Defending Dot Govs
March 6, 2008 Campaign 2008, E-Gov, White House 3 Comments
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.
