First German Chancellor Angela Merkel started her own video-podcast series. Then a bunch of smart students and university graduates turned the tables on her and launched Direkt zur Kanzlerin! (“Direct to Chancellor!”), a platform where citizens can post questions for Angela Merkel. Anybody can submit a text, audio or video message for her on the site. Then people can vote for their favourite questions by mouse click.
After getting blog buzz and media coverage for their idea, the students got Angela Merkel’s attention. The Federal Press Office has now stepped up and agreed to answer the top three question each week on behalf of the Chancellor.
It is a different kind of Web 2.0 success story - a great little example of the potential that the ongoing spread of new, user-friendly technologies holds. What a great example of a couple people getting together and trying to make a difference through tech-driven grassroots democracy!
Consultant and author Anthony D. Williams recently blogged about the question: “is government ready for the Web 2.0 era?” Looks like the German government is playing catch-up with its people. But the Federal Press Office deserves credit, too. At least they are ready to participate in the project. It’s a start.
Note: The “Direct to Chancellor!” site is only available in German.
(via Welt.de)
martinhofmann.net is the personal blog and web playground of Martin Hofmann. I live in Toronto and work 
I would drop dead from shock if this ever happened with the current PMO’s office in Canada. It’s well known that the Harper government is angry/scared of the so-called liberal media. How would they ever handle questions from actual Canadians who may be liberal minded? If Web 2.0 can actually take some of the spin out of politics, then I’ve underestimated its potential.
I think it is a very inspriring tool for the evolution of democracy.
I am a political student in the UK. I have heard that the was the stuents behind Direkt zur Kanzlerin wanted to export the idea to other countries. Could anyone give me information about it? I would like to offer my participation.thank you.
my mail is its_ariel@msn.com
Hi Ariel,
Thanks for your comment. If you want to get in touch with the people behind Direkt zur Kanzlerin, you could try sending them an email. Here is the link to their contact page: http://www.direktzurkanzlerin.de/impressum.html.
– Martin