DipNote has been recognized by Juggle as one of the top government blogs on the web. Below you'll find an interview with Daniel Schaub, Director of Digital Communcations in the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Public Affairs.
- What are the functions of the U.S. Department of State? How do you craft your posts in such a way that they are relevant to the services provided by your agency?
In its most recent Mission Statement, the Department put forth its goal to: “Advance freedom for the benefit of the American people and the international community by helping to build and sustain a more democratic, secure, and prosperous world composed of well-governed states that respond to the needs of their people, reduce widespread poverty, and act responsibly within the international system.” We rarely get one post that does all that! But each post does generally draw upon at least one aspect of these goals: highlighting U.S. efforts on good governance, for example, or on exchange programs that foster openness and democratic precepts. It isn’t so much a matter of crafting posts to reflect these goals: every bureau and embassy in the Department puts together a Mission Plan, a statement of strategic goals, that aligns with the Department’s overarching objectives. Most of our entries are reports back from bureaus and embassies on programs or activities that have taken place or are ongoing, and, of course, those activities are enmeshed in the bureau strategic plan, which means they reflect Department goals. It makes it very easy for us.
- From where do you typically draw your bloggers? How often do your bloggers typically post?
All our bloggers are State Department employees, from every bureau, office, embassy, and consulate; from entry level diplomats to the Secretary of State. When DipNote started, we recruited every blogger we could. The idea of a blog was novel to Department culture, and it did take some time before everyone understood what this was really about, and what we were trying to accomplish. We still do recruit our bloggers – but I’m pleased to say that the recruitment effort is much easier now, and usually just a matter of mentioning to the bureau that they have a great story on their hands. People get the whole “blogging idea” today in a way that they didn’t a few years ago. As often as not, our bloggers come to us with their story ideas, and it’s really wonderful to see how their pitches are almost always spot-on.
Some people only ever do one entry for us: they were part of a notable event, and they want to tell the world about it. Some of our most interesting – and most popular – blog posts, though, come from authors who send regular dispatches about ongoing events. For example, we have one blogger who travels with “Pacific Partnership 2010” – a multi-country effort to send ships of doctors and engineers to Pacific countries that need the assistance. As he’s visited communities in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia, he’s sent in updates about what he’s doing and seeing. And we have readers who are eagerly following his entire trip around the region.
- Why is necessary to divulge important foreign policy issues to the American people and why has it become important to be informed on these issues?
I think there are a number of answers to this question, and any one of them would alone be sufficient reason to communicate this information to the public, but I’ll mention just a few. To start with, and most obviously, the State Department is funded by the American people. They have the right to see what’s being done with that money. Second, they really should see what’s being done, because it includes some amazing things. I think that anytime anyone – be it a newspaper, magazine, or public affairs section of a government agency – has good news to share, they feel a sense of urgency and pride in getting that information out. The third one has become something of a cliché, but it doesn’t make it any less true: we’re in a globalized world. Or a flat world – take your pick of metaphor, it comes down to the same thing: what happens around the world can affect the daily lives of the American people. This is true whether you’re talking about negatives such as health standards that can breed the next global influenza pandemic, but it also holds true for positive events and broad trends: what’s happening right now with mobile banking in Malawi, for example, might become the next way to manage your finances in Dubuque. We grew up with the saying “no one is an island,” but there aren’t any remote archipelagos any longer, either. Currents of thought and behavior travel quickly around the globe. DipNote is a very small part of the available media that tries to provide people with an accurate snapshot of what’s happening around the world – and, in our case, specifically, with the U.S.’ role in it – but it’s an indispensible perspective for understanding the issues of the day.
- What kinds of foreign policy topics have you discussed in the blog? How do you determine what topics to target?
We’ve had a pretty wide scope over the years. Just looking back on the last week, we’ve featured a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to serve in Afghanistan; coverage of flood relief efforts in Pakistan; American youth involvement in anti-trafficking efforts; START ratification; and a U.S.-Norway cultural exchange program focused on soccer. I think it’s safe to say that if it’s about foreign affairs, it’s fair game for DipNote.
Some of our topics are driven by specific Department priorities: for example, with the flooding in Pakistan, we’ve been featuring a “text ‘SWAT’ to 50555 to make a $10 donation” campaign – which is currently accepting funds, by the way – and so we’ve been running a lot of stories that feature relief efforts and that give us an opportunity to mention this efficient and effective way that the American people can contribute to the international humanitarian response.
