Another clue to HUD's online philosophy

For some time HUD has been circulating online forms for comment under the Paperwork Reduction Act. Today the agency has taken what may be an original step farther: it has posted a notice in the Federal Register about a request for emergency OMB approval of a "logic model" for grant applications. (Comments are due Feb. 1.) This is interesting for a couple of reasons: first and most practically, it gives current grant recipients early warning of the "performance" questions they'll have to answer in future. Second, though, it shows HUD requesting comment on what seems to be an interactive process, not just a static form. This is interesting because whenever a bureaucratic process makes a transition to a new medium, the meanings of the old rules have to be reinterpreted. Fortunately, it looks like someone within HUD really does understand that the structures of computerized reporting systems have substantive effects at least as important as the phrasing of written forms.

Incidentally, gotta love the warm, caring phrasing in some of these "logic model" questions. Notably: "What happens to the 'subjects' as a result of the service?"