This is the coolest idea I’ve seen from government in some time. You’ve probably heard of the Daily Briefing Book that is prepared for the president by his experts and advisors. The Obama-Biden Transition Team have created something better. It’s called the Citizen’s Briefing Book. It’s a collection of the best-rated ideas for the new president from ordinary citizens like you.
Citizen’s Briefing Book: http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov
Simply log-in and submit your idea. Your fellow citizens will rate your idea, comment on what you’ve said, and the best ideas will float to the top. These will be gathered and delivered to President Obama after he is sworn in.
For example: “Libraries of all types need our support”
The collection can be searched, browsed, and sorted by most popular and most recent submissions.
How about we implement something like this locally to gather the best ideas from our citizens for bettering library services?
For comparison (and nostalgia), you can find the archives for the George W. Bush Administration at: http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/.
At the beginning of the inauguration ceremony, Craig and I checked the Whitehouse website and found that it had already morphed from President Bush to President Obama. Morph is probably not a strong enough expression. It no longer has the feel of a static, content driven site, but is now a blog and a site optimized for communication.
Macon Phillips, Director of New Media for the White House, posted the first blog entry saying, “Just like your new government, WhiteHouse.gov and the rest of the Administration’s online programs will put citizens first.” The feed to subscribe to for new entries is http://www.whitehouse.gov/feed/blog/.
Mr. Phillips adds, “We’d also like to hear from you — what sort of things would you find valuable from WhiteHouse.gov? If you have an idea, use the contact form” found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.