Obama's Online Efforts

By Virginia Prescott on Wednesday, July 15, 2009.

The Obama campaign broke ground last year by harnessing new media and social networking. Can the Obama administration follow suit?

The president pledged to usher in an unprecedented level of transparency in government. In May, the White House launched an online forum where users could post ideas on how to make the government more open and transparent. Thousands wrote in with suggestions, including ideas to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act and improve government websites. Many also wrote in with off-topic comments, including requests for President Obama’s birth certificate and pleas to investigate UFO sightings.

The task of organizing this foray into crowd-sourced policy fell to Dr. Beth Noveck. She is President Obama’s deputy chief technology officer for open government and she joined us from Washington with an update.

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(Photo by alexa 627 via Flickr/Creative Commons)

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Thanks for covering this topic and White House initiative. It has not received a lot of media attention, but is arguably one of the more important efforts underway to strengthen our democracy and provide citizens with more meaningful input to work with government to solve our collective problems.

Last week, the University of New Hampshire hosted a national conference on the subject of deliberative democracy. Some 250 civic leaders and educators came together to discuss many of the issues at the heart of the Open Government Initiative, as well as important questions about how to most effectively educate and engage citizens to be strong participants in our democracy. More information is available at our conference website: http://www.unh.edu/democracy/conference2009/.

Submitted by Mica Stark on Wed, 07/15/2009 - 14:52.

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Word of Mouth is all about what's new. Online and on-air, the show looks at our fascinating and ever-changing world, and puts the latest ideas under a microscope. Word of Mouth investigates everything from science and technology, to health and the environment, to new trends in popular culture. The show airs Monday through Thursday at noon and is hosted by Virginia Prescott.