Since its founding in 2013, e-PluribusUnum.org has become widely read as an authoritative source on information technology and government transparency, cited and respected in open government and press freedom communities around the world, from the Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives to the National Archives of the United Kingdom.

Today, E-PluribusUnum.org publishes original research, trusted analysis, and public interest advocacy focused on the ways emerging technology can or should relate to good governance and public access to information.

The website was created by Alexander B. Howard, a writer and open government advocate based in Washington, D.C, who rebooted it after leaving the Sunlight Foundation in April 2018. Howard is now the director of the Digital Democracy Project at the Demand Progress Education Fund.

Why the name?

In 1776, “E Pluribus Unum,” a Latin phrase that means “Out of Many, One”, was the motto proposed for the first Great Seal of the United States of America.

At the time, it was intended to be a definitive statement that reflected the determination of the nation’s founding fathers to form one nation from thirteen colonies.

In the centuries since, as the United States has expanded and other nations have adopted democratic governments of, by, and for the people, the motto has come to stand for something more, beyond state and national borders: a stronger, vibrant and democratic compact that recognizes the rights of the governed to know, speak, associate, assemble, arming the people with the information we need to be self-governing.