Archive for June, 2008

Why learn to use a computer when you have PEOPLE to do that for you?

June 29, 2008 at 4:28 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

 “You don’t necessarily have to use a computer to understand how it shapes the country”

Wow. If there is one thing I have learned from this class it is that you absolutely MUST have a computer to understand how it shapes the country and the rest of the world.  How it works, how it changes the way things are communicated, how YOU communicate.  How it could influence the campaign and election process!

I think the McCain spokesperson who said that McCain was “aware of the internet” and did not need to be any more aware was really really absolutely wrong and that his statement has been some kind of turning point with many many voters. Millions of voters who use tools like email, facebook, twitter, and youtube and who understand first hand how important it is to be aware of AND ABLE TO USE the power of the internet.

Just the fact that Mark SooHoo’s very lame comment was launched into cyberspace and has gone viral/ was posted/blogged about/emailed all the way around the world in a matter of minutes should give the McCain campaign an idea of the effects of being so short-sighted.   Just being aware doesn’t mean knowing how to use a tool, how to use it to increase support, to deliver a message…to raise money.

Countless interviews and comments posted indicate that people do care that the President knows how to use the computer. For example, this Wired ON-LINE poll states that people DO care. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/06/mccain-reps-com.html

I just voted and out of 4,394 of us, 90 percent think that the President of the United States should be computer literate.

And I guess if McCain is not willing to learn, then he will have to rely on his wife or his aides to help him when it comes to using technology. I guess he just isn’t getting it.  One does hope that he does at least have a cell phone, right?

I know this isn’t the only thing that was discussed at PdF 2008, but I just can’t seem to get past it!

Some other interesting things I found interesting on the Personal Democracy Forum agenda;

  • How Wiki Government can work
  • Big fish in small bowls: How bloggers are upending local politics
  • Converting online supporters into on-the-ground volunteers

The PdF 2008 site had tons of very not McCain friendly features, things for those who could not attend and ways for attendees to share what they were learning really quickly.  I even logged on to read reviews and notes from these sessions. Very cool!

 

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User generated content and the power of the internet

June 22, 2008 at 8:10 pm · Filed under Digital Campaigning, week four

Once again I am completely overwhelmed by the power of the internet. For both good and evil. Once again it is proven that any person with the right tools and the energy to create a video or post a photo or even create an entire website can do so! And boy do they.

4 examples of voter generated content:

Looking at the zazzle stuff (www.zazzle.com) really makes me think of fund raisers in junior high and high school when we make our own iron ons for t-shirts and put pictures and stickers in buttons. People really need some sort of creative activity.

The first example is two parts: both from zazzle.com. Have you ever? Obama hub caps. And, another hysterical favorite—the Barak Obama a New Hope hoodie. Of course this is a blatant Star Wars rip off. It actually made me laugh. Come to think of it, there are lots of blatant rip offs…

Now on to youtube…it is weird how many things posted related to the candidates are actually posted by CBS or BBC or the candidates themselves. And then there are just the awful, not really funny mud flinging ads. But, this one was interesting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fd-MVU4vtU

It actually led me to other interesting pieces of voter generated content. A great example of a community that felt was in need of a forum. The you tube video actually started on a website www.amigosdeobama.com. The site’s founder was inspired by Obama, he has used the website to reach others. He wrote the song, created the video and started the website. The site was created “to fill the void in media outreach to latinos”. Amigosdeobama.com actually has quite a bit of information and even has an Obama ringtone!

Photobucket is kind of like flikr, users can share photos and video. There is a mind numbing anmout of Obama images, and some Hillary Clinton stuff here. I would say that each category has about half and half, supporters or not. http://photobucket.com/images/obama

I still can’t get over the LOL catz for Obama. Seriously.

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Scrub a dub dub, get the crazies out of the tub.

June 15, 2008 at 1:30 pm · Filed under Digital Campaigning, week three

Warning:  I have been told that the following blog entry might actually be channeling Tipper Gore.

 Scare tactics in blogs are working on me. But, not in the way they are intended. I am now disturbed by the outright lies, the very strange alien and anti-christ stories, and the views of certain hate groups being posted directly on candidates’ sites! Just like anything else you read or hear, you have to be an informed, critical consumer. Is it true that you should never just take what you read on any website as the only version of reality.

I am starting to worry about the power the internet gives to the every day nut. Apparently, so are others who are just as worried. http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/06/09/obama_site/index.html?source=rss

“A warning to all future Democratic presidential candidates: If you choose to run part of your Web site in a model similar to, say, DailyKos, and allow the general public posting privileges, some crazy people who clearly have nothing to do with your campaign will take advantage of the policy.”

