FCC Working More With the Public

Hey, the folks at Politico give credit where it's due, showing that the FCC, over the past coupla years, has gotten really serious about serving the American public.

I've worked with these folks, and bear witness that it's real.

Haley Van Dyck has a tall order for a 24-year-old: helping to employ the Internet to turn a once notoriously opaque and uncommunicative Federal Communications Commission into a consumer-friendly agency.

In her capacity as director of citizen engagement for the FCC's new-media team, she is the woman behind this week's unveiling of the agency's online Consumer Help Center, a major step in the overhaul of what was an outdated, unnavigable website.

The goal is to comply with President Barack Obama's open government directive and the independent initiative of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. The help center website, Van Dyck said, "marks the beginning of our pivoting toward a consumer-centric focus."

Daniel Schuman, policy counsel for the Sunlight Foundation, commented on
the new-media team's responsiveness during the redesign. He recalled
that only two days after Sunlight launched its "Redesigning the
Government" feature on the FCC, his staff was invited to the agency to
discuss the redesign.

Disclaimer: I'm on the board of Sunlight.