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Transparency for Windows Users, Door in the Face for Others
The Minnesota Management and Budget office is touting a new tool that will help out information seekers everywhere gain access to information about state spending. "The Transparency and Accountability Project for Minnesota (TAP Minnesota) provides a powerful new way for the public to access information about state government spending."
This exciting and powerful new tool to access information is so powerful and exciting that only Internet Explorer users can handle the tools....or, at least that was the impression the summary site gave me.
I don't immediately dismiss the idea that the new website "provides information about how the state spends money, who does business with the state, and how much is spent for various activities." Any effort to make government more open and transparent is step in the right direction, and this is an ethos that should be running through every facet of our government.
I do wonder if the person charged with typing up the website's description appreciates the irony of having a document begin with a declaration that the new site "opens the books of the state government", and concludes with a bolded "Note: These reports must be viewed using Internet Explorer."
Does this mean the government never intends to make the website accessible via non-IE browsers?
The Political Animal reported:
"Curt Yoakum, legislative and communications director for the Minnesota Management and Budget department, and Joel Ludwigson, director of information management and communication for the department, said the department was aware of the problem during the development but the platform they'd opted to use wasn't all browser-friendly.
The developers used BusinessObjects, a program to which the state already had access and with which developers were already familiar, they said."
Well, that's all find and dandy for the staff who has some familiarity with the software - thus making a good argument for the software's use, but that doesn't really help out me, Jason "the Fire Fox User", the average citizen who takes his civic duties very seriously. And, doesn't run windows.
Sure, a lot of this is semantics, but if you're going to create these tools under the banner of transparency, then more than 57% of web browsers should be able to access the site. It doesn't matter how great the tools are unless people can use them.
Posted in Fiscal Policy | Related Topics: Government Policy Technology Tim Pawlenty
4 Comments
March 31, 2009 at 10:01 am
Yes, it is idiotic and completely unacceptable in this day and age not to program for all platforms. However, it is very simple to obtain a Mac compatible version of Internet Explorer that will allow you to access the information on the site.
March 30, 2009 at 12:06 pm
This is nothing new for State of Minnesota websites - I’ve directed teachers to state sites for information and for years have heard how they don’t work with Mac’s.
March 28, 2009 at 10:24 pm
The Minnesota Department of Education website is the same. I am unable to access documents related to my work as a teacher from my computer using a Mac with Firefox.
Chris Shields says:
March 31, 2009 at 10:39 am
Actually, Microsoft no longer supports internet explorer for Mac. The mac version hasn’t been updated in years.