Our Border Social Networking Site Connects Public, Federal Government

By: Elaine Pittman on March 16, 2010

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Nearly 900 citizens are engaged in protecting the U.S. border. People from Elmhurst, Ill., to Knoxville, Md., to Brownsville, Texas, have joined the U.S. DHS’s online “civic network” Our Border, which connects them with the happenings of the nation’s Southwest border through discussions, events and groups.

Devised in August 2009 on the Ning platform, Our Border was created to “enable a diverse population of stakeholders to remotely engage in a wide-ranging policy discourse on border-related matters,” according to the DHS. The Web site promotes the sharing of information, ideas and solutions without being limited to geographic barriers.

“[The] DHS sought a dynamic online space where users could engage on multiple levels about issues relevant to the Southwest border,” said Matt Chandler, deputy press secretary for the department, via e-mail. “We determined that the Ning platform — itself a full-featured social networking utility — offered an easy to design and use service that could accomplish all our goals for this project.”

As with most social networking sites, a user creates a profile and then has the opportunity to join a group, participate in a forum, create a blog, and add events, photos and videos. It was created in accordance with President Barack Obama’s Transparency and Open Government Memorandum, which encourages federal agencies to use new technologies to engage the public. A joint project of the DHS, Office of Public Affairs and Office of International Affairs, the site aims to connect individuals, law enforcement, civic organizations, interest groups, activists, DHS employees and elected officials.

Chandler said the DHS established groups and forums to encourage discussion on individual topics. Some of the topics include: comprehensive immigration reform, commerce along the Southwest border and human trafficking. The department facilities the discussions with video posts from DHS officials and stakeholders, guest blog posts, and other written and visual content, he said.

“Several ideas from members of the site have sparked important conversations within DHS,” Chandler said. “For example, law enforcement officials and DHS have recently been discussing how social networking technologies can improve community-policing efforts. Further, several leaders in border commerce have been discussing how social networking can be used to facilitate discussions regarding public-private partnerships in creating or enhancing ports of entry.”

Several DHS employees monitor Our Border to ensure that the network is operating within the Ning Terms of Service and the department’s Privacy Impact Assessment. The privacy assessment says although Ning doesn’t collect personally identifiable information on behalf of the DHS, the department will be able to view that information as part of its participation in the network. It also says, “DHS will post its own content and will review all content before user created information is posted to Our Border.”

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