Tag Archives: Government transparency

DHS Launches YouTube Channel and Redesigns DHS.gov

From the July 22, 2009 DHS Press Release:

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today launched the DHS YouTube Channel and announced the redesign of DHS.gov—steps to enhance the Department’s web presence, increase transparency and provide accurate, up-to-date information to the public.

“Social media plays an increasingly large role in our engagement with the public, especially in the event of an incident or disaster,” said DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. “These new tools will facilitate an open dialogue about the Department’s security efforts across the nation and around the world.”

The YouTube Channel, found at www.youtube.com/ushomelandsecurity, will allow DHS to use video to highlight events, speeches, public service announcements and other related content. DHS’s emphasis on web 2.0 tools such as YouTube allows the Department to provide greater transparency and access to the public and our state, local, territorial, tribal, private sector, and international partners.

DHS.gov was reorganized around Secretary Napolitano’s five major responsibilities—counterterrorism, border security, enforcement of immigration laws, disaster preparedness and response and Department unification—and redesigned based on user input and search analysis to help visitors find relevant and timely information.

Website Spotlight: MAPLight.org — making money/vote connections transparent

MAPLight.org‘s mission is to “illuminate the connection between money and politics in unprecedented ways.” The organization aims to “give citizens the tools to find out for themselves how campaign contributions affect the specific issues they care about.” Watch this 6 mins. video to learn how it works.

Some articles and other items about MAPLight.org:

Shedding New Light on Lawmakers’ Voting Records (interview on KQED) (June 18, 2009)

Mapping a better world (The Economist) (June 4, 2009)

The People’s Data (Newsweek) (February 28, 2009)

The Citizen Watchdogs of Web 2.0 (Time) (June 30, 2008)

MAPLight gets its data from: