“My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government…Government should be transparent…Government should be participatory…Government should be collaborative.”

Apart from a delicious tag, I’m also starting a Obama Policy Watch page on our wiki, to link to important policy initiatives, such as his recent open and transparent government memorandum, quoted above.

This order is not an isolated initiative but part of an impressive opening salvo that is a very auspicious start in the matter: see here at the Blue Mouse Monkey blog for an impressive overview of the first presidential orders.

See also the overview by the Open Knowledge Foundation: What Obama can do to promote openness.

Here though a more original contribution, from a Second-Life based newscast by Bernhard Drax, which is highly praised by the Cause Global blog, which provides good background to this new virtual news trend here.

See below the video for an excerpt on this kind of avatar based news.

This is a report on YouTube telling how the incoming Obama Administration will use Second Life to help engage the public over health care reform.

Marcia Stepanek explains:

“Drax uses screen capture software to film events and gather interviews. Douglas Thomas, the director of USC’s Network Culture Project, predicts an expansion this year in the use of the medium in education, journalism, and social advocacy, saying many nonprofits and social advocates also might start using Second Life as a new storytelling medium for encouraging public engagement in their causes. Says Drax: “How can we improve the real world? That’s what I’m trying to focus on in Second Life.” Drax will start filing reports next month from this virutal world for PBS’s Frontline World. Said Drax, in accepting the award in Paris: “I’m proud I’ve gotten this award but it’s a signal that this is viable, that this is legitimate, that this [SL] is not a game.“