The NDC is committed to openness and transparency. One of the ways we believe we can accomplish this is through improved communication. We want to reach people through a variety of traditional and new media and would like your input on what you find effective. Currently, we have a website NARA and Declassification as well as this blog. We will use these avenues to keep you posted on our progress. Please let us know what forms of communication you would like to see the NDC try so that communication can become a conversation.
“We want to reach people through a variety of traditional and new media and would like your input on what you find effective.” – Don
Glad to hear you guys are working on reaching the public- to the point of even asking for feedback. Some critical new media you’ve already incorporated are the blog, email list, rss feed, and ‘add this’ link. Plus, NARA’s put out info about the NDC on Twitter and Facebook, and I see you put the press release for the June 23 meeting on PRWeb (good moves).
Suggestions:
NDC-specific Twitter and Facebook pages? With these thousands of records scheduled to be made public within about 3 years, there’ll be plenty of material for updates in the near future.
What about including links to NARA’s Facebook and Twitter pages (and any other media NDC/NARA are on, which I overlooked) somewhere on this blog- perhaps in the sidebar, or on a special page- so people know where else they can find updates.
I hope you guys would post some stuff that will shed light on what’s in these records- there’s really not much to go on from the draft priorities list, and time is short before the June 23 meeting. Posts like this would give the public more reason to talk about and share info about what you’re doing.
You could also start a page to track press coverage; you’ve gotten a little:
News.Google.com search for “national archives” “national declassification center”
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbo=p&tbs=nws%3A1&q=%22national+archives%22+%22national+declassification+center%22&aq=o&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
However, the Genealogy project has gotten a lot more recent press:
News.Google.com search for “national archives” genealogy
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbo=p&tbs=nws%3A1&q=%22national+archives%22+genealogy&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
Erik,
Thanks for the feedback. I’ll certainly follow up with our social media team regarding links to other NARA social media sites and blogs like NARATIONS. As we start rolling out newly declassified series, I think an NDC Facebook and Twitter page may also be a good idea. I’m hoping to not just announce new releases, but occasionally highlight interesting or unexpected finds in the records.