Governmental communications demand scrutiny. Not just from citizens demanding accountability, but also from within any specific department or office. Coordinating communications can be a tricky task, especially within a large operation, so it isn’t surprising that significant time and attention are given to editing, clarifying, planning, and releasing press statements and official correspondence.

What is surprising, though, is the degree to which hyperlinks throw a wrench into well established communications standards. Websites in house.gov are required to use a redirect page, putting a barrier up between hosted and outside content. The State Department just put up a new blog, “Dipnote”, and their “legal” page is a great demonstration of how Internet communications stretches institutional quality control beyond its typical comfort levels.

As more official communications move to a hyperlinked parallel interactive world, we should expect to see a proliferation of careful distinctions between “official” releases, and what here seems to be more like “officially sponsored” interaction.

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While the distinctions and warnings may be somewhat clumsy, State department officials should be lauded for stepping into e-government, however hesitantly. I can only imagine how much initiative this project may have taken to get by the institutional concerns of an unfamiliar medium.