With Gordon Brown’s admission that politicians had failed to use the internet to communicate, that they have to adjust to the growth of “audience power” through the rise of blogging, I wonder if he is closely following the new Politicopia site in Utah – a wiki for open government.

It enables people to comment on legislation being considered by the State, and is described as “an experiment in open democracy”.

Ross Mayfield thought this was the first time that an elected official had initiated a political wiki. That may be the case in the US, but I must leave a comment and tell him about Minister Miliband’s sobering experience which badly backfired.

However, Politicopia seems to be doing rather better, it asks commenters to register first in an attempt to deter spammers and trolls.

Ross helped set up the socialtext wiki with Utah State Representative Steve Urqhart, Chairman of the Rules Committee that decides which legislation goes to the floor. He is urging people to “have fun and get involved”. And after its first week, he reckons it has been a hit. Some of the hot topics currently being debated range from obesity and abortion to education and illegal immigrants.

“One week into the experiment, Politicopia is working. Citizens are participating and citizens are being heard. Legislators are talking to me about things they’ve read on Politicopia. Because of input I received, I have changed a position I’ve held for years. Already, citizens are using Politicopia to shape the debate. As a matter of fact, a reporter emailed me, to ask why Politicopia wasn’t linking to her article. That has never happened in the two-plus years I’ve been blogging.”

So this is proof that wikis can work if not abused by mischief-makers, is it something our politicians should be doing to promote open government? Or has the Miliband experience put them off?

Hat tip Geoff Jones.