April 24, 2007
Real-Time Presidential Debate Online
Three Major Web sites - Yahoo, Slate and The Huffington Post - have announced that they will collectively host two online Presidential debates this year.
Although no specific date has been set, the debates will take place around Labor Day, both for the Democratic and for the Republican candidates. The debates will be moderated by PBS's Charlie Rose. The online audience will be allowed to ask candidates questions and participate in the debate in real-time.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean will make the introductory remarks at the start of the Democratic debate. No announcement has been made yet about an introducion for the Republican debate.
Host Charlie Rose said, "We intend for these debates to be a groundbreaking mix of old and new traditions in politics," adding that, "2008 will be a momentous year for the electoral process in America, thanks in large part to technology and politics connecting like never before. I am proud to host the first ever online only debate, which will reach and engage the voting audience in a whole new way."
Posted by Buzz Webster at 04:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 18, 2007
"Today, We Are All Hokies."
Since Monday, there has been a nonstop flood of postings on social networking sites addressing the tragedy that occurred at Virginia Tech.
Social networking sites have played a major role in this catastrophe, linking members up with information, hotline numbers and the latest news stories. The sites have been an outlet for debate, condolences and prayer. Several groups on the sites have coordinated a "day of remembrance," encouraging students all over the country to wear VT's school colors of maroon and orange on Friday.
The most active social network has been Facebook. Over 500 groups have been created as a tribute to the tragedy. The largest group, "A Tribute to Those Who Passed at the Virginia Tech Shooting," has over 240,000 members. It hosts links to YouTube videos, the latest news articles and over 1,800 images that students can post as their profile picture. There are over 900 discussion threads being updated by the second.
All over the nation and all over the Web people are expressing their grief. Virginia Tech's MySpace profile has received over 2,800 comments. Over 500 videos have been posted to YouTube, including shots of TV news, commentary, songs and even animations. The site has also become the setting for an impromptu debate about gun control laws.
The use of social networking sites in this tragedy show how the use of technology has changed even since the attacks of September 11, 2001. Then, many people used e-mail to reach out to family and try to learn about the situation in
Technology Becomes Coping Mechanism
Students Turn to Social Networking Sites For Info
"If You're OK Please Update Your Profile"
A Tribute to Those who Passed at The Virginia Tech Shooting
Posted by Buzz Webster at 05:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 13, 2007
YouTube Spotlight: Mitt Romney
As part of its "You Choose '08" channel, You Tube will be spotlighting a different candidate each week with a video asking for user responses.
In the past, “people interacted with candidates through the televisions sets in their living rooms,” said Steve Grove, the head of news and politics for YouTube. The site has “flipped the dial,” he said, by letting voters send video to the candidates.
The first spotlight candidate is Mitt Romney, former Republican Governor of Massachusetts. His 65 second long video asks "What do you believe is America’s greatest challenge, and what would you do to address it?” For a full week users have the opportunity to post their input on Romney's question. Those who do, there are 37 at the time of this posting, must be approved by the campaign. But no fear, those responses that aren't approved are still available under Related Content.
So far the responses range from 20 seconds to 10 minutes reaching issues such as immigration, healthcare, education, fossil fuels and much more. In addition to the video responses over 700 text comments have been posted.
Eleven other candidates from both parties have agreed to participate in the YouTube spotlight over the coming weeks. Stay tuned we'll be sure to cover them all.
What Do You Believe Is America's Single Greatest Challenge?
YouBe the Talking Head
Posted by Buzz Webster at 04:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 11, 2007
(Prerecorded) E-Bate: Shaky First Steps
MoveOn.org hosted the first of three virtual town hall meetings, leaving us to ask; where is this first foray into digital debate headed?
On April 11, MoveOn.org, a progressive public policy organization, assured its place in the history books by hosting the first nationwide virtual-town-hall (E-Bate?). The topic of the debate was the War in Iraq, and the guest list included seven Democratic presidential candidates.
Shortly before the event, at around 6:30 pm, there were 1,100 registered places where the discussion could be viewed. Upon searching for gatherings in the Charleston area and finding only one, it became clear that I was going to have to “host” my own last-minute event, in order to take part. After a five minute registration process, I had access to the feed, and at around 7:00 pm, a droning voice began to sing repeatedly, “dum dum dum move on, move on,” as little dots appeared on a map of the US, indicating where people were listening (See Picture). I was intrigued.
