As the blogging age continues to gain attention everyone is starting to jump on and take part, including our government.
The State Department launched a blog today known as DipNote, which is a name used for diplomatic notes that governments use to communicate back and forth with each other. Thought of by Sean McCormack and approved by Condoleeza Rice, the blog äims to give net surfers an insider's view of diplomacy and diplomats with informal chatty posts from key senior players in Washington and abroad as well as a younger generation weened on email for whom traditional cable traffic communication is foreign."
The blog is supposed to act as a tool to allow people to read about what goes on behind closed doors at the State Department and let people see the personalities responsible for handling domestic and foreign affairs. It is also aimed at allowing readers and subscribers to actively participate in a conversation about worldly events and to let openly ask questions regarding the department.
People can also find pictures, videos, and information about the State Department and their bloggers.
In addition to the blog, there is also a State Department YouTube channel that people can find briefings and interviews with officials.
The blog is aimed towards a younger generation as another means to be educated about our government. I would like to watch the growth of the blog and continue to monitor what comments are left by readers and further how they are handled and responded to.
What we have been talking about in class can be summed up with Mr. McCormack's quote from a Yahoo news article. "The blog will give them another source and allow them to participate in a conversation about that," McCormack said. "We want them to be active participants."
2 comments:
Thank you for blogging about this! DipNote will definitely be worth watching, especially if it starts a trend of more such departments trying to reach out to people. I like how they have a Question of the Week that anyone can comment on and give their opinion. I hope others start following and commenting on this blog. Good PR on their part :D
In relation to the DipNote blog there was a law passed in some states that makes all emails sent by public officials from their governmental email addresses public. This allows for the press to see what the public officials are conversing about. Opening the email records to the public was an effort for more transparency in the government on a local and state level. I think the law was called the Sunshine Law - dont quote me on that though.
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