Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas didn’t quite know what he was getting himself into when he first began writing down his thoughts about county issues and posting them online, for all the world and his citizens to see.
But the pros and cons of having his own personal county-related Weblog, otherwise known as a blog, are now more fully apparent to Salinas.
“I’ve always been high on technology and using technology to provide more information to our taxpayers. I thought it could be a direct voice to the constituents and have good, positive feedback,” said Salinas, who was a county clerk for two terms before becoming county judge in January 2007. He started his blog eight months later, in August, regularly updating residents on county news at the time: shooting the county’s first in-house public service television announcement on hurricane preparedness, gathering more money for the county’s levee system and local workforce development.
“There are vehicles of communication out there that we have not taken advantage of, and, for that reason, we — meaning myself, my staff and whoever chooses to participate — have decided to introduce this blog. … the purpose behind his site is so that your government can receive input directly from you,” Salinas wrote in his first blog entry, less than a year ago.
A blog, technically, is just any regularly updated Web site. Some, like the popular digg.com, are updated with links to other Web sites. Many are political — www.rightwingnews.com or liberalvaluesblog. com — or otherwise topical or argumentative in nature. The difference between a blog and a regular county Web site lies in who is updating the information and the way in which the information is presented; an official county Web site may contain press releases and event announcements, but a blog will offer an inside, first-person behind-the-scenes look at those events.
Salinas has learned some important lessons since starting his blog, but still believes the county is benefiting from the additional communication between itself, its employees and its residents. His first blog entry received praise from residents — “you continue to impress me with what you have been doing for the county and now with your openness with the public” — but also problems from taxpayers wanting help with home remodeling and fixing potholes. “It’s a great avenue for sharing ideas. … For the most part, it’s been taxpayers saying, let’s do this, let’s do that,” Salinas said, referring to an idea to create a local college scholarship for county employees and their children, which came via the blog. The county followed the advice based on the desire to promote higher education and give county employees skills necessary to do higher-paying jobs. The scholarships are funded by way of private contributions. “We raised close to $10,000 and now we have county employees going to college with a little bit of help. That was exactly the purpose of this blog — to create ideas.”
While blogs have traditionally been a tool used by “citizen journalists” and activists or the media to voice personal opinions — some outlandish, some comical, some professional — various government departments and officials are taking to typing in order to better reach their taxpayers. There’s Salinas, with his blog www.judgejd. com, which is connected to the county’s Web site and receives help from the county’s public information officer, Cari Lambrecht. Collin County Judge Keith Self’s blog, www.keithself.com, is not connected to the county’s Web site but still offers a personal take on county business. State Representative Aaron Peña has a blog at www. acapitolblog.com, in which he talks about legislative business, such as the expansion of the South Texas VA Health Care Center and the Texas Youth Commission committee hearings. There’s also The Backgate Website, “the unofficial Texas prison and criminal justice news and information source” at www.thebackgate.org, which offers everything from professional advice to and from jail employees about how to combat gang activity behind bars to a list of 10 tips for new regional directors via a retired warden. The Backgate also offers message boards and live chat for readers.
There are also a host of blogs that can keep anyone interested up-to-date on legislative and government-related issues: Inside the Texas Capitol at texascapitol.blogspot.com, which tracks legislation; Grits for Breakfast at gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com, which gives a liberal slant to the Texas criminal justice system; In the Pink Texas at www.inthepinktexas.com, which offers a sarcastic feminist look at politics; pdstuff.apublicdefender/com, which tracks public defender- related news;
Some officials and staff have created more anonymous, unofficial blogs, such as the “either a current or former Assistant District Attorney who is giving you my own opinion of how the Harris County Criminal Justice System operates on a day-to-day basis” whose blog is online at harriscountycriminaljustice.blogspot.com.
Those types of bloggers blog for more personal reasons — not necessarily to promote transparency in government or to reach constituents, but more to create an inner-community for discussion. In one post, the Harris County Criminal Justice Center blogger comments on a Houston Chronicle article on possible cronyism Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas didn’t quite know what he was getting himself into when he first began writing down his thoughts about county issues and posting them online, for all the world and his citizens to see.
