Federal information restrictions most un-Web 2.0 like

If the government looks with envy at private sector savvy in harnessing the interactive online world, then it also gave recent clear evidence why it will never catch up.

It's not that the government lacks a quick-turnaround video operation that lets publicity confections like the Old Spice Man respond daily to Facebook posts and tweets on YouTube.

Rather, it's a July 2 memo (.pdf) from Defense Secretary Robert Gates with the subject line "Interaction with the Media" and with the admonishment that "We have far too many people talking to the media outside of channels."

Steven Aftergood at Secrecy News gives the cogent run down about why the memo's effect will ultimately be counterproductive to the DoD.

I simply note that Web 2.0 is most effective when it's interactive, and restrictions of information into official channels is the antithesis of interactive. Official channels often deliver a message of probably  artificial consensus  from which the anything but the blandly acceptable has been stripped away. It's most often not the kind of stuff that ignites excitement (allowing for the fact that government is less exciting that Old Spice Man to start with). And while the Defense Department might currently be the most vocal about official channels , my experience is that press relations shops across most of the federal government have grown more hyper-vigilant about supervising, and limiting, the flow of information.

Anyway, enough kvetching. Reddit users put together last night an Old Spice Man voicemail generator, that should take our minds off other things for a few minutes. - Dave