Looking at the list of finalists for this year's New Statesman New Media Awards, I'm impressed by a) the mainstream political entries (Cameron and the Downing Street E-Petitions) and b) what we might call 'non-official but with a mainstream purpose' sites (18 Doughty Street, The Government Says, PlanningAlerts).

This reflects a growing emphasis upon tools rather than talk. In other words, the shift towards web 2.0 seems to mean not greater opportunities for citizen dialogue but rather for low threshold ways for individuals to get things done. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with this, but it does reflect a conscious choice, of which we should be aware.

[Cross-posted at my Internet Politics book blog]