Downing Street Says... is a wonderfully simple way of creating popular debate around the verbal dissembling and shimmying that is the daily press briefing at No. 10. Congrats to MySociety.org for a strong and timely first project from what we hope will be an effective initiative.

See coverage from Tom Coates and Matt Jones.

Meanwhile, Robin points to TellParliament.net, which is running a consultation on how the Commons could be improved, and the BBC reports that DirectGov, the government's main information website, is getting a make-over.

Some recent conversations with people interested in opening up the process and communication of government using online technologies suggests that government remains fixated on better communication of what it is already doing, with occasional consultation, as if somehow growing apathy and mistrust are simply a result of not enough information. People working on the civil society side of the debate, however, are understandably more concerned with changing the process of government giving people more control over *what* information they have access to, and *on whose terms*.

Government portals probably have some role to play, but perhaps open government should mean the provision of information services that others closer to the ground can aggregate, organise and combine in whatever way they wish.