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Please note that our syllabus has now moved and can be found on our website here:

https://www.teachingpublicservice.digital/en/syllabus-index

This page is no longer being maintained.

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<aside> 💡 See other units in the syllabus

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Working in the Open

What is this page?

This is a detailed breakdown of how David Eaves, a Lecturer at the University College London's Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (UCL IIPP), teaches the contents of Unit 7 of the open access syllabus developed by Teaching Public Service in the Digital Age. See here how part one of Unit 7 is taught.

This page is part of a series of twenty-five classes that David developed originally for the Harvard Kennedy School's master and executive education programs, where he taught for eight years, and are now taught at UCL's master and applied learning programs.

We believe presenting diverse ways to teach the syllabus will help others adopt and teach the material in various contexts. See here how Konstanz University's Prof Ines Mergel teaches the same unit.

Who is this page for?

This page was developed for university faculty who teach public administrators or master's levels students in public policy and public administration. This material may also be suitable for teaching to upper year undergraduates.

Class Overview

The previous class focused on how governments can leverage digital technologies to share public information more easily. This can serve several goals including improved accountability or create public value by having members of public build on top of the governments data.

In this class we explore two other ways of working in the open that are becoming increasingly prominent in government. One involves "open sourcing" government practices and software so others can use them. The other are a set practices that allow public servants to work share what they are working more widely to either build trust or solicit input from a wider audience. This class explores the implications, challenges and risks behind open source and working in the open.

<aside> 🚨 Not talked about in this class:

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This Class' Learning Objectives

<aside> 📖 By the end of this class students should be able to:

• High level understanding of working in the open in a government context.
• Explain the motivations that governments can have to work in the open
• Name some of the most common risks that come from working in the open
• Identify situations in which working in the open creates value, and where it doesn't

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How this class relates to the Digital Era Competencies

<aside> 💡 This class has a specific focus on **Competency 6 - Openness.** See all eight competencies here.

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Assigned Reading and Practical Resources

For this class readings, students should have in mind the following questions:

• Does “working in the open” or adopting open collaborative approaches undermine accountability?