“Change has come to the Whitehouse.gov” is the opening line to a new blog from the Obama administration’s dedicated Director of New Media,  Macon Phillips, who is charged with encouraging citizen participation using the internet.

In his first entry on the Whitehouse blog this morning, Phillips says that Obama plans to publish an unprecedented amount of information on the internet, including drafts of all non-emergency legislation, which will be released for five days for review and comment by the public.

Phillips states that his approach will have three priorities: communication, transparency and participation, drawing on Obama’s experience as a community organiser “where he saw first hand what people can do when they come together for a common purpose”.

He promises “timely and in-depth content”. The site includes a new section, called the Briefing Room, which will include slideshows (including, later today, of the Obama family’s move in to the Whitehouse) the publication of of all executive orders and proclamations, information about nominations and appointments  and a weekly video address.

Phillips anticipates using the blog to establish “an online community” which will be “a work in progress”.

The new Whitehouse website also has a new link to the Office of Public Liaison “Changing the way Americans Engage with Their Government”. It has no content at the moment, other than a “contact us” form, but promises to be the “front door to the White House through which everyone can participate and inform the work of the President.”

High hopes, and its going to be interesting to watch.

And in Australia it will be an interesting point of comparison to the Rudd administration, which was canny and innovative in its use of new media during the election campaign, but has comprehensively lost the plot since then, as the Fake Minister for Communications, Stephen Conroy delights in making apparent in this cheeky interview with ZDNet.

Here’s a taster:

Can you talk a bit about the progress of the National Broadband Network request for tender process — what’s going on, and what’s next?

No. The tendering process mandates that discussion, analysis and criticism of said process is punishable by up to 15 years in jail.

What is your opinion of the Federal Government’s relationship with Telstra? Is it good, or if not, what could be done to improve it?

Look, I don’t want to talk about our relationship, but I will say that it takes work on both sides to keep a relationship working. I know Sol is busy, but it’d be nice if he’d return my calls once in a while. Sometimes … sometimes it feels like he just doesn’t care.