The Internet helped elect him. Now will it allow ordinary citizens unprecedented access and influence in President Obama’s Administration? How will online advocates both help and challenge the new government? The Internet Advocacy Roundtable (along with Netroots Nation and Think Progress) hosted a recent event on using new media in governance (stream should be available soon).

Panelists included:
Cheryl Contee (moderator), Partner at Fission Strategy and blogger at major African-American political blog Jack & Jill Politics
Sam Graham-Felsen, Content Director at Blue State Digital and former Director of Blogging and Blog Outreach for Obama for America
Michael Lux, Obama-Biden Transition Team and President of Progressive Strategies
Ari Melber, Net movement correspondent at The Nation
Amanda Terkel, Deputy Research Director at the Center for American Progress and Managing Editor, The Progress report and ThinkProgress.org

The event celebrated technology and the powerful force it can be in a modern democracy. Lux remembered entering the White House 16 years ago and not having email, while Melber commented that this year, the most-watched videos about the presidential contest weren’t made by the campaigns. According to Graham-Felsen, user-generated video hasn’t fully arrived yet because it’s harder to make good video than to write well. But he said popular content does get through to decision-makers: “We saw everything during the campaign.”

Since the campaign ended, the panelists were uniformly impressed with the strides made by the Obama team. But they suggested some areas for improvement: Terkel pointed out that official YouTube videos and the new White House blog often don’t allow comments, and that the transition team refused to answer a question supported by many users, meaning there’s progress still to be made in fostering genuine interactivity.

Lux noted that every era of significant change has involved creative tension between a progressive president and the progressive movements of the time. Terkel suggested that bloggers could be a valuable asset to the Obama agenda and one that shouldn’t be taken for granted by the new Administration. He added that bloggers will have more journalistic opportunities, producing investigations as well as activism and opinion. And to make citizens’ voices heard, Graham-Felsen promised that there would be an announcement sent out shortly to the campaign’s online legions. We’ll look forward to that development from this connected White House.

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