Understanding Government, a public policy nonprofit has
launched an online forum, http://forum.understandinggov.org,
for civil servants and journalists — though anyone can use
it — to post their views on ways in which the government
works and what needs to be fixed.
According to the group’s website, it is dedicated to improving
the performance of the executive branch by helping journalists
better cover it, but judging by some of the posts to the
nascent forum, federal managers might want to take a look from
time to time to read the sort of unsolicited feedback that
workforce surveys and team meetings aren’t likely to reveal,
with the irreverent tone of a public blog.
“The idea is to give journalists a way to develop new sources
and story ideas among employees in executive branch agencies;
for employees to have a completely anonymous venue where they
can sound off; and for the rest of us to find out what’s
really going on in the halls of Washington,” according to the
group’s website.
