The first step in citizen engagement: Information Sharing

The first step, in my opinion, in productive citizen engagement is providing information and helping educate citizens about government and budgeting.  This is because government is just a black box to most people.  They sort of understand some of the most basic functions of government, but may not have any idea of which level of government does it.  Who pays for libraries? Roads? Do I have police and a sheriff?  What about fire service?  What does the state even do?  These are not unrealistic questions. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGNIcdfveko] Therefore, it should not be surprising the primary way the local governments engage with citizens is to push information out to them.  This phase of engagement can be characterized as a one way relationship between government and citizens where government is delivering information. Have you heard about transparency, open government, or open data?  Of course you have.  These efforts are all a part of this initial phase.  They involve governments (local and other) making documents and information public and accessible to citizens.  The goal is that citizens will learn about government and hold government accountable.  So in the past that may have meant that the budget was available at the local library, now