Government information and processes are organized around programs. With so many departments and types of government, it makes it nearly impossible for a citizen to answer the simple question, "what benefits am I eligible for?" I propose an open data standard for describing government a program that includes the fundamental information of what it is, who is eligible, and how they can apply.
Key Objective(s)
Developing this standard will require participation from many levels of government, since program eligibility is a nuanced topic. By promoting an open standard for this information, it can greatly amplify the ability of mid-sized and smaller programs to reach their intended audience.
Paragraph Description
Government services face a fundamental marketing problem: in order to provide services, government is organized around programs. Yet, as a citizen, you have little knowledge of government programs, what you have instead is knowledge about your own needs & identity. For example, what I know about myself is that I'm a middle-aged man living in Chicago. But how could I figure out what services I'm eligible for? I'd have to have a deep knowledge of the various layers of local, state, and federal programs that would apply to my demographic, my life circumstances, etc. Few people have that knowledge. Instead, I'd like to be able to go to a website, put in information I know about myself and my circumstances, and be provided a list of government services across local, and state, and federal, that I am eligible for. To enable this, I propose a new open data initiative to make a standardized data format describing government programs & eligibility that could support applications which provide a Q&A format and in return provide a list of services I'm eligible for along with basic information such as a name and description of the services, advantages of enrolling, directions on how to apply, where to go if I have questions, etc..
Some critical aspects of the proposed killer which would drive adoption of this standard:
It should be able to show results as I fill out information, not wait until the end
It should be smart about what questions to ask next, based on probabilities that it applies to me (think of a decision-tree model, where at each new question you ask a user you are trying to maximize the value of the results they get back). So, for example, "Are you over 65?" might be a reasonable first question while "Are you a tribal small business owner?" would not be, but the latter question would be more likely to be asked next if I have already answered that I am a member of a tribe.
It should not depend on a centralized submission source. This is a little technical and might not belong in this issue, but ideally the standard would support a federated model and not rely on a single point of aggregation.
Ideally, stats like program budget, headcount, and number of citizens served per year would be included
Ideally, it should be easily extensible, or flexible enough that if I have exotic eligibility requirements (which, of course, many programs do!), I would still be able to publish a valid structured data file (eg., a "programs.json") to my website without having to go to through a committee, and have that data be consumed and integrated seamlessly with existing applications.
Although I have the Q&A format in mind as the primary use case, it should be possible to slice & dice the data in all sorts of ways, for example to compile that participating programs into topic-specific lists that might be more search engine friendly (eg., with this data you could also easily compile a series of static websites listing resources for homelessness in every city).
Optionally, it would be nice to also support programs for which you benefit, but do not apply to (e.g., the FDA, benefiting from defense programs, roads, etc) so that a citizen could ask not just "what am I eligible for" but also "what do I benefit from?" This might not be as urgent a question for citizens, but would greatly help government program managers to understand how various programs are overlapping & interacting locally.
Measurable Metrics
01/18-06/18 -> Identify beta group of departments / programs to help define the initial draft of the standard. Start initial discussions.
12/18 -> Release draft of Standards
03/19 -> Initial Departments publish eligibility data (a federated model makes sense to me, but up to implementers), simple public-facing beta site setup for citizens to enter in information about themselves and get a list of programs. At least 5 programs participating in the standards.
06/19 -> At least 50 programs implementing new standards.
anthonygarvan
commented
6 years ago
Topline Description
Government information and processes are organized around programs. With so many departments and types of government, it makes it nearly impossible for a citizen to answer the simple question, "what benefits am I eligible for?" I propose an open data standard for describing government a program that includes the fundamental information of what it is, who is eligible, and how they can apply.
Key Objective(s)
Developing this standard will require participation from many levels of government, since program eligibility is a nuanced topic. By promoting an open standard for this information, it can greatly amplify the ability of mid-sized and smaller programs to reach their intended audience.
Paragraph Description
Government services face a fundamental marketing problem: in order to provide services, government is organized around programs. Yet, as a citizen, you have little knowledge of government programs, what you have instead is knowledge about your own needs & identity. For example, what I know about myself is that I'm a middle-aged man living in Chicago. But how could I figure out what services I'm eligible for? I'd have to have a deep knowledge of the various layers of local, state, and federal programs that would apply to my demographic, my life circumstances, etc. Few people have that knowledge. Instead, I'd like to be able to go to a website, put in information I know about myself and my circumstances, and be provided a list of government services across local, and state, and federal, that I am eligible for. To enable this, I propose a new open data initiative to make a standardized data format describing government programs & eligibility that could support applications which provide a Q&A format and in return provide a list of services I'm eligible for along with basic information such as a name and description of the services, advantages of enrolling, directions on how to apply, where to go if I have questions, etc..
Some critical aspects of the proposed killer which would drive adoption of this standard:
Measurable Metrics