On his first day in office, President Obama, in his Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government, directed his administration to develop recommendations for an "Open Government Directive" that moves government towards being "transparent," "participatory," and "collaborative." OpenTheGovernment.org's webcast presents a great opportunity for the public to be involved in the crafting of this directive. During the webcast, individuals who are intimately involved in formulating the administration's policies and agendas will explain the initiative's goals, receive feedback from the audience, and let members of the public know how they can continue to participate in the discussion.

The event will feature a discussion between speakers and the audience on what the Obama administration hopes to achieve, the policy issues facing this administration, the Obama administration's vision for e-government, and financial and economic transparency. Also during the event, Patrice McDermott, director of OpenTheGovernment.org, and Ari Schwartz, vice president of the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), will release a report based on the results of Show Us the Data, a web-based survey used to discover what restricted information the public wants to get access to and use.