The Wikiness

from your BlackBerry?And may I still tweet you? What does becoming the people’s man mean in terms of your accessibility?

Right now, a paper-based government works out the details of documentation and security/confidentiality in a web 2.0 America, where citizens can do more than sit back and take it, or sign the occasional petition. Obama is constitutionally charged with representing and protecting the interests of the people. Must he not strive to stay in contact with the people then, though it be in the Twittersphere?

And yet could our president and American security not be compromised on Twitter somehow, too? Without firewall or a secretary between him and the people, how safe would an executive officer and the rest of us be? I don’t know the answers, but they don’t either. It’s another place Americans can experiment.

Abe Lincoln would ride his own horse through Washington, and talk with the folks. He went to the theater often to stay in touch with the common man’s sensibility. [Of course that turned out to be dangerous for him in the end.] But shouldn’t I be able to tweet the man when I want him to know something important?

Will social media lead to a better democracy? I’m hopeful. There are steps happening. Here’s the new website that allows citizens to see where/how economic recovery dollars will be spent. How can that be anything but good, sunlight being the best disinfectant? Over civic things–like public health, children’s welfare, police and fire departments, military adventures, etc. there should be no right of privacy. Web 2.0 tools = the people’s sunshine?