The goal of the Open Government Initiative at the Alaska Policy Forum is to create a marketplace for citizen engagement. Without the right information, the average citizen cannot and will not engage in the public process.

Currently, information from government is difficult and expensive to acquire. Even those who understand who to ask for information can spend a lot of time doing it. Transparency is a wide issue that can apply to numerous areas of policy. No matter where you find it, the core idea is that transparency, when effectively implemented, can create accountability and empower the average citizen to participate in the public process.