Social Government

Since Alex and I do most of the talking here, I was wondering what you thought about this. What, in your mind, is most lacking from federal government Web sites?

Since we last checked at the end of January, it seems that all new senators have gotten their Web sites up and running! While most are cookie-cutter sites that will most likely get an overhaul soon, it’s the thought that counts. Plus, residents of Colorado now have a Web-based way to contact their two new [...]

An ambitious proposal for the federal government to create a centralized social network to better serve its citizens.

President Obama today announced former District of Columbia Chief Technology Officer Vivek Kundra will be the new federal chief information officer. Rumors had been swarming recently that Kundra, 34, would be appointed as the first federal CTO — a position that remains vacant.
Nevertheless, Kundra’s announcement is great news. He really likes the iPhone and Web [...]

The Washington Post reports what has been speculated recently: Vivek Kundra, the D.C. CTO, will be named as President Obama’s CTO CIO. The announcement is expected tomorrow.
D.C.’s Tech Chief to Become Federal Information Officer (by Kim Hart, The Washington Post)

It’s great that many federal agencies are actively embracing blogs. These blogs, such as the EPA’s Greenversations and the State Department’s Dipnote have great content and are popular with constituents. However, one issue that is frequently discussed is that many of these blogs do not allow comments.
While both Greenversations and Dipnote do allow comments, there [...]

I did a survey of how state governments are using new media to interact with their residents and to find out which state had the best program. I found that most usages fell into a few categories, listed below, and that the best was something quite unexpected.
Traffic and Other Maps

Maps have been perfected by the [...]

In The Washington Post today, Jose Antonio Vargas (a writer who I highly respect) writes an excellent article about WhiteHouse.gov and the challenges faced by President Obama’s new media team.
In the article, New Media Director Macon Phillips delineates between WhiteHouse.gov, change.gov and BarackObama.com.
“WhiteHouse.gov,” Phillips said, “is not like BarackObama.com or Change.gov. We’re not running a [...]