Category Archives: Social software

Why community is where it’s at

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Loved this post from Community Guy, Jake McKee on why the Obama administration is the first social media government, quoting the value of offline and online communities to connect people in a common cause for good. Now wouldn’t it be great if this same theme was picked up by the UK Government?

Just like your new government, WhiteHouse.gov and the rest of the Administration’s online programs will put citizens first. Our initial new media efforts will center around three priorities:

Communication — Americans are eager for information about the state of the economy, national security and a host of other issues. This site will feature timely and in-depth content meant to keep everyone up-to-date and educated. Check out the briefing room, keep tabs on the blog (RSS feed) and take a moment to sign up for e-mail updates from the President and his administration so you can be sure to know about major announcements and decisions.

Transparency — President Obama has committed to making his administration the most open and transparent in history, and WhiteHouse.gov will play a major role in delivering on that promise. The President’s executive orders and proclamations will be published for everyone to review, and that’s just the beginning of our efforts to provide a window for all Americans into the business of the government. You can also learn about some of the senior leadership in the new administration and about the President’s policy priorities.

Participation — President Obama started his career as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, where he saw firsthand what people can do when they come together for a common cause. Citizen participation will be a priority for the Administration, and the internet will play an important role in that. One significant addition to WhiteHouse.gov reflects a campaign promise from the President: we will publish all non-emergency legislation to the website for five days, and allow the public to review and comment before the President signs it.

Britannia takes on wikipedia

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Interesting news on how Brittannia is taking on Wikipedia by allowing users to contribute contribute for the first time in its history. Especially like the fact this will feed through to the printed version of the encyclopedia – which is published every two years:

In effort to compete with Wikipedia, the Encyclopedia Britannica company is opening up their online version to editing by contributors everywhere. Unlike Wikipedia, however, all changes will be reviewed and edited before being posted.

The new website features will enable the inclusion of user generated content, and will be available on the site within the next twenty four hours.

Encyclopedia Britannica is a 241 year old publication, and they are making these changes to their site to encourage more community input, more use, and – most importantly – to increase their rankings on search engines.

Unlike Wikipedia updates, all of the additions and changes made on Britannica will have to be reviewed and edited before the changes go live on the site. The company has set a 20-minute turnaround to update the site with user-submitted edits to existing articles – though with the popularity of Wikipedia, this may not be possible if the service takes off.

The concept behind user generated content is that much of it will eventually appear in the printed version of the encyclopedia – which is published every two years.