Transparency Standards

Occupy Boston's [Declaration of Occupation] demands a society that is more transparent and accountable.

"We are committed to living the values of transparency, equality, accountability, awareness, sustainability, and compassion as we struggle against corporate predation, injustice, and oppression."

Do we want to be "at least as good" as the government that we are criticising as "not transparent or accountable enough"?

The Transparency Standards working group is to discuss what we think should be "standards" for transparency for Occupy Boston Working Groups.

Topics could be things like

1. how long before/after a new WG meets for the first time should it:

- tell the GA that it exists?
- start posting its meetings?
- post a page on the wiki with info about how to join?

2. does a concall or email list exchange constitute a "first meeting"?

3. how much time before a meeting should an agenda be posted?

4. what should the maximum time after a meeting be, before minutes are posted?

5. do meeting have to be in public spaces? or are private homes that aren't accessible to the public OK?

6. can WG members talk about meeting topics outside of the email lists and/or public meetings?

In general, transparency activists "demand" that governmental groups post agenda 48 working hours before a meeting. And that only posted topics be discussed at a meeting.

Background:

People may want to review the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law guide, which was a hard fought for level of transparency in Massachusetts that became a standard for the country:

http://www.mass.gov/ago/docs/government/oml-guide-032411.pdf

Full details on the law are available here:

http://www.mass.gov/ago/government-resources/open-meeting-law/

Contact: volunteer@occupyboston.org for more info.

An in person meeting time is not set up yet. But there will be discussion online. Please contact us if you are interested in developing transparency standards.