Mapping the Great Beyond: Identifying Meaningful Networks in

MAPPING THE GREAT BEYOND 15
practitioners are aware when access to sites is blocked by nanny nets
—important conversations become invisible.
I’ve even heard anecdotal stories of individuals taking their
personal laptops and mobile dongles to work to get around this
blocking and gain access material needed for doing their job. How
can these public diplomats be expected to fully engage with an
online public when at least one hand is tied behind their back by
organizational policy and its approach to technology?
At a time when a number of bureaucracies seem to restrain
staff, there is great potential for empowerment, both in terms of
organizational culture and technology. While some are already vastly
better than others in this area, both scholars and practitioners of
Public Diplomacy could also push a lot further (myself included).
Currently, many PD engagements with bloggers are heavily
centralized, inviting others “in” rather than getting out and engaging
as a peer; leaving the safety of the officially sanctioned walled
garden still appears in many cases just a little too risky for more
than information dissemination. I argue to the contrary: not engaging
in genuine conversation in an external dispersed engagement and
merely staying where it is safe carries vastly greater risk. After all,
those prepared to “come in” to your safe space may not be those with
the opinions you need to be most worried about.
Understanding the dispersed approach and embracing it;
ultimately recognizing there are times when going to the bazaar
rather than building a cathedral has great potential. 24 Those few
practitioners already out there genuinely engaging in a network are
to be commended.
Empowering staff
Achieving greater dispersed engagement will require a culture
shift, and also empowering staff with the new tools. Once the