Message from Tom Champion (verbatim)
Jul. 10th, 2008 09:51 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
redcolumbine.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
davis_squareFrom the beginning, my informal communication via LiveJournal has been problematic for a variety of reasons:
* When am I speaking for myself, and when for the city?
* Am I setting myself up as some alternate channel that competes with legitimate lines of inquiry and process, such as 311? Am I just ego-tripping?
* My "tone" has been questioned on several occasions and I certainly don't want anybody to judge the city by one snarky employee -- especially since I have the responsibility to speak officially for the city as well.
* Twice in as many weeks I have, in a rush to be timely, mis-communicated on important issues, and had to apologize for it.
* My first responsibility at all times is to my friends and colleagues in city government. They're my team and I must never create even the appearance of second-guessing them -- because I'm not. It's simply inappropriate for me to pretend that I can "unofficially" take part in any online community -- even as decent and thoughtful a community as DSLJ.
This was, therefore, a mistake. The InterWebs are tricky places, and we learn as we go.
In future, I think the best way for people to communicate with City Hall is to call or email 311 -- and the best way for City Hall to communicate with DSLJ members is by official announcement only, so I will explore setting up an account for that purpose.
* When am I speaking for myself, and when for the city?
* Am I setting myself up as some alternate channel that competes with legitimate lines of inquiry and process, such as 311? Am I just ego-tripping?
* My "tone" has been questioned on several occasions and I certainly don't want anybody to judge the city by one snarky employee -- especially since I have the responsibility to speak officially for the city as well.
* Twice in as many weeks I have, in a rush to be timely, mis-communicated on important issues, and had to apologize for it.
* My first responsibility at all times is to my friends and colleagues in city government. They're my team and I must never create even the appearance of second-guessing them -- because I'm not. It's simply inappropriate for me to pretend that I can "unofficially" take part in any online community -- even as decent and thoughtful a community as DSLJ.
This was, therefore, a mistake. The InterWebs are tricky places, and we learn as we go.
In future, I think the best way for people to communicate with City Hall is to call or email 311 -- and the best way for City Hall to communicate with DSLJ members is by official announcement only, so I will explore setting up an account for that purpose.
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no subject
Date: 2008-07-11 06:23 pm (UTC)It will soon be pretty much a requirement for all political representatives who want to be seen as important. But it's going to take the more extraordinary and courageous ones to be the explorers of the medium. I thank you for trying Tom, and wish you well as you figure out how to make it work if you ever choose to do so again.
I went through this a while back when I worked for a non-profit. The solution we came up with was to use my own account on my own time with my nickname for personal purposes, and use an official account with my job title for official stuff I did while getting paid or officially volunteering. It worked out well for us.