Comments on: Recovery.gov | SharePoint, Blogging, and Photo Uploads!

By: Andrew Wirtanen

Andrew Wirtanen — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:06:08 +0000

Well, it looks like McCain’s talking points on transparency were nearly identical to Obama’s. Given that Obama embraced social media/the Internet during his campaign and McCain did not, it seems appropriate to conclude that a McCain administration would not use the Internet like the Obama administration has.

BarackObama.com was a huge success and I think Serve.gov is also a great way to use social media. An interactive Recovery.gov would probably only have a positive impact if the discussions and stories were positive and were motivational (positive accounts would also improve the President’s ratings). Of course, chances are there will be some discouraging reports as well. The proposed website could be a disaster. We’ll see. But, so far I think the government has been using social media appropriately.

By: farrelley

farrelley — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:00:46 +0000

@Wirtanen – McCain’s Transparency – http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/05/15/mccain-promises-transparency-accountability/

I’m not sure that Social Media is the way to go for everything. Though it reaches a lot of people it doesn’t reach everyone. I’m not sure Gov’t is using social media in a way that benefits they are just using it because it’s the new shiny object. Obama just got in on it when it was surging forward.

Yes, No?

By: Andrew Wirtanen

Andrew Wirtanen — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:39:07 +0000

So, the Open Government Initiative doesn’t count?
http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/

In fact, the Obama administration have made it clear that they want to hear all perspectives.

SharePoint is a horrible choice for a social platform. It can look ok with some clever skinning, but that will not solve some critical usability issues (not to mention, it doesn’t play well with anything but IE).

What were McCain’s plan for social media and government transparency? It’s only been 6 months and I think the Obama administration have come a long way.

By: farrelley

farrelley — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:27:55 +0000

I would classify those as comments plotted on a map. Though, your right. They do allow user submissions. However, these are only submissions that show what people are doing to serve or volunteer. Looks like they are put up by the White House so they can pick and choose what ones get on the site. I would say that a high percentage of the posts on recovery.gov will not be in favour of the spending. Will the White House approve these to be displayed on the site?

By: Andrew Turner

Andrew Turner — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:20:15 +0000

Actually – the White House Change site allows users to submit stories – http://whitehouse.gov/change