This Salon story and others like it on LGF make several great points. It seems like there is a need to somehow filter or lock down certain aspects of a website? Or does this go counter to the spirit of posting and websites? It seems like the presidential candidates’ websites (especially Obama’s) are just as vulnerable to stupid people as the rest of the world wide web.
The value of the open forum and the reach of the websites must outweigh the risk that some crackpot is going to use the official website as a soapbox.

I think it is very interesting that there has been little media coverage of these nuts posting junk on the official sites.  Most of the coverage is from bloggers who are constantly monitoring these sites. The offensive materials seem to be taken down quickly when possible and most everyone who is noticing also recognizes that it is user generated content that has nothing to do with the campaign’s website.  Maybe rational minds will prevail.

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Are political blogs ever informing people or do the readers already know and believe everything they read? And, who reads these blogs anyway?

June 12, 2008 at 9:36 pm · Filed under Digital Campaigning, week two

So all this reading of political blogs has made me wonder…how many people read political blogs anyway. Apparently, quite a few. While the headline of this Harris Poll press release states in a very negative tone that “More Than Half of Americans Never Read Political Blogs”  I would say that it could go the other way and state that a large percentage of Americans DO read political blogs on a regular basis. You can read the numbers and decide for yourself. The Harris Poll was conducted at the beginning of this year tells an interesting story. And, much like everything else that shouts numbers and percentages, it is also up for interpretation.

Deciding for yourself is definitely not one of the key themes What I have seen so far in both left and right wing blogs is that they digest the “news” for their readers. The take of the story is right there, with sometimes rambling, off the top of the head, gut reaction, very biased ranting! The bloggers tell you exactly what they think about every issue they post. I guess that is the point. To tell your version of events/your take on an issue to others that believe the same as you do. Just the headlines in some of these blogs tell it all…

  • Obama: Don’t Bring the Troops Home
  • Obama Wants Higher Gas Prices

Very subtle. Gee? Who do you think this blogger is supporting?

I would guess that these political blogs rarely ever change people’s minds. That if you are visiting a site like ankle biting pundits, http://www.anklebitingpundits.com/ you know exactly what you are in for. Otherwise, you would not visit the site, you would not subject yourself to the criticism and arguments. Some of these bloggers are VERY angry and very good writers. Luckily there is enough humor woven into most of the blogs I have read recently to make it entertaining. And even more luckily, I am not easily offended.

Ha! My spell check just tried to recommend flog for blog. There has to be a joke in there somewhere!

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The role of the media in the Presidential campaigns of 1948 and 1972

June 8, 2008 at 2:01 am · Filed under Digital Campaigning, week one ·Tagged , , ,

I just finished reading The Last Campaign: How Harry Truman won the 1948 Election by Zachary Karabell (Knopf 2000) and The Boys on the Bus by Timothy Crouse (Random House 2003). (Can this first sentence double as a twitter entry?)

Some differences and similarities related to the press coverage/involvement:

Differences

  • The 1948 campaign was the last campaign that did not rely heavily on television to reach the public. While television was used (events and speeches were televised) television was not used as heavily as it was from that election forward. Most of the campaigning was done with whistle stop speeches and back room meetings and little effort was put into image and how the candidate’s rough edges would come across. From this point forward, a television image would be cultivated by each candidate. Even Nixon made an effort and tried to soften his image and be less direct while on television.
  • One of the things I found most interesting from the 1948 campaign was the fact that because the polls indicated that President Truman was losing, the press also believed that he was going to lose. According to The Last Campaign, the polling data showed that President Truman did not have support, so the press discounted things that indicated otherwise. They did not take it seriously when the crowds were larger than expected. In future elections, the press would be more skeptical of the polls and other sources.
  • While there were a select group of reporters and journalists following the 1948 campaign, in 1972 the entire presidential campaign process was covered in detail by a dedicated troop of reporters who followed the candidates around and gave daily updates on the campaign trail. While some of the information reported may have been watered down a little or even repetitive (due to things like pack journalism and the fear of wandering too far from what the AP was printing) it was still much more information than the general public was used to getting about the presidential campaigns.

    • Similarities

  • Pseudo-personal relationships were built and exploited with the press around the candidates. In both campaigns there were journalists close to the candidates almost all the time. These journalists were fed their stories from the press secretary, but they also had the opportunity to see first hand the way a candidate handled the day-to-day pressures of the whole process. While we all know that journalists are supposed to be objective and report in a neutral way, they are also human. What they felt about the candidates personally came through in what they wrote (and what they did not). However, even with all the intense exposure to the candidates, in both books, the authors make points about reporters complaining that they felt they only had a superficial understanding of what type of person each candidate was, really.
  • Reporters considered themselves an integral part of the entire process, they were the link from the candidates, the real issues and the general public. Their jobs served an important function that enabled the public to make very important decisions.

    • Having little knowledge of the presidential campaigns of 1948 or 1972, reading these two books (especially during the presidential campaign going on right now) was fascinating! I wish I had read them sooner.

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