The New WhiteHouse.gov

"Change has come to WhiteHouse.gov"

Even though the new website was celebrated by many people - like Tim O'Reilly, the Web 2.0 guru - a lot of criticism can be found on the web as well. Although texts are published now in a blog platform, it doesn't mean it is a blog now. According to specialists, at least two things are missing: 1. Comments. 2. Links to other sources


By GABRIELA ZAGO
from Pelotas, BRAZIL


One of the first changes people may notice with the new government of Barack Obama regards a technology difference on the WhiteHouse.gov domain. The website, which was static, has now become more dynamic. By the same time President Obama was taking his oath, the new WhiteHouse.gov website was being launched. Among the new things for the site, there's a blog and a YouTube channel.

As the first blog post on the new WhiteHouse.gov states, the media efforts of the new administration will be centered around three priorities: Communication (even though they don't provide space for comments on the blog, it is possible to sign up for RSS feed or for e-mail updates, for example), Transparency (they will publish all President's orders and proclamations on the website, for people to review it) and Participation (they will promote citizen participation. As the blog post points out, "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.").

Even though the new website was celebrated by many people - like Tim O'Reilly, the Web 2.0 guru, who said in his blog - "This is an amazing moment for anyone involved with Web 2.0. There's a long road ahead, but it's clear that many of the lessons that were learned first on the consumer internet are now being applied to much harder, more serious problems" - a lot of criticism can be found on the web as well. Although texts are published now in a blog platform, it doesn't mean it is a blog now. According to specialists, at least two things are missing: 1. Comments. 2. Links to other sources.

A blog without comments?

Blog is a web publishing format characterized for reverse chronological disposal of updates as well as for providing typical resources like comments and links. The mere use of the format may not be enough for calling a website a blog.

The new WhiteHouse.gov blog does not provide a place where visitors can post their comments to each post. There's only a contact form, which can be used to contact the site administration. But people can't see each others comments - and that can be considered something essential for a blog.

A blog without external links?

Another thing that helps identifying a blog is the easiness of providing links to elsewhere. As Dave Winer points out, "whitehouse.gov violates the most basic rule - 'People come back to places that send them away.' The White House should send us to places where our minds will be nourished with new ideas, perspectives, places, points of view, things to do, ways we can make a difference".

Being a blog or not, the fact is that the new WhiteHouse.gov website is different and way more participatory than the previous ones. Nothing bad for a president that, as some people claims, was elected based on a huge social media campaign.

Another change is that all content from WhiteHouse.gov is now distributed with a Creative Commons 3.0 license, which means people can freely use it, as long as it keeps an attribution to the original source. (Material produced by the federal government is, by default, of public domain; the Creative Commons license applies for pictures and texts on WhiteHouse.gov, even when submitted by third parties.)


(Published: 10.02.2009.)