save money) and to close all records of 911 emergency calls and dispatches (to protect privacy).  Without a clear understanding of the economic benefits of open government there is little doubt that open government will falter this year.  What are you doing, if anything, to better quantity its value?