Now It's Personal

One of the award winners at the Gov 2.0 Summit held in Washington on Wednesday (and continuing Thursday) was BART, the San Francisco area's public transportation system, also known as Bay Area Rapid Transit. A popular feature of BART's Web site is "Seen and Heard on BART This Week," which posts photos and Tweets from BART riders -- like this one:

Rooting 4 guy i saw on BART who wrote: ACTION PLAN 1.complete resume 2.stay all the way clean 3.1 hr TV 4.read bible 5.learn to read email

The BART official accepting the award on Wednesday told the audience that government agencies, while being good stewards of taxpayers' money, can be "intimate and personal" with the public. While posting "frivolous" information, the site remains "authoritative," the official said. "We should be bringing people in and serving them better," she said.

The TSA Blog has captured that same spirit. Each post has dozens -- sometimes well more than a hundred -- comments mostly because it is written candidly and allows readers to tee off on the agency. They also have fun and take controversial subjects head on. It's worth a read.