July 13, 2011
Two years ago, the Civic Federation profiled efforts by Cook County governments to increase the transparency of their operations by launching Twitter accounts. The “Tweeting Towards Transparency” blog posts (here and here) focused primarily on how Cook County, the Forest Preserve District of Cook County and the Cook County Assessor used Twitter, a micro-blogging service that allows for quick and effective dissemination of information, to provide updates of Board votes, new programs and breaking news. The Civic Federation has a Twitter account of its own that it uses to alert followers to new blog posts, publications and analyses of current events.
Twitter now allows users to curate lists of other accounts. Curation and aggregation can be useful to people interested in tracking legislation or commentary by politicians and other government officials.
For example, there are various lists curated by other Twitter users that aggregate the feeds of:
Notable Twitter feeds that focus on politics in Illinois include:
- The Ward Room, NBC Chicago’s political news blog
- WBEZpolitics, political discussion from Chicago Public Radio
- Greg Hinz, political writer and blogger for Crain’s Chicago Business
- The Chicago Tribune’s “Clout Street,” which provides local political coverage
Finally, the Better Government Association has developed several lists that allow Twitter users to follow the aggregated feeds of:
- Illinois public officials
- State and local governments in Illinois
- Organizations that are working to improve government transparency
Below are examples of recent tweets from the BGA’s aggregation of state and local government Twitter accounts:
