Brand: us

President-Elect Barack Obama of the US launched a new website last Thursday. On change.gov visitors can make suggestions for the new American government. "The story of the campaign and this historic moment has been your story," the website says. "Tell us your story and the issues that matter most to you. Share with us your concerns and hopes. – the policies you want to see carried out in the next four years." Users can also use the website to send in an open application for a job with the American government. There's a blog, an upcoming event (Obama's inauguration on January 20th) and the agenda is explained. Further more people can leave their email address and zip code for a newsletter.

This shows how the world is changing fundamentally. A beautiful example of how organizations, whether they’re NGOs, governments or commercial brands are becoming more open. In this case Obama also takes a next step: he really wants people’s input. How he’s going to organize all that input time will tell. Perhaps he’ll moderate the ideas (without removing what he chooses), group them and send concrete questions to the people together with volunteers or paid help. This way, in the long term, he can use the site to gauge people’s opinions. And if he does something with them (he’ll have to), you can take this ‘gauging’ as ‘voting’.

And if Obama takes it another step further he can call for people to do something. Not just listen to what he’s supposed to do (he just makes decisions anyway), but facilitate what others will do. That means a change in democracy.

Well done, Obama! My compliments.

The FBI wants to install 150 digital billboards in 20 major U.S. cities to show fugitive mug shots, missing people and high-priority security messages from the big bureau. The billboards will let the FBI highlight those people it is looking for the most: violent criminals, kidnap victims, missing kids, bank robbers, even terrorists. And the billboards will be able to be updated largely in real-time -right after a crime is committed, a child is taken, or an attack is launched (nw). The world as well as organizations are becoming real-time. Soon we will directly see the shots of a burglary on a neighborhood billboard, or the people in the neighborhood will directly get a picture on their phone of the person who now should be within 100 meters. Simply breaking in to someone’s house becomes a bigger challenge. We will be guarded with cameras everywhere, and (cameras of) people will have an important role in guaranteeing social safety.