What IT Wants From The Next White House

ANIL DASH Bio: Technology blogger and VP, Web publishing developer Six Apart. Endorsing: Declined to state The Skinny: Dash, a tireless promoter of Web 2.0 social networking tools for private and public sector information exchange, would like to see the White House lead the charge in adopting such tools to bring government efficiency and transparency into the 21st century.

WHAT HE WANTS FROM THE NEXT PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION:

At a very high level, we obviously are concerned with the history of the last presidency. In some good ways it has been hands-off with the tech industry, but it's not doing enough to acknowledge how much the high-tech and Web industries drive the economy. Getting more kids on track for tech careers should be a priority. We need to get more attractive candidates to hire.

Four years ago we provided tools for Howard Dean and George Bush, so we saw some politicians use blogs and social networking tools in their campaigns. But as soon as they got elected, they dropped the tools. It's treating the community like we're cheap. It was a milestone when Dean raised a million dollars in a day. Now they do it every day. The No. 1 thing we want to see is elected officials use social networking tools online as a tool for governance and for leadership when in office, just as they do to get elected. The reason is that the tools are built for transparency. You can't use them and not be transparent.

There are departments, like Defense, the IRS and the Census Bureau that are using social networking tools. The IRS has blogs. But it's not widespread. It's fractured.

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