Of the people, by the people, for the people.

I am almost hesitant to quote Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address because it is to beautiful it feels irreverent to use it in a blog about digital communication, but the other part of me loves it so much that I can't resist quoting it.  So, for a moment forget the subject of this blog and just think of the significance of these words.  Lincoln said in this address that the men that had fought and died at Gettysburg had already dedicated that ground, and all that he and the rest of America could do was increase their "devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Lincoln, more than anything, was dedicated to the American cause: "A new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."  He could not allow that nation, that experiment in democracy, to fall.

Here's where I shift to digital civilization and feel irreverent.  If indeed our government is of the people, by the people, for the people, we need to ensure that the people are involved in the government.  We need all of our citizens to be well-informed and to participate.  We may not be engaged in a great civil war, but if our civilians are not involved in the government, our nation isn't truly democratic, and the American experiment fails.

Open government means citizens have the right to have access to the governmental process, including documents and proceedings.  Furthermore, in my opinion, it means the citizens should be able to comment and participate in government processes with ease.  whitehouse.gov/open is the White House's official website, and it has a blog on open government, and also a link where citizens can create and sign petitions.  There's also a link to challenge.gov, which calls itself, "The central platform for crowdsourcing US government challenges, contests, competitions and open innovation prizes."  Basically, government agencies can ask for submissions/solutions to challenges/problems and the public can give their ideas.  Unfortunately, as far as I have seen very few people actually use the site.

This is a general problem.  Although government officials are taking steps towards openness, the public is not participating.  Another example is President Obama's hangout on google+ and weekly reports, akin to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's fireside chats.  Although this is a great example of openness and connecting with the nation, you need to have access to these hangouts and reports.  I didn't even know how to find these and I have a google+ account.  Once again it goes back to the digital divide.  Even those who have internet access may not have all the resources they need to truly participate in open government.

So, if we're to have a government of the people, by the people, for the people we need to find a find a way to get the word out and help everyone in the nation get in on the online conversation.  Perhaps this means advertising on billboards, magazines or newspapers in order to get those who are not participating online to go online.  Or, maybe we should offer classes in public schools and in community programs to help those who don't know how to use internet resources to become familiar and comfortable with using them.

Whatever we do, we need to reach everyone, not just a few people.  Democracy includes everyone.