The White House Asks (HT @GOOD)
BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, March 3 2010
Credit: GOOD MagazineIt's sometimes worth stopping and considering for a moment just how weird it is that the White House is, in 2010, a somewhat credible member of the greater blogosphere. Not weird in a judgemental way, but unusual in the way that, contrary to the normal course of history, the lines between 1600 Penn and the rest of the world seem to be blurred by the advent of the always-on digital conversation. On the communications front, at least, we're witnessing a White House that seems to have a certain permeability. They're aware of Internet traditions, and are not afraid to appropriate them where appropriate. This is, in other words and for whatever it's worth, a White House that retweets.
Prompting today's stop-and-consider is that the Obama White House has just made note on its blog that it's going to be participating in a rather bloggy exercise: asking the American people to respond to a question on either Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. They're calling it The White House Asks. "As an extension of the Administration’s commitment to making government more collaborative and participatory," blogs a member of the new media team, they will "highlight some of the most interesting responses on the White House blog."
The first question in The White House Asks series is this:
What does a 21st century education mean to you?
Where'd they get the good idea? Well, from GOOD, it seems. That California-based magazine has been doing pretty much the exact same experiment on their blog. For that, the White House gives "a hat tip to @GOOD for a good idea."