March 27, 2005
Why Don't Our Local Officials Blog?
Portland Falls Way Behind The Curve
Across the country, local officials are blogging. In some places, there seems to be nearly a critical mass of such activity, as exemplified by North Carolina, where Sandy Carmany, Yvonne Johnson, Tom Phillips, and Don Vaughan of the Greensboro City Council publish weblogs, as do Register of Deeds Jeff L. Thigpen of Guilford County and Commissioner Bert Jones of Rockingham County.
(Greensboro, some readers might remember, is also the place where the major local newspaper has thrown itself headlong into the local blogosphere.)
What other local officials are blogging, and where?
Mayor Jerry Brown of Oakland, California. Mayor Harry Zikas of Alpha, New Jersey. Mayor Jim Willey of Elburn, Illinois. And in Grand Forks, North Dakota, Mayor Michael R. Brown is podcasting, of all things.
Here in Portland, we have Commissioner Randy Leonard contributing to the group weblog BlueOregon.
That's it.
Last year, especially during the campaign season, it had seemed for a time that Portland might be on the verge of a mini-explosion of local officials participating in the Portland blogosphere, with several candidates and officials (chief among them Commissioner Erik Sten and City Auditor Gary Blackmer) joining conversations in the comment sections of local sites. All it would take, some of us thought, was a little nudging and they'd take the next step, begin maintaining blogs of their own.
It never happened. And so far even indications of possible blogging on the part of local officials seems mired in some mysterious delay.
More than a several weeks ago now, Commissioner Sam Adams made known the intention to launch a blog of his own. In the technology world, this long since would have been dismissively dubbed an instance of RSN -- "Real Soon Now".
Outside of that vaporware, the only other recent rumbling has been that Nick Fish (Adams' opponent last year) would have some sort of companion blog to his new public affairs show on local television. Hopefully, they weren't referring to this Portland's WB page, which is nothing more than a rudimentary guestbook script -- and a moderated one at that.
What's the holdup? It can't be technological -- it's far too easy to set up decently-featured weblogs for free at Blogger or for a modest fee at Typepad. And we're skeptical of intimations that there's some sort of bureaucratic snafu going on that couldn't simply be dodged by using services such as those just mentioned.
It seems there's some sort of cultural blockage going on here. In a City which takes so much pride in its ideals of public involvement and citizen access (sometimes adhered to, sometimes not), there seems to be essentially no movement towards opening up the potential for direct lines of communication between officials and the public which blogs represent.
So we ask our readers for their theories as to why Portland is so far behind the curve. And we ask both our local officials and members of their staff a simple question: What's the damned holdup?
Comments (25)
The One True b!X on 27 Mar 2005
On a related topic, the City of Ashland recently launched an online archive of City documents, including contracts, agreements, deeds, easements, ordinances, resolutions, City Council minutes and packets, and commission and committee minutes.
Kari Chisholm on 27 Mar 2005
Bix, part of the issue appears to be legal. The question is - can a blog be paid for by the government entity?
In San Francisco, councilor Chris Daly is blogging - paid for by the city; but the Chronicle has already put him on notice that they're concerned about misuse of funds.
It gets messy because some issues could be perceived as campaign issues, not government issues. Also, I understand that at least one local government in Oregon has gotten a legal opinion that they couldn't delete comment spam from the blog - since that would be censorship of a public communication. (Stupid, I agree.)
In any case, my advice to folks is this: Blogs are cheap. Pay for them out of campaign or personal funds.
Oh, and stay tuned... we're gonna have some politician blogging soon enough. Don't you worry.
CW on 27 Mar 2005
My top three explanations:
1. An overabundance of enthusiasm, the likes of which would surely cause the downfall of the digital world should it be unbottled through a blog.
2. Too busy trying NOT to say anything . . . mother always said, "if you don't have anything good to say, then don't say anything at all."
3. No desire to put themselves at the mercy of ill-mannered, smart-alecky bloggers (not that any can be found on this site).
The One True b!X on 28 Mar 2005
Bix, part of the issue appears to be legal. The question is - can a blog be paid for by the government entity?
I suppose that's a valid question. But so far, no one has cited (to me, at any rate) that as what's going on here.
Jim Dixon on 28 Mar 2005
Portland Online, the City's web site, is part of the problem. It's almost impossible to use any of the newer software tools on the site. The best that BTS can offer in terms of interactivity is North Portland Online.
I think blogs from the bureaus, not just elected officials, could also be valuable and cost effective public involvement tools.
