Carson, California-America Votes 2008-Live from the Field

Voting line in Carson, California on election day Tuesday November 4, 2008 at approx. 10 am Pacific Time. Yes We Can!
Hat tip to Amber for the photo!

The role of Social Media and Web 2.0 in the 2008 Elections

In the 21 months since Senator Barrack Obama has been campaigning to become the next US President,much has been said about his campaigns web prowess. In the beginning his campaigns seamless combination of grassroots methods and internet tools got a lot of comparisons to current DNC Chairman Howard Dean, who ran for US President in 2004.

But I think that one of the things that has changed since then is the fluid merger that occurs on a daily basis between web 2.0 tools and the ordinary daily communication rituals of so many Americans and folks around the globe. I mean, it used to be that if you witnessed a newsworthy event, the next thing you did was get on the phone to try to contact someone from the local media to see if they were interested in doing a story. From there you went to your friends to drum up some buzz with them, as they passed the story around. And if you were really lucky the reporter that you contacted would have gotten back to you to do a story and after the story was run it promptly dropped off of the radar. But more than likely the final stop for your story was your friends. Do you remember those days? It was not so long ago and in fact, in 2004 when Howard Dean ran for President things were just beginning to shift from this old paradigm.

But today the ordinary passer by has more access to worldwide communication channels than ever before through tools like: Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Shozu, Now Public, and the list just keeps growing by the day. If you happen to capture on your cell phone either a photo, a video, or even just a short eyewiteness account of a newsworthy event and use any of the Web 2.0 channels that I just mentioned your message can instantly be seen or heard by millions within a few minutes or hours. This is what not only Senator Obama has been tapping into, but even the voters ourselves are doing it too.

So this piece is actually about an email that I received today that pointed to an article written by Simon Owens referencing several Web 2.0 citizens media/social media tools that are already in heavy use in this election-as we speak. In Simon's PBS Media Shift article entitled, "Citizens, Media Use Social Media to Monitor Election" he mentions several tools that you can use from the field to let the world know (in realtime) about your experiences at the polls. Here are the one's that Simon mentions:

• Video Your Vote
  

• Twitter Voter Report
  

• Video the Vote
  

Additionally, Simon also spoke with the creator of the Voter Suppression Wiki-Mr. Baratunde Thurston who is also Co-Founder of Jack and Jill Politics. Here is an excerpt that goes into more detail:

"Though many of these tools will be utilized in locating instances of election problems, Voter Suppression Wiki was created almost exclusively for that purpose. Baratunde Thurston, co-founder of the blog Jack and Jill Politics, came up with the idea after brainstorming with a number of bloggers and activists. (Another wiki, Election Protection, employs similar tools). Using the Wetpaint platform, Thurston hopes to tackle voter suppression in three parts.

"One is to define what voter suppression is," he said. "Whether it's false information, voter ID intimidation, allegations of fraud. And then we want to start tracking and reporting incidents of voter suppression; we have this form we put up where you enter where this happened, how many voters were affected, in what county did it occur. But most importantly was action. How to actually prevent or limit the amount of suppression."

Most of the battle in fighting voter suppression, Thurston argued, is empowering the voter before he or she heads to the polls. To that effect he's using the website to help promote a number of election protection phone numbers and resources. Thurston said that he hopes that the wiki can be used in real time; analyzing the data after the election can be useful in record keeping, but without quick and efficient action it will do little to protect the integrity of the election.

I asked Thurston about the nature of these election tools and whether they represent a new step in the utilization of online media in politics. In an election year when Barack Obama has been labeled by some to potentially be the "first Internet president" (much in the same way that FDR was the first radio president, and JFK was the first television president), have citizens created a new level of interactive politics?

"The long answer is that this effort, this project -- the Twitter project, the video project, and more -- are a kind of a next step in the evolution of online political participation," he replied. "Initially what you'd see on the web is a lot of opinion. 'I have a thought, I have an idea.' 'I disagree strongly with this policy.' Then you saw Howard Dean tap into donations, and now with Obama tapping into that as well -- the concept of the web as being a kind of ATM machine. But what we see now is collaboration and constructive confrontation."

I hope that you find this information useful. Oh...I just got some more info from Simon, here is another really handy election tool-http://www.anorangeamerica.com/-It aggregates tweets like Twitter Vote Report, but it creates a more abstract visualization of the aggregate conversation on Twitter showing frequency and context of election-related words.

Otherwise, my message to you is simple-please get out and vote or help someone to do it. And please also remember that if you see something fishy today, while out voting-do not just be silent about it. Please use one of the tools in this article to let people know about it. Thank you!

US Elections 2008: Joe Klein's analysis of the second Obama and Mccain debate

Here is an excerpt from Joe Klein that I think represents a strong synopsis of what happened in today's presidential debate.

Excerpt:

"1. My guess is "that one" will be the moment remembered from this one. Why? Because it can be used as shorthand for the overwhelming mood of the evening. There was deep tension between the two men. McCain appeared to hold Obama in low regard. Obama appeared to treat McCain like a disruptive student in his law school class. The teacher acknowledged the dissenter, explained why he was wrong, and moved on.

2. McCain is famous for his performance in town halls, but this was not a town hall, at least not one in the way that McCain likes. For one thing, no one laughed at McCain's bad jokes. And there was no give-and-take with the audience or the moderator. Furthermore, McCain's intent in this debate was the opposite of his intent in a New Hampshire church basement. In the classic McCain town hall, differences of opinion are expressed, and McCain works to build a conversation, so that everyone develops respect for him and each other, even if there is disagreement. In this debate, McCain was trying to convince voters and the audience that Obama was not worthy. So there was a stilted element to the affair. Finally, the key to the classic McCain town hall is that McCain is having fun. He did not appear to be having fun tonight. Obama, meanwhile, did not seem interested in having fun. He was there to make his case, and he did it clearly."

US Elections 08: America I'm sorry but somebody must be confused

A few minutes ago I got a really cool email from an Obama supporter. Unfortunately, I don't know who to credit or who wrote it, but I'm sorry this one is just so timely and representative of my own personal thoughts and questions on the presidential election coverage that I just couldn't resist sharing it with you...

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

• If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."

• Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, a quintessential American story.

• If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

• Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

• Graduate from Harvard law School you are unstable.

• Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

• If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring or co-sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

• If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

• If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.

• If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

• If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

• If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.

• If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.

• If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now.

by anonymous author