Personally, I had never even heard of a white paper before reading about them on the course website this week. They seem like useful tools for informing the public, assuming that the author can grab the attention of the reader.
If I understand them correctly, it seems to me as though government white papers are used to inform, whereas marketing white papers are used to persuade. After all, the objective of a business is to inform its clients in a way to maximize profit. I’m sure a company wouldn’t waste time drafting a white paper if they didn’t expect it to benefit them at all. By that logic, maybe the government uses white papers to persuade people to vote a certain way. What I don’t quite understand is whether a white paper is supposed to cover the features of a certain product or the policies related to that product. For instance, is the white paper on open source code meant to primarily inform the reader of open source exclusively, or also the policies used by other governments? Can a white paper be on a policy alone, like state auto emissions? I suppose if you were writing about auto emissions policies, it’s likely that you’d also include technical information about vehicles within that report. Overall it seems like the intent is to give the reader a document for making an informed decision, whether it be voting or buying a new product.
Furthermore, are white papers supposed to be unbiased? The white paper on open sources gives both the benefits and challenges associated with making the software transition. However, I’m not sure that a marketing business would want to shed any light on the complications that could arise from using their product. If they usually don’t, then I’d say that there is also a difference in ethical responsibility between government white papers and marketing white papers. It’s hard to make an informed decision without knowing the drawbacks of a certain product.
White Papers?
I also had not heard of white papers before reading about them this week and had the same responses after reading. While I read that the white papers were meant to inform, as I saw more of them it seemed more like they are meant to persuade. Obviously marketing white papers will persuade. What company wants to shine light on the faults of it's products or highlight the advantages of a competitor's product. But when it comes to government white papers, it doesn't seem that easy. I don't know how much collaboration is put into these documents, but most government officials have very strong viewpoints on most of the issues that may come up in a white paper. So a white paper from one of these officials would more than likely be biased and attempting to persuade other officials to vote a certain way. Again, this depends on the amount of collaboration. If there are many officials with differing viewpoints all working together, then I could see the paper informing more than it persuades.
More than just the good
According to the article "Steak behind the Sizzle", white papers provide "unbiased information and analysis regarding a business problem". While a marketing department probably wouldn't want to publish anything negative about their product they could risk credibility if they only mention the good things about their product. I would be quite upset if I was a business and I bought a product based on a white paper only to find that they failed to mention major flaws. In my opinion it's almost an ethical obligation. A proper white paper should present all the facts (good and bad) and then let the reader make the decision.
Andy
Discovery of a useful tool
Like you, discovering a useful tool this week to help inform the public without a bias opinion is great. In a government standpoint, the White paper gives the ability to help others develop their own opinion for an ideas or something else without being persuasive. Where as the marketing side will be as persuasive as possible, sometime leaving out important information. Where as in another, apersohns, he gives an example of how a government and marketing papers can be alike. This example is how marketing is trying to give out information to their staff, and for the government to be persuasive by advertising for new recruits to join the military.
Zebulon Rouse