Jim
allehseya on 28 Mar 2005
hmmm....
Ok. So if the city and its officials cant do it for whatever reason, maybe the Public Involvement Task Force can get the ball rolling.
The City of Greensboro has an exciting proposal for their media, to be sure -- which I changed below to assist in defining a "Virtual Community" that could maybe be monitored by the Public Involvement Task Force / City Club or some such similar entity -- on behalf of the city...
· Assign local bloggers to cover in depth things in each bureau that regular media does not
· Recruit one blogger per neighborhood from that neighborhood.
· Enable comments on all city issues and use them as public testimony content. "Require councilmen to read them and, where appropriate, respond."
· Digitize archives and make them available online, free.
· Link to everyone-- other local blog aggregators, other local media, etc
· In news content, reverse policy from "don't link out" to "must link out" to resources anywhere on the Web that help users or make sense.
· Open up plannng and content / standards meetings to local bloggers who contribute regularly
· Post, and invite comment upon, the News & Record mission, vision and coverage priorities for the year. Seek advance input into coming year's virtual community goals.
· Start "moblogs"-- weblogs to which people can submit text and/or images via e-mail or wireless ("mobile") phone. (Like so.)
· "To the extent that a blogger/reader knows more about a subject than a reporter does, make the relationship more of a partnership and find a way to represent that partnership visually."
· Create a "long tail" ad network to begin compensating bloggers at the far end of the tail who participate with the City News and Record online.
Bureaucrat on 28 Mar 2005
There are already some traditional direct lines of communication between the public and elected officials -- public meetings, calls, e-mails, etc.
Blogs add on to that, in a public way that is more functional (i.e. you don't have to be a certain place at a certain time, there's a record, etc.) But people don't grok it yet.
When you're asking folks to add something to the plate, they have to understand the true value of it. And most public officials aren't very tech-savvy, so they don't yet understand the value of it. Blogging has a public reputation as being somewhat: (a) not credible, as many folks post things based on rumors; (b) not broad-based enough to communicate with the public, as it's hard to know specifically who's reading what. To say that lots of people read blogs doesn't equate with lots of people reading a specific blog; (c) written communication. I know it's uncool to say it, but some of the discussions folks want to have aren't things they want in print during political campaigns (for example, my brother-in-law's blog was taken out of context and quoted in an attack piece on my dad's city council candidacy).
I'm not saying those reputations are completely deserved, I think it's a common perception.
As far as the tech issues, I think that it's completely possible for officials (and department heads) to post to existing blogs like Blue Oregon, to side-step all the bureaucratic rigamarole required by governments to get things done. Really what we need is current officials (Leonard, etc.) to let other officials know that it's valuable and helpful in getting their job done, that it's worth the time to do it.
Jesse on 28 Mar 2005
Believe me, we are working on it in Sam's office. The hold up was many fold: 1) We thought portlandonline was the best way to do things. That is wrong.
2) We haven't built blogs, so we wrangled in some help.
3) I'm the tech savvy person on staff, among many many other things, and I never realized how busy I'd be doing the rest of my job!
But we started building it, taking our cues from some of the folks you mentioned and some great local sites as well. I'm pretty excited to get this off the ground, now that my feet are properly wet. I'll keep y'all informed, of course. Look for it in a month at the latest!
Anne Dufay on 28 Mar 2005
This raises a fascinating question -- what is/will be, the status of city employees who participate in blogs with Commissioners, or Commissioners Assistants?
Can their identities be protected to prevent retaliation or reprimand? Currently I know of at least 3 bureaus whose employees are NOT allowed to speak to the Mayor, any of the Commissioners, or their staff, without first clearing each and every conversation with their bureau head (or designee).
Besides the outrage I find in this as a citizen (hey, I elected these guys to work for me and I did not understand, nor do I accept, that their authority to talk to the employees at city hall, or the simple right of the employees to talk to them, would be so blatantly abrogated...) anyway, besides all that -- what are we talking about here? A system where the Mayor, the Commissioners and their assistants can use city time and resources to talk to everyone BUT the people who work for them?
What will be the rules, will they be fair to all? It’s going to be a problem using the city resources if the execs and political folks are the only one’s with access on paid time... (Hint – you’re not going to see a system where city employees, rank and file, are ALLOWED this same unfettered access. I’d take a big big bet on that.)
