Framework
Openness Overview: Part of NASA’s DNA
NASA’s founding legislation, the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, addresses the role NASA should play in ensuring the general welfare of the United States, with language directly applicable to the principles of Open Government:
Sec. 203. (a) The Administration, in order to carry out the purpose of this Act, shall—
(1) plan, direct, and conduct aeronautical and space activities;
(2) arrange for participation by the scientific community in planning scientific measurements and observations to be made through use of aeronautical and space vehicles, and conduct or arrange for the conduct of such measurements and observations;
(3) provide for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information concerning its activities and the results thereof;
(4) seek and encourage, to the maximum extent possible, the fullest commercial use of space; and
(5) encourage and provide for Federal Government use of commercially provided space services and hardware, consistent with the requirements of the Federal Government.
— NASA Space Act (as Amended), Section 203
As the Space Act articulates, there is a strong linkage between transparency, dissemination of information, and the commercial uses of space (or economic development). For more than a half-century, we have created policies and processes to carry out our legislated mission.
Examples include:
- The availability of raw science data archived by all NASA missions, for open use.
- Inclusion of the international scientific community in road mapping and strategic planning, mainly through the National Academies of Science and other working groups.
- Use of full and open competition, including NASA centers, academia, and industry, to implement activities that help fulfill mission requirements.
Examples are given in more detail in the sections about specific initiatives.
Openness is fostered from the organizational level to the level of individual employees. Our employees have incentives and sometimes even requirements to be open and collaborative, and leadership development training promotes a culture of openness and collaboration at every level. Each leadership level requires competencies in communication and advocacy, knowledge management, and customer, stakeholder, and partner relationships. For NASA’s science community, publishing research is often required for career advancement within the Agency.
Finally, we continue to employ many approaches to operations that already embody transparency, participation, and collaboration, such as:
- Strategic planning with external stakeholders.
- Employing collaboration tools to improve communication with our scientific and technological communities.
- Seeking partnerships for mission success.
Framework for Open Government
NASA is a community of scientists, engineers, and other professionals who explore the Earth and space for the benefit of humankind. As we uncover increasing knowledge about the universe and solve difficult engineering challenges, we are continuously experimenting in labs, workshops, and offices. We gather and analyze information about our universe, requiring perseverance and creativity to solve unique challenges. Unlocking the complex systems of the cosmos does not come with an operating manual. Instead, we create hypotheses, conduct experiments, and refine our mental models and conceptual frameworks based on evidence and experience.
Open Government presents similar challenges as we work to improve our performance and responsiveness to the Open Government Directive. Accordingly, the NASA Open Government Plan is not a manual. By recognizing current initiatives that exemplify the values of Open Government, this Plan is intended as a model for change throughout the Agency. Applauding these successes creates a social incentive for our workforce to innovate, encouraging them to continue looking for ways to be more efficient, to further enhance our relationships with existing stakeholders, and to create new partnerships. The guidance contained in the Open Government Directive creates cultural and procedural opportunities for new initiatives, including those described here. We believe that this is a continuous learning process, and thus have chosen to couch our Open Government efforts as a framework in which to experiment and learn over time.
The Open Government framework strives to be multi-dimensional in its approach, addressing technology, policy, and culture. When all three of these tenets are targeted for improvement, greater possibilities present themselves and momentum builds.
The Open Government Initiative is a movement within government to adapt to the changing external environment, embrace new technologies, engage with our citizens, and encourage collaborations and partnerships. This is the result of the government recognizing that we can be more relevant for our stakeholders and intentionally create a culture of openness as we evolve into a twenty-first century democracy. At NASA, we are in the midst of a massive change ourselves. The external environment of the aeronautics and space sector is undergoing a shift in how business is conducted, and the core of NASA’s strategy for extending humanity into the solar system recognizes the ingenuity of citizens as a rich resource to develop more capable and innovative technologies and to create a thriving commercial space sector.
The Open Government Initiative provides a perspective to ensure that we are open in our processes, we generate data products of utility for the space sector, and we enter into partnerships across the US government, with industry, other nations, and the public.
Cross-cutting Objectives
NASA has developed the following five principles to guide its efforts to integrate Open Government into the Agency:
1. Increase Agency transparency and accountability to external stakeholders.
2. Enable citizen participation in NASA’s mission.
3. Improve internal NASA collaboration and innovation.
4. Encourage partnerships that can create economic opportunity.
5. Institutionalize Open Government philosophies and practices at NASA.
These are directly aligned with the Plan components articulated in the Open Government Directive. As stated earlier, there is no prescribed way to be an Open Government agency. We believe it is the responsibility of each office, program, and employee to make this vision become a reality.
Conclusion
Open Government principles are already evident in many activities underway throughout NASA. Through the Open Government Initiative, we continue the dialogue across the Agency on how to infuse Open Government principles into even more of our daily operations. These conversations allow us to see new opportunities to strive for greater transparency, participation, and collaboration as our strategic directions focus on the opportunities for the twenty-first century and beyond.
Our approach has been to find the activities and anecdotal successes that embody values of openness, participation, and collaboration so that we can celebrate and build upon them. In this update of our Plan, we aim to collect the result of these conversations in the directory of participatory, collaborative and transparent activities.
The underlying motivation behind the Open Government Initiative marks a shift in the way we interact with the public and conduct information resource management. As such, we will face inevitable challenges as we transition from the current state of operations to the Agency-wide adoption of policies and tools designed to increase transparency and enhance collaboration both internally and externally. We recognize the need to understand and plan for such challenges in order to sustain Open Government practices throughout NASA.
No one is an expert in Open Government. We are taking an experimental approach to Open Government, and we recognize the long-term nature of this movement. Finally, we believe that the Flagship Initiative we have chosen is a key catalyst for change. All these efforts will transform NASA into an even more transparent, participatory, and collaborative Agency and ease our transition into a twenty-first-century (and beyond) space program.