Citizen's Briefing Book is a compilation
book of recommendations made to
President Barack Obama by visitors to the
Change.gov website, given to the President after
his January 20, 2009
inauguration.
Internet users were able to post recommendations of changes they
would like to see made in the United States, and they were also
able to vote on other users' recommendations, as well as
participate in a comment process.
The
Minnesota
-based company called Reside helped develop the
functionality, using technology from Salesforce.com.
Co-chair of the Obama-Biden Transition Team,
Valerie Jarrett, stated that the
Citizen's Briefing Book was a way for the Obama transition
process to remain open and transparent. Popular recommendations
included
ending
the prohibition on marijuana use in the United States and the
legalization of
online poker.
Citizen's Briefing Book received positive comments from
writers for the
Christian
Science Monitor and
Business
Week, and criticism from writers for
Chicago Tribune and
Indianapolis Business Journal.
Comment process
Citizen's Briefing Book is a work of suggestions by
individuals compiled into a book format and submitted to
President Barack Obama after his
inauguration on
January 20, 2009.
Internet users originally
posted their suggestions at
Change.gov,
with the plan that after Barack Obama was sworn in as President the
website hosting the recommendations would direct users to
Whitehouse.gov. The option to participate in
the request for comment format was open until January 20, 2009,
where users were able to post suggestions to the President, read
others' recommendations, and comment on each others' ideas. Users
voted on individual recommendations with an up or down vote for
each suggestion.
The web
function was developed for the Obama transition team by the
Minnesota-based company called Reside, and utilizes
technology from Salesforce.com. Co-chair of the Obama-Biden
Transition Team, Valerie Jarret, stated: "The Citizen's Briefing
Book will come directly from the American people. It is yet another
way that we will ensure that this transition is the most open and
transparent one in history." Members of Obama's transition team
interacted with users and responded to the voting.
Beth Noveck, a law
professor at NYU Law
School
and a member of the Obama Administration's
"Technology, Innovation and Government Reform Team", stated that
the book would help the government "get the best ideas for the
beginning of the administration".
Top recommendations
According to the Change.gov site the best-rated ideas would "rise
to the top" of the list, to later be given to the President. As of
January 17, 2009 the most popular suggestion, with 70,520 points,
advocated
ending
the prohibition on marijuana use in the United States. By
January 19, 2009, over 500,000 people had voted on thousands of
suggestions posted by 70,000 individuals. In total over 44,000
suggestions were submitted, with over 1.4 million votes cast for
the various recommendations.
Other popular ideas included legalizing
online poker in the United States, and focusing
on green initiatives. One post suggested the administration
investigate UFOs, and another
suggested Obama hire entertainment personalities including
Michael Moore,
Jon
Stewart,
Bill Maher, and
Stephen Colbert. After voting had closed,
the most popular suggestion with 92,000 votes was "Ending marijuana
prohibition", and the third most popular: "Stop using federal
resources to undermine states'medicinal marijuana laws." A
representative for President Obama, Jen Psaki, told
Reuters: "President Obama does not support the
legalization of marijuana."
Release
President Barack Obama discussing the
Citizen's Briefing Book
(May 11, 2009)
The
Obama Administration
released the
Citizen's Briefing Book to the public on May
11, 2009, the same day that President Obama announced the renaming
of the
White House
Office of Public Liaison to the Office of Public Engagement.
"Many of the ideas you offer, from improving light rail transit to
modernizing our energy grid to creating a new service corps, have
been embraced by my administration," said President Obama in a
video released along with the briefing book.
Reception
Writing for the
Christian
Science Monitor, David Peck described the initiative as
part of "a good foundation" of reaching out to individuals. Douglas
MacMillan of
Business Week
noted that the Obama transition site Change.gov "won praise for its
clean look and Citizen's Briefing Book feature". Joel Hood of the
Chicago Tribune highlighted
some of the more eccentric suggestions posted, commenting: "As if
President Barack Obama doesn't have enough on his plate, he's about
to hear the voice of the people, in all its eccentric glory."
Morton Marcus commented in the
Indianapolis
Business Journal: "I see the virtue of being open to the
public’s concern. I cannot imagine that the president will give
attention to issues based on their popularity." In noting that the
first and third-most popular items voted upon involved the
legalization of marijuana, Andy Sullivan of
Reuters commented on President Obama's efforts to
solicit opinions from citizens on legislation: "That approach can
deliver unexpected results."
See also
References
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