It’s great to see that President-elect Barack Obama has utilised some Web 2.0 features within his new website http://change.gov .
Instead of the usual static government broadcast site Obama is utilising http://change.gov as a multimedia and multipurpose resource, channelling the current euphoria around his victory into the practical configuration of his administration (all the way down to an open recruiting call-to-arms for non-specified positions) . If this is an early indication of how capable and fast his administration can be in applying new ideas and technology, then there may be some truly exciting and historic times ahead of us (as if the last week hasn’t been enough!).
The site uses some established Web 2.0 features:
- Blog
- embedded video
- RSS feed
- subscriptions
But it uses its intent to go way beyond applying these as just another set of marketing tools, making it a stand-out in terms of government sites. What it offers and requests (note the 2.0 way traffic) is involvement in actually forming the policy direction. So on the one hand there is the to-be-expected political ‘agenda’ – namely a list of policy and position statements. Yet alongside this is an invitation for readers to provide their ’story’ and their ‘vision’ for America, giving the impression at least that there will be some correlation of these responses undertaken to ascertain that policy action aligns with true public opinion (it would be a tragedy if this was simply a stunt to look like he cares – this could be priceless data).
Now from outside, other countries sometimes struggle to get the United States – and perhaps the invocation on the Change.gov website of the core U.S. principle of government: “Of the People, By the People” grates as a little cheesy to us. One thing we must be sure of though is that U.S. citizens take that kind of rhetoric very seriously, and there might be a lesson in there for us more cynical types in >not=America< locations.
Web 2.0 can only work in an atmosphere of trust and mutual benefit. If either side betrays the other we end up with pointless websites, filled with pointless banter from ‘the community’ (a corrupted version of what The Jam memorably sang as “the public get’s what the public wants”). If there is some early promise that Obama can deliver then it might start with this cyber-consultation campaign, and the rest of the world will be all the better for it from what is the very early days of his administration.
Not so much a case of walking before you can run, more like winning the New York Marathon using the midwife’s forceps as a set of starting blocks.
Let’s cheer him all the way.
