Technorati Profile

Profile: United Kingdom Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, David Miliband

Name of Blog: DEFRA – Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Name of Blog Administrator: David Miliband

Title of Administrator: United Kingdom Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Location: London

URL: http://www.davidmiliband.defra.gov.uk/blogs/ministerial_blog/default.aspx

Purpose/mission: “This blog is my attempt to help bridge the gap - the growing and potentially dangerous gap - between politicians and the public. It will show some of what I'm doing, what I'm thinking about, and what I've read, heard or seen for myself which has sparked interest or influenced my ideas. My focus will be on my ministerial priorities and I will be sticking to the ministerial rules about collective responsibility.”

Brief Summary of Blog: Miliband began his blog with frequent posts and little feedback, however, his readership and generated comments appear to be increasing. Miliband writes about animal welfare, climate change, food and farming, natural resources, and rural communities. While Miliband's blog is relatively new, he appears to be dedicated to improving communication between policy makers and citizens. Miliband is participating in a study on electronic democracy (Digital Dialogues) sponsored by the London-based Hansard Society.

Click on the chart below to view the frequency of posts and comments generated on David Miliband's blog:

• Date Blog Started: January 2, 2006
• Number of Posts since Inception: 277
• Average Number of Comments per Post: 6.9
• Type of Blog: Knowledge, Filter, Editorial
• Blogroll: Yes
• Track backs: No
• Post Questions (eliciting responses): Yes
• Pictures: No
• Linked to a governmental website: http://www.defra.gov.uk/
• Analysis on this blog completed in the Hansard Society's Digital Dialogues report, page 26
  

Profile: Chicago Transit Authority Chairman, Carole Brown

Name of Blog: “Ask Carole”

Name of Blog Administrator: Carole Brown

Title of Administrator: Chicago Transit Authority Chairman

Location: Chicago, IL

URL: http://ctachair.blogspot.com/

Purpose/mission according to Brown: “I created this blog to answer some of the questions people have been asking about the CTA's funding situation. We on the board have asked many of these same questions, and we want to help get the word out. So please feel free to send comments or questions to CTAboard@transitchicago.com, and check back regularly for answers and updates to our efforts to increase transit funding. – Carole”

Brief Summary of Blog: From the May 3, 2005 Chicago Sun-Times (link broken) : “Brown admits she posted her blog on impulse and out of mild frustration.”I felt people weren't hearing me, and I needed a way to find a way for people to hear what I was saying," she said. "Blogging is what people do now. They have blogs so they can control the information." And what she's saying is the CTA financial situation is dire, proposed cuts and fare hikes really would be necessary without a bailout, and progress is being made toward getting cash from Springfield.”

Click on chart to view frequency of posts and comments generated from Carole Brown's blog

• Date Blog Started: April 16, 2005
• Number of Posts since Creation: 58
• Average Posts per Month: 2.4
  
• Average Number of Comments per Post: 46
  
• Type of Blog: Knowledge, Editorial
• Blogroll: Yes – links to other transit organizations
  
• Track backs: No
• Post Questions (eliciting responses): Yes
• Pictures: Yes
• Linked to a governmental website: Chicago Transit Authority Website

• Articles written about this blog:
• US News and World Report Article
• NBC Chicago news

Blogs as Public Management Tools

Some thoughts on public management blogs from a research project at the Graduate School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado-Denver:

Web logs, or “blogs,” represent a mushrooming use of the Internet as a political phenomenon, e.g., in terms of information dissemination, participation, and fund raising. Blogs also hold great promise as a public management mechanism that could aid public managers to enhance citizen engagement and accountability. For instance, government regulations could be posted and, simultaneously, be grounds for an extended comment period. However, very little is known about public managers who use blogs – how many do so, for what purposes, with what effects

To date there has been little attention paid to the emerging capabilities of blogs. While many problems exist, (e.g., the so-called “digital divide” that limits citizen access), blogs have the capacity to both enhance citizen engagement and make the process more transparent or accountable. For example, as is currently the case, administrative regulations could be posted to the agency’s web site and then discussed as a component of an agency blog, resembling an electronic “town hall meeting.” Public access to information concerning why regulations have been created or concerning alternatives that were considered and rejected would likely increase the relevance and sophistication of discursive exchange among public managers and stakeholders (who are, as we noted above, likely to be interested in politics and consumers of news and information from a variety of sources). In addition, the ability to comment on blog postings or offer questions or comments directly to the blogger also make possible “real-time” clarification of policies and greater citizen/government transparency and accountability.

Blogs offer citizens the opportunity to access information about the political environment that can augment the resources of mainstream media. They provide a window into the thinking and activity of public managers. For the managers, they offer a direct incoming channel for their clients’ and constituents’ beliefs and opinions, and they permit communication with these groups that is unmediated, unfiltered – in short, not controlled by others. Proactive public administrators may embrace this new technology that permits them to engage directly with citizens.

Blogging in the Public Sector

This blog was created as tool to help fellow bloggers and researchers identify blogs being utilized in the public sector blogs. Blogs are currently being used in the private sector as outreach and management tools, however, are only beginning to be employed in the public sector. Blogs provide unelected public managers a unique opportunity to interact with the citizens they serve. Public sector blogs have the potential to:

1.) Improve civic engagement
2.) Improve accountability in public offices
3.) Improve transparency in public offices
4.) Provide public managers unfiltered access to the public they serve

This blog will profile active public management blogs as well as discuss the uses and implications of blogging on the public sector. Thanks for visiting!