But the pros and cons of having his own personal county-related Weblog, otherwise known as a blog, are now more fully apparent to Salinas.
“I’ve always been high on technology and using technology to provide more information to our taxpayers. I thought it could be a direct voice to the constituents and have good, positive feedback,” said Salinas, who was a county clerk for two terms before becoming county judge in January 2007. He started his blog eight months later, in August, regularly updating residents on county news at the time: shooting the county’s first in-house public service television announcement on hurricane preparedness, gathering more money for the county’s levee system and local workforce development. “There are vehicles of communication out there that we have not taken advantage of, and, for that reason, we — meaning myself, my staff and whoever chooses to participate — have decided to introduce this blog. … the purpose behind his site is so that your government can receive input directly from you,” Salinas wrote in his first blog entry, less than a year ago.
A blog, technically, is just any regularly updated Web site. Some, like the popular digg.com, are updated with links to other Web sites. Many are political — www.rightwingnews.com or liberalvaluesblog. com — or otherwise topical or argumentative in nature. The difference between a blog and a regular county Web site lies in who is updating the information and the way in which the information is presented; an official county Web site may contain press releases and event announcements, but a blog will offer an inside, first-person behind-the-scenes look at those events.
Salinas has learned some important lessons since starting his blog, but still believes the county is benefiting from the additional communication between itself, its employees and its residents. His first blog entry received praise from residents — “you continue to impress me with what you have been doing for the county and now with your openness with the public” — but also problems from taxpayers wanting help with home remodeling and fixing potholes. “It’s a great avenue for sharing ideas. … For the most part, it’s been taxpayers saying, let’s do this, let’s do that,” Salinas said, referring to an idea to create a local college scholarship for county employees and their children, which came via the blog. The county followed the advice based on the desire to promote higher education and give county employees skills necessary to do higher-paying jobs. The scholarships are funded by way of private contributions. “We raised close to $10,000 and now we have county employees going to college with a little bit of help. That was exactly the purpose of this blog — to create ideas.”
While blogs have traditionally been a tool used by “citizen journalists” and activists or the media to voice personal opinions — some outlandish, some comical, some professional — various government departments and officials are taking to typing in order to better reach their taxpayers. There’s Salinas, with his blog www.judgejd. com, which is connected to the county’s Web site and receives help from the county’s public information officer, Cari Lambrecht. Collin County Judge Keith Self’s blog, www.keithself.com, is not connected to the county’s Web site but still offers a personal take on county business. State Representative Aaron Peña has a blog at www. acapitolblog.com, in which he talks about legislative business, such as the expansion of the South Texas VA Health Care Center and the Texas Youth Commission committee hearings. There’s also The Backgate Website, “the unofficial Texas prison and criminal justice news and information source” at www.thebackgate.org, which offers everything from professional advice to and from jail employees about how to combat gang activity behind bars to a list of 10 tips for new regional directors via a retired warden. The Backgate also offers message boards and live chat for readers.
There are also a host of blogs that can keep anyone interested up-to-date on legislative and government-related issues: Inside the Texas Capitol at texascapitol.blogspot.com, which tracks legislation; Grits for Breakfast at gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com, which gives a liberal slant to the Texas criminal justice system; In the Pink Texas at www.inthepinktexas.com, which offers a sarcastic feminist look at politics; pdstuff.apublicdefender/com, which tracks public defender- related news;
Some officials and staff have created more anonymous, unofficial blogs, such as the “either a current or former Assistant District Attorney who is giving you my own opinion of how the Harris County Criminal Justice System operates on a day-to-day basis” whose blog is online at harriscountycriminaljustice.blogspot.com. Those types of bloggers blog for more personal reasons — not necessarily to promote transparency in government or to reach constituents, but more to create an inner-community for discussion.
In one post, the Harris County Criminal Justice Center blogger comments on a Houston Chronicle article on possible cronyism