Micah Sifry on Obama and online transparency.
Extremely promising site.
"And yet Comic Sans lollops on, with its jolly round letters that resemble artless handwriting. It can be seen outside internet cafes in Nepal, on beach towels in Australia and, of course, on flyers for student unions around the world. Its inventor Vincent Connare argues, “Some like Rothko; others enjoy pictures of dogs playing poker."
— Guardian editorial: In Praise of Comic Sans. Priceless. Reminds me of my having to defend my argument about why the old White House site used Times New Roman, among other things.
The Foreign Office’s Digital Diplomacy Initiative
Last week, the UK Foreign Office held a Digital Diplomacy event. Chaired by the BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones and promoted by Weber Shandwick, the event was designed as a showcase for the recent intensification of social media initiatives at the FCO. These come under the heading of “Bringing Foreign Policy Home.”
Cellan-Jones has a typically funny post about the event.
While it’s easy to be sceptical, it’s interesting to note that the FCO has not dumped its earlier internet enthusiasm overboard, as many predicted would happen when David Miliband and members of his team started blogging a couple of years ago.
The FCO bloggers are one of the several examples I discuss in my latest paper: Chadwick, A. (2009) “Web 2.0: New Challenges for the Study of E-Democracy in an Era of Informational Exuberance”I/S: Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society 5 (1), pp. 9-41. Download pdf.
"92,934 people have submitted 104,060 questions and cast 3,605,265 votes"
Report. Power of Information ideas start to make their way into policy. “eBay-style” rating of public services. Story in the Telegraph here.
Report moving towards the final version. Lots of interesting examples inside.
