...while the reporters assigned to Capitol Hill are a sincere, bright dedicated group, they don't have time to fully understand all the issues legislators face. They don't always get the story right, or quote us in context. Retractions are almost worthless. Yet we are close to 100 percent dependent on traditional media to communicate with the citizens of the state. I wondered how to deal with that dynamic more effectively.
And - while The People are responsible for their government, they tend to be fundamentally alienated from elected officials and the policy work of the legislature. I think that is dangerous. What if we could find a way to instruct, empower, invite, re-incorporate and re-engage the citizens of our state?
. . . The idea for a Senate Blog Site emerged from that pile of thought.
It's a really interesting site, even if you don't know or care about Utah politics (or local politics in general), and it points toward some new avenues in technology and democracy. I particularly like the tenor of the site--informal and even cheeky at times.
The Senate Site has been getting media and blog coverage, such as here and here. In April, Ric and his colleagues were invited to an "E-Democracy Forum" in D.C. to talk about the site. Here is one of their handouts if you want to know more.
Ric also tells me that they're on the lookout for interns--this strikes me as a tremendous opportunity to learn more about local government, new media, and the intersection of the two.