I’m on the SW list (an email discussion forum that saw heated discussion on such issues as sidewalks, eco-stuff and the sighting of an "adult" store in the neighborhood.) Several years ago discussion was intense, and several Commissioner's assistants and various bureaucrats contributed valuably and thoughtfully to it. Then some one made the charge "how can you city employees have time to "waste" on-line?" (I'm condensing here -- hugely. It went on at some length, but, that's the gist.) My husband (full disclosure) was one of the bureaucrats contributing. He responded that there were few more important things they could be doing than listening, explaining and learning in this very public, democratic forum.
It didn't fly. The drum-beat commenced - "City employees wasting time on line on the tax-payer's dime..."
City folks went silent. The discussion, from then on in, was the poorer for that. I hope that folks making this new attempt will understand and be prepared for this same type of backlash. It will come. And, I hope they will be fundamentally committed to the free rights of all, even their employees, to use this platform as they do, too.
Otherwise it's just more back-door campaigning, on the taxpayer's time.
The One True b!X on 28 Mar 2005
FYI, I now rescind my previous comment that no one has ever mentioned to me the legal angle. Someone now has, and I suspect it's perhaps the same entity Kari might have been referring to.
Sid Anderson on 28 Mar 2005
Here's a great quote from a Kos piece on the subject:
"If politicians no longer need the local rags and pathetic local stations to get the word out to their constituents, it changes the balance of power significantly. Hence, you have the Chronicle wailing about blogging on the city's "dime" rather than celebrating the efforts of an elected official to open up a direct line to his constituents."
Are our officials afraid of The O? Let's hope that's not the case!
Frank Dufay on 28 Mar 2005
Anne Dufay writes
It's problematic. I joined the SW Listserve in 1998, very much as a "city official." Got to talk a LOT about hot and heavy City issues in SW, I learned --other folks learned-- it was good. (Full disclosure: I also met Anne, my wife, on that list.)
Problem one: Thread drift. It's hard to stay "on topic"...especially when a war breaks out, or 9/11 happens. You want to be a "whole person" on the list...but where's the line between posting as an "official" or just another guy shooting the breeze? I was finally told I could not post from work...which wasn't necessarily unreasonable but it did serve to further scare off other city employees.
Problem two: Sometimes we're like the old commie paradigm...the Party line. Can bureaucrats risk saying something their elected official might not agree with?
I commend Commisioner Leonard for his posts...I really think it is a major, noble effort and endeavor. But what if one disagrees? That's fine if you work in Salem, say, but difficult if you work in one of his bureaus. That's just an awkward situation.
I dislike folks posting anonymously...we should take accountability for what we say and think. But its a challenge how to do that and not get in trouble, or make unnecessary enemies over casual, open, conversation. Maybe if we could do it somehow without it all being so "official?"
Frank Dufay
A different perspective on 28 Mar 2005
The blog is the current "pet rock" of the web. While blogs offer some utility as a journal or in simplifying content editing their hype has diluted it's effectiveness as a communications tool. Many blogs are bloated hybrids of forums/bbs and journals that make it difficult to search and consume content.
Personally I think the largest hurdle in your scenario is how am I to find information in your proposed utopia where everyone has a blog? Am I to search every blog at every level of government to find out what my elected officials are up to? Let’s see that's 5 blogs for the city elected, 4 for the county and many, many more for metro, state and federal government.
I would advocate that blogs don’t solve the problem of how to get your information to your constituents. In some cases they make it worse by spreading the information so thin that users are not able to find any information across all the potential blogs. Was that post on Blue Oregon? Portland Communiqué? Oregon live? The list goes on and on. I advocate that at some point the most effective model becomes centralization of information.
In today’s busy world I prefer the subscription model. When there is new information available, I don’t want to hunt for it - it’s sent to me via email, RSS or any number of methods that I can choose. I have not seen this feature on many if any blogs. The real benefit as a user is having the information provided to me in a format that I specify – How I want it, When I want it.
Not convinced? Try a Google News Alert or PortlandOnline subscription.
Anne Dufay on 28 Mar 2005
One concern I have about all the excitement around politico's blogging is that blogs may become compromised by "clubbiness" and the cult of personality -- by the very same virus, in other words -- just mutated into an e-wave form -- that kept mainstream media silent for so long about Neil Goldschmidt.
I don't see that as a problem if the politician has his/her own blog -- then the boundaries are clear and interests are evident to the discerning reader. I think of that as the "clean blogging" model.
