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I chose to review the article "The coming-out stories of anonymous bloggers," which was on cnn.com. The article talked about a couple of bloggers who were fired for what they wrote on their blogs. One wrote anonymously and another wrote with her real name. The important things to be aware of from this article is that it is less and less possible for a person to post anonymously online without someone being able to find out who you really are. In some ways, this is too bad, I think. NPR had a discussion last night talking about anonymous people on the web versus those that post under a pseudonym, or some prefer to think of it as a nom de plume, and have created and cultivated an image and personality for their writing. It is also one way people have found to bring up difficult or very personal subjects that they don't want to share. One instance where I think a person's right to remain anonymous should be protected is to be able to discuss health related issues. The support they may find on the web could be very beneficial, but their job may be threatened if their health problems were brought to the attention of their employer, especially if you work for a small employer.
Technology to solve a current Public Administration problem
As I touched on in my last post, I think the distribution of information to the public could be used much more effectively. Some recent examples are economic programs such as the Cash for Clunkers or New Home Buyers Credit programs. If there were multiple methods for people to understand what is available to them more people may take advantage of them. In addition, people who are using them would be better informed about the process and benefits. I know some people who used the New Home Buyers Credit without realizing they would pay it back on future taxes, and were not happy when they did have to begin repayment. Who had the incentive to inform them of this? Obviously, the realtor they dealt with did not. The Cash for Clunkers had to be administered by car dealers and there were lots of rumors of them taking advantage of customers or being uninformed about how it should work themselves and losing out on funding because they did not follow the process correctly. When the public has bad experiences like this, it erodes on the confidence people will have in government programs and contributes to the growing attitude that the government bureaucracy is an impediment to their lives.
There are many avenues that could be used to disseminate information better. The Governor's office could have blogs with videos as well as written content explaining what the public needs to know about each agency and popular programs. With all of the changes to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System there are people that may be eligible for coverage not getting it. Their web site does have basic information, although many of the topic choices are similar, so one may be unclear where to look for their particular issue. It does not address what people can expect as the Affordable Care Act is implemented. People not eligible now may be eligible in the future and it is difficult to find out how that will work.
Some agencies are likely hesitant to post much information on the web because of a fear of misstating something and having a backlash from public that are angry or offended. Since we only seem to hear of stories of people getting in trouble over their internet usage, it does still seem like a scary place. This kind of activity is hidered by the legal system in the sense that people may be afraid of lawsuits, but I think it is largely encouraged by society because people search for everything now. It is so easy to have a question and use your phone to try to find the answer via a mobile browser and many people would prefer that to haivng to make a phone call.
Overall, many agencies and non profits are working hard to use cyberspace via blogs, twitter, facebook, etc., but don't have the resources to do it in an effective way. If they did put more resources there, they may be able to cut down on the face to face and phone time their employees spend answering questions.
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