December 5, 2006
Blog Your Way to Fentytown
If you still haven't spent any time perusing Mayor-elect Adrian Fenty's Official Transition Web Site, allow us to suggest you do so today. Not so much because it tells us anything we didn't already know about Fenty (what's that you say, he's an avid jogger and dislikes cigarette smoke? Shocking!), but because there is an entire section of the site devoted to using blogs as a key tool to get public input during the transition.
On the one hand, of course we're thrilled that our young Mayor is embracing teh internets so enthusiastically. Maybe this means Fenty will have a Mayoral Blog that will actually amount to something after he officially takes office, unlike Mayor Williams' fairly pathetic foray into the medium.
On the other hand, we're seriously overwhelmed by what Team Fenty has set up on this site. Setting up a Transition Blog? Great idea. Setting up 17 different Transition Blogs? Sometimes more is just more, Mr. Mayor-elect.
Most of the 17 blogs went live in early October (with assistance, it appears, from well known Mt. Pleasant activist and Fenty campaign consultant Laurie Collins, who has used her personal typepad account, thus making the urls for each blog rather disconnected from their actual identities), but have only recently started to see some more regular content appear — though many are still pretty bare bones. Overall, it's a nice idea that feels pretty haphazardly put together: it would be helpful, for instance, if something on the landing page indicated which of them had been recently updated (though adding the few that interest you to your RSS reader could solve that at least partially). And who exactly are all the people writing for them? We recognize some of the names, but short bios of each contributor would be welcome in adding some transparency to the process.
Our quick impressions of a few of the blogs, after the jump.
Education Blog: A lot of cooks in the kitchen on this one, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Contributor Karen Zill seems to have the best feel for blog-style writing, while others are content to toss up links to reports from the Master Education Plan transition group -- nothing to sneeze at either. Still, only 8 posts in all of November for the most contentious issue facing the new administration? We'd suggest updating more often to create some meaningful space for debate and feedback.
Public Safety Blog: Consists almost entirely of lengthy, small-typeface reports and lists of recommendations from Fenty's Effective Policing Teams, which make for interesting reading if you have the time to devote to digging through it all. We'd love to see individual ideas given individual blog posts to encourage more discussion and feedback. There's obviously some good ideas and work being done here, but there's a reason they're not getting many comments on a blog devoted to an issue most residents care passionately about.
Government Operations Blog: Two posts total, one with just a link to a report. You can almost feel the excitement.
Arts Blog: Laurie Collins put up a pretty sad little first post that reads "Adrian Fenty will support and promote the incredible diversity of the Arts that we are fortunate to have here in the District. The arts both nourish our souls and our economy." Gee, really? Guess we don't have to worry about the arts, then! Thank goodness a list of the Arts Transition Team also posted indicates really smart, involved people are being consulted, like Paul Ruppert and Nevin Kelly.
Democracy and Voting Rights Blog: No updates since October 31, and there's been tons of news on this front to report and discuss since then. Looks like it started off well and then lost steam somehow.
The rest of the transition blogs all seem to suffer from the same sorts of issues — no sense of direction, no clear leadership or responsibility for content. We really do support and love the idea of incorporating blogs into the transition process, but this was executed all wrong. Having one or two people in charge of each blog and posting regular, thoughtful content would be a big step in the right direction. Or better yet, condense these things into one blog and hire someone who understands new media to edit and manage the content. Otherwise, so far it's just a lot of wasted potential.
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condense these things into one blog and hire someone who understands new media to edit and manage the content. Otherwise, so far it's just a lot of wasted potential.
Y'know, someone less sensitive than I could crack wise and say the same is applicable to the recent dcist site "upgrade." But I won't because I'm a goddamned gentleman.
But I'm definitely going to dock the Arts Blog a few points for just sticking in links to Word files. WTF? You just know that thing has 30 megs of clipart and Powerpoint slides embedded in it.
Well they all have rss feeds. Perhaps DCist or someone else could create a blog roll and have all their posts in one place. I think that would go along way to having more people participate. I think separate blogs are fine but I would make sure to have a place where they are all together too. And with rss that should be really simple to do.
Laurie Collins is the ringleader of that ridiculous cabal known as the Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood Alliance. They have singlehandedly kept live music out of Mt. Pleasant's restaurants and bars. God help us if she is appointed to any sort of meaningful position in the Fenty administration.
Actually, these blogs were FOR rather than ABOUT the transition teams and their topics. It's not the most efficient way of going about it, but this is where members of the teams go to download the info they need for teleconferences, etc. At least that is what I hear from my employer Nevin Kelly, who you appear to think is some sort of uninterested dullard, Sommer. Would it be too much to inquire what makes you think this about Mr. Kelly and the Warehouse's Paul Ruppert?
Julia, I wasn't being sarcastic! I'm thrilled Nevin and Paul are on the arts committee! I have a ton of respect for them both!!!
The blogs are a tool to facilitate discussion among transition team members. They are open to the public so the transition is more transparent. That's really all there is to it.
Apologies for the confusion, Sommer. Perhaps excessive blog reading has made me tend to assume sarcasm where there is none.
The report under the Government Operations blog is not boring and may be one of the most important reports to be produced by any part of the DC Government in several years. It is the basis of problems faced by all contractors including for profits and non profits touching all parts of our problems from school modernization to health overpayment and underpayment. It is the report on the Task Force for Contracting and Procurement. I am really sorry that DCist finds this so boring. Too bad you have not done your homework. I guess you do not understand one of the underpinnings of the DC Government and an attempt to solve these multibillion dollar problems.
They certainly are intended to be "open to public scrutiny"!
That's why I yesterday wrote:
"They are open to the public so the transition is more transparent." :)
All that the Fenty blog and the reports (especially the one on OPS) suggest is that his team is clueless. Most of those ideas were tried in the FIRST Williams Administration... We're in for a long hard 4 yrs... :)
The blog is a swell idea. It's still a work of progress. But give Laurie Collins a break. She'll have this problem fixed in no time!