I do think it gets a little murkier when a politician becomes "part of the gang" as in the Blue Oregon model. Which is not to say that either Commissioner Leonard, or any of his Blue Oregon peers, have personally crossed any lines (or, turned any blind eyes), just that the -- very natural, human -- potential for that is there. Whether with this politician, or another, on that blog, or another, it will happen.
I don't consider it an issue when they respond, as any other respondent, to a post. In this they are the mainstream media (MSM) equivalent of any politician or other interested party writing an opinion piece or letter to the editor in response to the paper's coverage of an issue. But I do think it becomes much more problematical when you put the politician on the mast-head, (so to speak) -- when you make him/her the blog equivalent of a reporter. -- When you anoint him/her by definition with your blog's label - whether "progressive", or whatever.
Bloggers like to presume a rather untested (IMO) superiority to the mainstream media (MSM). I think some of the folks with that attitude are naive in their understanding of the seductiveness of political power -- and of the average decent politician's appreciation/hunger/evolving capacity to create media coverage that they can control -- and how hard MSM folks work to counterbalance this, really, very strong force, in their own work.
It is harder than you may realize, guys. But, we may all come to appreciate that, down the road a ways...
tom on 28 Mar 2005
SOme responses to points I have read here...
1) Blogs would cost taxpayer money and that might be bad?
Unless your head is firmly in the sand you will know that blogger.com is a FREE service used by millions.
Free folks, no tax payer money, no nothing other than a person typing in content. There are other free easy to use blogging tools that can be use with existing servers (blosxom somes to mind)
2) We are working hard to launch a blog..
Ok, see this is what makes me steam a bit. Places like Blogger.com and others make blogging a NOBRAINER. Seriously folks, its so simple my daughter at age 8 was doing it it without help. I taught a group of 4th graders how to do it (using blogger.com ) and they caught on in a week. PLease do not tell me its taking you any more than a week or two to set up a blog, I will only have to assume your either milking the process for consulting fees are do not know what your doing.
3. Officals should not have to deal with low life blog comment makers..
Those are called CITIZENS and wether you like it or not THEY are your reason for being,..you serve them not the other way around. If you dont like dealing with contray comments, even Peek style ones, you might want to look at another profession.
I could go on, but I think I have summed it all up.
-tom
tom on 28 Mar 2005
I will even go one step further with the above.. If you are an elected offical and want to set up an easy to run free blog and need help...email me and I will help you. I do not care what party or what slant your with, poltics aside for the infrastructure building.
Getting you folks online is important. I will do what I can to help in that.
-tom
The One True b!X on 28 Mar 2005
Since comment number 15 was posted, I made this site, changed some settings, and posted a post.
Just, like, in case anyone needed a proof of concept from the technological standpoint.
Whatever the supposed legal/moral/ethical issues, it continue to baffle me that any serious consulting might need to be engaged in order to do this. Millions of people have launched blogs without hiring a consultant.
Tom Miller on 28 Mar 2005
Interesting comments. As Sam's chief of staff, I'm particularly intrigued by the challenge of encouraging staff to support our pending blog (or any other) while ensuring what is said reflects the clear message constituents (should) expect from their city commissioner. We'll give this some thought as a team and report back.
Regarding the start-up date of our pending blog, I would complement Jesse's post with this: we view a blog as an important communication tool for the commissioner's team, but we also have lots of other substantive work as well. So while we do appreciate the demonstrated ease of creating a simple blog, we want to remind readers that you (and all Portlanders) expect us to be addressing the other issues of the moment, not the least of which include the city budget, JTTF participation, PGE's potential sale, the city's Measure 37 response, etc. These take time and energy.
Finally, I'd add one challenge we know we face is how we get the commissioner himself to meaningfully participate given his typical 7:30am - 9:00pm schedule. As many of you know from personal experience, Sam rarely sits in one place long enough to blog. But we'll figure it out.
The One True b!X on 28 Mar 2005
For what it's worth, while I'm picking on Sam that's mainly because he's the only one who's actually made public statements about wanting to blog.
Overall, my concern is really just trying to determine why many others places (I'm still trying to compile a more comprehsive list) seem to just be diving into it and not spending copious amounts of time analyzing it all.
The downside of the Portland Way, maybe.
Anne Dufay on 28 Mar 2005
Sid, I looked at that kos piece. What was it you liked about the example given? As I read it, we’re talking a taxpayer-paid outlet for pure propaganda (Bush should be so lucky) -- and, no comments taken.
A "direct line" indeed -- where he tells them -- What Is? And, no one gets to question, no one gets to comment???