Some of our coverage is driven by events. If Secretary Clinton is traveling, we’ll cover her trip, and we’ll also try to highlight the bilateral issues that are important to those regions. Some is driven by dates: anniversaries of major events are good times to assess recent progress on those topics; yearly campaigns such as the UN’s “16 Days Against Gender-Based Violence” give us an opportunity to take stock around the world. Just as with a newspaper, much of our coverage is directed by breaking news. We try to maintain a mix of topicality, updates on ongoing situations, and in-depth features on evergreen issues.
- DipNote allows comments from its readers -- how hard was it to institute this policy, and how has it impacted the blog more generally?
We’ve had comments from the beginning. I think it’s important that if you aim to have a dialog with people interested in foreign affairs – and it isn’t just the American people; I’m always amazed to discover just how far-flung our readership is – that you have an actual two-way dialog. We read every comment that comes in. Comments have to meet certain standards. We expect that participants will treat each other, as well as our Department and our employees, with respect. We will not post comments that contain vulgar or abusive language; personal attacks of any kind; or offensive terms that target specific ethnic or racial groups. We will not post comments that are spam or that promote services or products.
As DipNote readership grows and the volume of comments increases, we’re moving toward more active community management, not only on the DipNote platform itself but also on the State Department Facebook page that mirrors most DipNote content. Reader input lets us know whether we’re meeting audience interests, and has definitely directed us from time to time. Sometimes it’s simple: someone wrote in asking for more PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) coverage, and we supplied it. Sometimes it’s more indirect – for example, we noticed that entries with interesting photos were garnering more comments and readership, so we launched a “Photo of the Week” feature in response, which has proved popular. In the near future, we’ll be looking to expand visibility for some of our more trenchant and insightful comments through a new occasional and recurring feature we’re developing that will present a selected reader comment as its own blog entry, along with a response from a relevant Department official. There’s no question that reader participation adds a challenging dimension to the blogging project, but we’ve always felt that it’s a worthwhile undertaking.
- Why is DipNote an important outlet for the Department of State to reach its constituents? How does it represent the values of your department?
First, it should be said that the Department has many outlets to reach its constituents. State.gov is a great one, and it’s also a gateway to the many webpages of the different bureaus and offices that regularly put out and update content on their activities. We have an official Facebook page, as I mentioned, www.facebook.com/usdos and on that page you can find a list of bureau, embassies and consulates that have their own Facebook pages, as well as a list of embassy Flickr sites where you can browse pictures of day-to-day work and life in the field. We have a Twitter account, twitter.com/StateDept, where you can get regular updates. And we have a Youtube channel, www.youtube.com/statevideo.
All of these get out the Department message in different ways, but DipNote is unique in that it’s that only one of these channels that gets to tell the State Department story in the many and varied voices of our bloggers, the employees of the State Department. I think that DipNote provides a nuanced and complex – and therefore accurate – picture of the State Department’s work, and that, yes, in the diversity of voices and range of backgrounds and perspectives it represents, it also embodies some of the core values of the Department.
- What else you would you like to share with us about DipNote?
The remarkable thing about DipNote is how it emerges from the efforts of so many people. It wouldn’t exist without our bloggers – our State Department colleagues – who have taken the time to write, often in a very personal way, about the work they are doing around the world. We are grateful to be able to help tell their stories. It wouldn’t exist without our readers – who keep us on our toes, who inform us, sometimes, as much as we do them, and who challenge us with their questions and insight.
But it also wouldn’t work without our DipNote team, who support the State Department’s official presence on Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube. What you see on these sites reflects the efforts and dedication of a group of hard-working and creative people who ardently believe in communicating with a global public about how the State Department is carrying out its mission: Katie Dowd, the State Department’s New Media Director; Senior Technology Advisor Jeff Jackson, who has been with DipNote since the day it launched; web developer Eric Jones, and video encoder Tamika Johnson. They operate largely behind the scenes, but their work literally creates and sustains the blog. With much dedication, Luke Forgerson, DipNote’s Managing Editor, guides and directs day-to-day operations of the blog. Sarah Goldfarb is the blog’s Editorial Assistant, and she brings a lot of talent and enthusiasm. Ruth Bennett has recently joined us as editor and community manager, and we’ve already seen the results of her efforts to increase our engagement – which is really the purpose of DipNote.
We all feel very lucky to be able to work on a project as engaging, dynamic, and evolving as DipNote, and we hope that our enthusiasm continues to be communicated to our readership.