CapitalGig

This week, a few hundred convened to attend the 2-day Politics Online Conference 2008 hosted by the  Institute for Politics Democracy and the Internet (IPDI) at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, DC. 

On Day 2, I had the pleasure of participating on the Morning Plenary panel sponsored by Politico entitled, “White House 2.0.”  We discussed how the Internet, which has been so prevalent in the current presidiential race, will possibly change how a future Administration will govern.

The panel, moderated by Ari Schwartz, Center for Democracy and Technology included Sunlight Foundation Executive Director Ellen Miller, former Congressman Rick White of the Wood Bay Group and Tom Steinberg from the UK’s mySociety.org.

It was a very lively discussion where a number of innovative ideas for citizen activist and engagement websites were shared - but, in my opinion, most would be best managed outside the official dot gov arena.  There are a number of current restrictions and regulations that govern federal government sites that may provide some barriers to participation. 

For example, there are rules prohibiting federal government sites from linking to or publishing content on external sites other than .gov or .mil, concerns about info collected by agency sites while protecting user privacy, and compliance with Section 508 which requires dot gov sites to provide content in alternative formats for those who are sight or hearing impaired.  All certainly have merit, but these are rules that non-gov sites don’t have to adhere to which may create challenges when attempting to apply universal standards for digital dissemination.  Bottom line: policies will have to be changed in order to adapt to the growing and everchanging online landscape.

However, at the root of the issue seemed to be a general lack of familiarity of the purpose of “dot gov” sites.   I was surprised to hear one of the panelists characterize federal sites as nothing but a useless repository of government brochureware and press releases.  Not only is that statement incredibly unfair, it’s entirely at odds with the facts.

Of course, sites do serve the important function of communicating with the public on policy initiatives and agency news but many dot gov’s offer so much more, with new functionality being added every day by a myriad of hard working, dedicated public servants.

A few examples:

• The Education Department uses ED.gov to connect teachers from across the country to share lesson plans, best practices and provide training via the Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative.
• The Small Business Administration offers over 25 online training courses on SBA.gov for those interested in learning more about how to start, manage or advertise their business.
• The National Institutes of Health solicited feedback via NIH.gov in an effort enhance and improve the effectiveness of their peer review system.
• USA.gov, managed by the General Services Administration, is a wealth of information and offers over 100 government services accessible online.  

It is important to note that the Internet is still in it’s relative infancy when compared to other communication innovations like the telephone or TV.  When President Bush was elected in 2000, iPods, YouTube, Facebook, and Smartphones didn’t exist and most were still accessing the Internet via dial-up.

There is always room for improvement but, in my opinion, the Bush Administration has not been given due credit for the E-Gov advancements that have been made over the past seven years. A full list of all 24 Presidential E-Gov Initiatives may be found on the Office of Management and Budget’s eGov site located at egov.gov.

There has been some real progress indeed, including the move to paperless documents which travel electronically on a digital infrastructure built during President Bush’s time in office.  For the first time ever, a document was digitally transmitted from the Executive Branch to the Legislative Branch when the President submitted his FY09 eBudget eariler this month. It was digitally signed by the White House Executive Clerk with an unique authentication code which was successfully validated once it reached Capitol Hill.  Not only does this process increase efficiency, it also saves trees, time and resources.  As a result, GPO and GAO both announced that they were moving toward the paperless route, as well.

So, regardless of one’s party or personal politics - I am excited and anxious to see how the next President will build on the successes of our current one.  Especially since the candidates had to campaign so effectively online, they will definitely be expected to govern there in the same manner. 

Related

Wanted: A More Digital Congress  (NY Times Political Blog: The Caucus)

White House 2.0  (TechRepublican)

Politics Online Day 2: Morning Roundup  (Capitol Valley)

Politics Online Conference Day 2 - Morning Plenary  (The Spewker)

White House 2.0  (CDT: PolicyBeta)

In preparation for an upcoming speaking engagement, I was doing some research on Sen. Lieberman’s (Independent-CT) past comments during a U.S. Senate hearing on E-Gov reauthorization.  So, I went to Google and searched for “lieberman egov” which yielded the following top organic result:

http://.senate.gov - Technical difficulties.
Sorry, the http://.senate.gov web page you have requested is experiencing technical difficulties. The Webmaster has been alerted. …
www.senate.gov/~gov_affairs/egov/ - 2k - Cached - Similar pages

Then, by visiting the page, the visitor is greeted with:

Sorry, the http://.senate.gov web page you have requested is experiencing technical difficulties. The Webmaster has been alerted.

You will be automatically redirected to the http://.senate.gov Home page after 10 seconds.

If this problem persists, please contact the Office of the Secretary Webmaster at webmaster@sec.senate.gov.

After waiting 10 seconds, you are not redirected to the Senate.gov Home page, but rather to this: “Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage.”

Of course, I should have just visited the President’s E-Gov Initiative site in the first place.

As President Bush wraps up his weeklong trip to Africa today, there is some discussion as whether he has been given due credit for his strong commitment to the people of the region during his tenure.  Under President Bush, the United States has developed extensive progams and initiatives for Africa to address the issues of education, poverty, human rights, democracy, economic development, and health concerns such as the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other treatable diseases.

Jim Long (aka newmediajim), conducted a fascinating impromptu mobile video interview with Irish musician and political activist Sir Bob Geldof, of “We Are the World,” Band Aid, World Aid and The ONE Campaign fame. He has also teamed up with friend and U2 frontman, Bono, in many of these and other global charity endeavors. 

Sir Geldof stated that because of Iraq, the media, as well as many Americans and others in the world, understandably turned their focus away from the U.S. efforts and achievements in Africa.  He praised the President for his leadership and aid to the continent from day one “since he came into the job” stating that “what’s happening in Africa is probably the best that America has done, right up until now.”

At the end of the interview, Sir Geldof was asked about human rights violations in China and how that might affect the upcoming Summer 2008 Olympics slated for August 8th-24th in Beijing.  He called on the Chinese to “act responsibly” and encouraged citizens of the world to “turn off the telly” to get attention of advertisers in an effort to increase the pressure and make a telling impact. 

On Tuesday, Mrs. Laura Bush hosted Ask the White House and answered questions about the trip and U.S. Africa policy.  I also encourage you to read Ambassador Jendayi Frazer’s chat from April 2006 where she discusses the Sudan crisis in Darfur.