Yet as soon as the ‘discussion’ began, it was clear that all of the potential of the new Web 2.0 technologies, in terms of providing a new forum for more participatory two-way communication with the public, would not be realized here. Indeed, the responses from the candidates were comprised primarily of the same prerecorded, poll-tested, pre-formulated snippets from their stump speeches. This seems to fly in the face of what a town hall meeting is arguably supposed to be. The question/answer session was not live, thus providing little insight into how the candidates think on their feet when responding to public questioning.
Additionally, the Virtual Town Hall was promoted as something ground-breaking. According to a Boston Globe news report, it promised to be “the largest and most ambitious experiment yet in harnessing the power of Internet technology to reshape participatory democracy,” but this is only half accurate at most. On one hand, questions were asked and selected by MoveOn.org members, thus involving upwards of 10,000 people. On the other hand, however, the nature of the candidates’ responses did not change significantly from what people are accustomed to hearing.
Still, from a technology point-of-view, this is highly innovative and full of potential for both candidates and constituents. These technologies provide a more effective, potentially more interactive, connection between voter and candidate. If utilized in a fashion that is more conducive to a live discussion, candidates could enter into actual conversations with voters on a national level. Yet, if used as another forum for delivering prepackaged responses, these new virtual debate technologies are not realizing their full potential. Although this town hall was truly innovative and almost flawlessly executed, it may be leading digital debate away from the interactivity that Web 2.0 enables.
Links:
Campaigning Gets a new Web Version
Highlights from the event
E-politics first
Posted by Buzz Webster at 01:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 06, 2007
Gingrich: In Spanish and On YouTube
Newt Gingrich former Speaker of the House and potential 2008 presidential candidate posted two videos to YouTube apologizing to the Latino community.
Gingrich said in a speech Saturday that English should be the official language of the government and immersion should replace bilingual education. He told the National Federation of Republican Women that this was necessary "so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto."
The comments have been a buzz in the blogosphere where popular Web sites such as Latin Americanist, Latino Pundit and Vivir Latino, US Latino life in blog form, read headlines such as "Newt - Not Ghetto Fabulous."
In his video Gingrich says that his comments are not an attack on the Spanish language and he has never believed Spanish to be a language of people of low income, but he also reiterates his previous sentiment about immersion in the language.
Gingrich posted two videos. The English version of "A Message From Newt Gingrich" runs about two minutes. The Spanish adaptation, well rehearsed and coached, is subtitled in English and takes about a minute longer.
Gingrich says, in closing, that he hopes that you will accept this communication that he is offering from a "sincere heart." So far the "apology" has been viewed about 65,000 times in Spanish and 3,700 times in English.
Newt Gingrich Tries To Translate His Remarks on YouTube
Gingrich's Spanish 'Labored and Not Fluid
En Espanol and on YouTube
Posted by Buzz Webster at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 04, 2007
MySpace To Hold Virtual Election
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MySpace, the world's largest online social networking site, announced this week that it will host a 2008 virtual primary.
The poll will be open the first two days of January 2008, just prior to the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire primary. The poll will be open to the site's US based users with special attention on encouraging the sites users 18 years of age or older to register to vote in their home-state elections through the site's online voter registration tool.
According to statistics from Internet industry tracker comScore Media Metrics, 85 percent of the nearly 65 million US residents that visit MySpace monthly are at least 18 years old, legal voting age.
Nielson//NetRatings reports that the Web site's members who are 18 years of age or older are nearly three times more likely than average Web users to interact online with a public official or candidate, 42 percent more likely to view online video relating to politics or public affairs, 35 percent more likely to research politics and campaign information online, and 44 percent more likely to listen to online audio/radio related to politics/public affairs.
Whether this online activism and virtual voting will translate to votes on Election Day remains to be seen, but it's certainly a good start.
"Iowa and New Hampshire may be selecting delegates, but the MySpace vote will be the first test of where candidates stand in the election year," Tom Anderson, MySpace president, said.
Before New Hampshire, Candidates Must Face MySpace
MySpace Plans Web Presidential Vote
Posted by Buzz Webster at 02:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