You call this good? You really think this an advancement over the funnels and filters of mainstream media, that, at the very least, would make him pay postage and printing and advertising costs to get his campaign rhetoric out to the public?
Yeech. Yeah, changes the balance of power significantly. Tell me -- who do you think gains, who loses power in this equation? And, why?
The One True b!X on 28 Mar 2005
As for the matter of filters, the short over-simplified answer is this: The fact that some readers may simply read an official's blog and not also read third-party coverage of that official is not in and of itself a reason to not want officials to blog.
At issue with that dynamic is the lazy form of media literacy that's been engendered in much of the news-consuming public -- one that has problematic effects no matter what forms of media, or what forms of official-to-public communication, we're discussing.
Anne Dufay on 28 Mar 2005
I appreciate Tom Miller's comments. I think his point - that they are trying to figure out how to do this right, is truer, and, harder, than many appreciate.
I also think his point about time to contribute, meaningfully, is right on:
I know that I come and go on this blog, because I just don't have the time to be on it daily. And, my schedule may, just may possibly, not be as busy as Commissioner Adam's... :-) -- (though, as any mother would, I'd challenge that notion!)
This makes it hard for me always to chime in -- there are times I just keep quiet, because I don't have the history, and don't want to be one of those irritating people who come in late, and want you to re-enact the whole story for their benefit...
So there is, too that issue of -- how do those who have to work and who are not allowed to be on-line during work hours, and who have a family at home to love and cherish in the evening hours -- where is such a person's niche in the blog world?
The One True b!X on 28 Mar 2005
where is such a person's niche in the blog world?
Places like this.
Mainly that's just me being snarky. I don't actually discount the time issue, but at the same time, since we're discussing public officials, I'm wondering if anyone thinks that all of these local officials elsewhere in the country somehow are not tending to their public duties or avoiding their family/personal lives because they've opened up another channel of communication.
I guess that just doesn't seem very likely to me.
Jim Dixon on 29 Mar 2005
The City (and by this I mean the bureaus and the offices of the elected officials) already spends tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to communicate with Portland citizens. But the brochures, bill inserts, mailers, public meetings, and even Portland Online don’t seem to affect the standard complaint of inadequate public involvement.
Blogs won’t solve the problem, either, but they can provide another path for the citizenry to communicate with the bureaucracy. I don’t see much difference between an hour or two making phone calls to help somebody understand why the City does something that doesn’t seem to make sense to them and the same time responding to a blog comment that gets at a similar point.
It will take some courage for the political leadership to allow City staff the freedom to speak to citizens without going through an official communications filter. I’m sure there could be issues about who said what, but in the long run more open communication will help restore a little credibility.
Tom on 29 Mar 2005
Nice give and take going on with this thread...to comment on whats gone on since last i chimed in
1) A blog is no different than phone calls, mettings, etc...
A blog is public, open for all to read and in many ways archivable for latter examination. A phone call is not as public not as retrievable for latter reffernceing.
A blog is a One To Many device that can then optionaly allow the Many to comment. That last part is not a requirment, many blogs do not have comment sections...think of it as the Torah Vs The King James in the way that the first has commentary on a message and the other is just the message.
2) Its hard to make a blog
Ok again I have to say, it is not. Yes I well understand the problems of poltical posturing and media control...thing is these are not excuses why its hard to blog they are some of the very problems that blogs can and do get around.
There is a method and a medium that now makes it so a person can document themselves in motion, to show the reality of being rather than the contrived stylings of the perfect seeming.
Blogs differ to traditional dead tree publications not so much in possibility of being but in distribution and the uregnecy of now. With a blog you the officals, or your chosen mouth pieces, can not only react to events but set events in motion, you can ponder and let in the light of revelation on the whys and wherefores that make up the happenings of state..city..town etc.
Yes, I understand for some this is a 360 of gut pulverizing proportions. This is Open Expresion and along with that comes all the possibilty to shine as well as to blunder. Would that enough folks take that up in deed then we would not be caught in a mindset that demands extrahuman behaviors from our elected officals both from the publics view point and the elected officals view point.
In short, the tools for being honest real and open poltical beings in service of the citizenry is here , its easy to use, its immediate in action and its undeniably your choice to either use em or hide from them.
I appluad any elected officals efforts along these lines and my offer to help is in play. Changing a mindset is not easy, that is true, but it is doable and those that do not have shown something of thier character.
Was it Gotlieb or Getty Lee who once said "if you choose not to decide you still have made a choice"?
-tom