'Washington Post' Launches Moderated Wiki on D.C.'s Most Influential

By: E&P Staff WhoRunsGov.com, The Washington Post's site for blogs and reporting projects about government officials and policy makers, on Wednesday launched a moderate wiki that allows readers to contribute to the 700-plus profits of Washington's most influential people in government.

The site, launched in beta in January, now includes profiles of Obama administration officials, members of Congress, Capitol Hill staffers, Pentagon officials and heads of think tanks and interest groups that play a critical roles in shaping public policy. With the moderated wiki, platform users can write new profiles and edit existing ones.

Before user content is posted, it will be reviewed by a Post editorial team that may revise it for accuracy, relevance and appropriateness. WhoRunsGov.com's profiles are footnoted with what the Post calls reporting that is "thoroughly transparent."

WhoRunsGov.com also announced new partners who will be contributing content, including the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University; Medill News Service, Medill School of Journalism; the Association of the U.S. Army; GovLoop.com; the legal-affairs site Main Justice.com; and other Washington Post Company-owned publications, including the Washington Post, Newsweek and ForeignPolicy.com.

The Post said the site is "eager to work with other organizations interested in contributing to this innovative form of content collaboration."

"This new phase in WhoRunsGov.com's growth invites the Washington community, and the public at-large, to share their knowledge of how Washington works," the Web site's editor, Rachel Van Dongen, said in a statement. "We've created an easy and dynamic way for them to do just that."

WhoRunsGov.com also launched on Wednesday two reporting projects that will be based on community content.

"The Reform Tracker" asks readers to add the health-care position of their lawmakers to the site, to tally the stances of all 535 members of Congress stand on the issue of health-care reform.

"Who Runs Gov 2.0?" invites users, especially those with an expertise in government and technology, to help profile the key figures behind the government's technology policy.

WhoRunsGov.com is powered by MindTouch, a developer of open source projects. The features on the site were developed in collaboration with WaPo Labs, the new product development team within The Washington Post Co.