The Government Information Awareness site is trying to provide a total picture of our government, the individuals within it, and their connections to various interest groups. In other words, it’s aiming to do for government officials what John Poindexter’s Total Information Awareness program would do for individuals — put them under the microscope, and use information technology to assemble a comprehensive view.
The site’s motto is a quote from James Madison which I also recently spotted, and underlined, in Howard Rheingold’s book Smart Mobs:
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.” — James Madison