Social Government

Editor’s note: Welcome to our newest contributor, Chris Golden, a sophomore at American University in Washington.

To a member of Congress, the congressional Web site may just be another aspect of the responsibilities of their elected office, but to their constituents, having an up-to-date and effective portal may be their most valuable connection to the labyrinth of legislative procedure and executive agencies.

Rep. David Price, D-N.C., author of The Congressional Experience: Transforming American Politics writes of his duties as a member: “I am only one of [many] strong-willed people trying to shape national policy outcomes, but as I often remind constituents…I am the only one of the 435 who is responsible for assisting individuals, organizations, and local governments in the Fourth District in their dealings with the federal government.” The Congressional Web site is where the power of transparency and open government can be fully realized. Read the rest of this entry »

Nick Troiano is at eDemocracyCamp2 today and will be live blogging some sessions!

The Environmental Protection Agency invites anyone over age 18 to contribute to its ongoing photo project. Using Flickr, the agency will feature user-submitted photos to celebrate Earth Day on April 22. It chose the photo sharing platform “to encourage participation and provide maximum public access.” Photos can be submitted until April 30. The project (which was promoted on the White House’s blog yesterday) is organized through Flickr’s photo groups and through tags. To date, about 160 photos have been submitted throughout the three main groups:

• EPA Earth Day 2009 Photo Project: People and the Environment
• EPA Earth Day 2009 Photo Project: The beauty of nature
• EPA Earth Day 2009 Photo Project: Wildlife

The photo project is a great example of a government agency using social media to promote its work, though participation is surprisingly low. See finalists from 2008 here.

From the people who bring you Dipnote comes the 5th Summit of Americas Digital Town Hall!

That’s right, the State Department is taking the White House’s lead and bringing interactivity to new heights with this interactive Web site. Read the rest of this entry »

This week’s discussion topic on the National Conference on Citizenship’s (NCoC) recently revamped Web site is about transparency in government, which is an aspect of social government that is quickly evolving.

I would argue that transparency 1.0 is the ability for citizens to see what is going on in their government. In 1966, President Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) into law. In 1994, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., became the first member of Congress to launch a Web site. And just last month, California launched a platform to post statements of economic interest and travel expense claims for heads of state departments. Read the rest of this entry »

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Lt. Cmdr. Tony Russell, the press secretary to United States Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen. The Commandant is the highest-ranking officer in the USCG.

In September 2008, Allen’s office created Commandant’s Corner 2.0 – a dynamic Web site that incorporates many Web 2.0 tools: a blog, a Flickr stream, a YouTube channel and a Facebook fan page. Read the rest of this entry »

Peter Suderman, writing on one of my favorite blogs, The American Scene, has raised some questions about Twitter and its usefulness. Among Suderman’s criticisms was the way people follow those who are following them, causing numbers to inflate. He mentions a familiar phenomena (if you’ve ever run into “institutional” Twitter accounts) where they only follow other institutions and use Twitter as an RSS aggregator. Suderman also says that the Twitter site itself lacks many features (such as groups) that drive people to desktop applications. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ll be postponing this until next week. Unfortunately, I cannot compete with the NCAA tournament! Sorry!

It’s that time of the week: Social Government Radio time! After watching the conclusion of March Madness tonight, be sure to join us for Social Government Radio at 11 p.m. ET, where we’ll discuss the latest in Government 2.0!

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