News and commentary about the intersection of information technology, politics, and policy presented by the members of Digital Politics, a course at Hamilton College.
To be honest, I don't like Mr. Glaser's ideas. I can see where his head is at and can appreciate how much he values online tools, but I think he fails to recognize that the internet fosters very casual relationships and an informal exchange of ideas.Perhaps it is his aim to make the online world less-so, but such informality just doesn't seem right, or safe for that matter. An Official Presidential Blog would be either a) gimicky, cliche, and not entirely honest or b) create a false sense of camaraderie with our President. This does not mean that I think the President should not exhibit a close, sincere relationship with his people --in fact, quite the contrary. But this comes back to my re-occuring arguement that such camaraderie should be real, not virtual. I think an online chat with the president is plain stupid --there are other ways to exchange grievences and ideas, even online. But in fairness to Mr. Glaser, he may realize that. He may have used a stupid thought to open a dialouge of options that are more feasible.
I do like his concept of putting policy intiatives into wikis or something of the like. Essentially, the ammendment process already in place is like a real world wiki; it pertains to constantly reworking and tayloring a document until it is right. I wouldn't be surprised if the process turns digital with time...it's sort of inevitable.
2 comments:
To be honest, I don't like Mr. Glaser's ideas. I can see where his head is at and can appreciate how much he values online tools, but I think he fails to recognize that the internet fosters very casual relationships and an informal exchange of ideas.Perhaps it is his aim to make the online world less-so, but such informality just doesn't seem right, or safe for that matter. An Official Presidential Blog would be either a) gimicky, cliche, and not entirely honest or b) create a false sense of camaraderie with our President. This does not mean that I think the President should not exhibit a close, sincere relationship with his people --in fact, quite the contrary. But this comes back to my re-occuring arguement that such camaraderie should be real, not virtual. I think an online chat with the president is plain stupid --there are other ways to exchange grievences and ideas, even online. But in fairness to Mr. Glaser, he may realize that. He may have used a stupid thought to open a dialouge of options that are more feasible.
I do like his concept of putting policy intiatives into wikis or something of the like. Essentially, the ammendment process already in place is like a real world wiki; it pertains to constantly reworking and tayloring a document until it is right. I wouldn't be surprised if the process turns digital with time...it's sort of inevitable.
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