2013 Sunny Awards: Winners Choose Granicus for Government Transparency

The release of the Sunshine Review’s fourth annual Sunny Awards has revealed a clear pattern: Granicus clients are consistently receiving top honors. 

Encouragingly, out of over 1,000 qualifying government sites from across the country, 247 were awarded an “A” grade. That’s a 15.4% increase over the number of “A” grades last year and a 502.4% increase since the first awards in 2010.

Click to read more ...

Sunshine Week: 4 Transparency Myths

Prepare for Sunshine Week 2013 by understanding the opposition to govenrment transparency.

Sunshine needs a light. Nearly half a century after President Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) into effect, the spirit of open government still needs public awareness efforts, the most prominent of which is the upcoming Sunshine Week.

Click to read more ...

Alliance for Innovation: A Partnership for Improving Government

The Alliance for Innovation is a global network of local governments working together to create and nurture innovation in the public sector. They’re networking, collaborating, and sharing best practices to run smarter and to build stronger communities. Today Granicus announced that it has partnered with the Alliance for Innovation to help local governments achieve higher levels of community excellence through technology.

Click to read more ...

City Clerk Perspective: Overcoming Resistance to Transparency

The first and hardest thing to learn is that they are already waiting.  All of us, we government administrators, with our jammed schedules and competing priorities, are late.  The people that want or need the information we manage have a raised set of expectations born of tools like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest, etc., and we struggle to match their flexibility, speed, and efficiency.

Click to read more ...

Transparency Transcends Political Leanings

Government transparency is something that everyone should support.  But, there are people who don’t. Perhaps astonishingly to some, the support or lack thereof is not based on which side of the left and right political fence one falls…or anywhere in the political arena, for that matter.

Click to read more ...

Hacking Mexico: Granicus Speaks at Ciudad Móvil

Greetings from Mexico! This weekend, I attended the second annual Ciudad Móvil at the Centro Cultural in the historic district of Mexico City. On September 6, about 50 government officials from all levels of government convened to hear and converse on open data initiatives around the world. Open data is just taking off in Mexico. The Mexican government released roughly 100 data sets early this year and Mexico City is releasing about 400 as part of the event. 

Click to read more ...

70% of Best of the Web City and County Winners Use Granicus

The 2012 Best of the Web awards, created by Government Technology and the Center for Digital Government, revealed an astounding fact: 80% of the cities, and 60% of the counties awarded, including the first place city winner, have implemented online open government solutions from Granicus. Inc.

Click to read more ...