Digital Dictatorship: The Myth of Techno-Utopia

On Saturday The Wall Street Journal ran this article on how the Internet can be an effective tool in squashing freedom. It's relevant to several of your paper topics.

"How Obama Really Did It"

"The social-networking strategy that took an obscure senator to the doors of the white house"

“How Obama Really Did It” is a relevant illustration of how journalism has shifted due to the emergence of network journalism. This article demonstrated the ability that social-networking strategies played within the 2008 election. The web site www.my.barakobama.com created in interactive network amongst the Obama supporters and created an online community that continued to expand throughout the election process. What I was able to draw from this article was the fact that the use of online tools such as, blogs, videos, and chats, dominated the election because, the Internet is now a medium used by a wide range of demographics.

I found it interesting that Obama begun to use the resources of the Internet early on during his campaign while his opponents had a difficult time catching up. Hilary Clinton and John McCain focused on the older generations and Obama targeted people of all ages and communicated with them based on their preferred communication channels. The article stated that “ the world is now caught up with the technology,” and Obama exhibited this by sending his supporters information by text messages, blogs, e-mails and other various resources. By doing this, it enabled many people to volunteer for his campaign that not only donated millions of dollars to the campaign, but also created viral support based on different communication channels. A clear demonstration of this is the viral YouTube video “Crush on Obama” by Obama Girl, that has been viewed almost 17 million times since the election. Obama girl received national attention and even has her own web site Obamagirl.com—therefore, drawing attention to Barrak Obama himself.

The article brought up an interesting idea when it spoke about Hilary Cliton’s role within social networks. Since Clinton did not take full advantage of online social networks, she relied on conventional campaign tactics, portraying the fact that she did not need online support and she could fund-raise money and support by herself. This is interesting because Cliton’s strategies play off of older media tactics, the idea of a one-way communication channel: Clinton spoke to her supporters and received a response through donations. On the other hand, Obama spoke to his supporters through different channels and the channels communicated to other people, creating a community. The community then helped raise support and donations for his campaign—no longer making it speaker and audience related, but more of a team effort. I believe that because Obama embraced online social networking, this was one of the main reasons he won the campaign. Communication outlets have shifted and during the 2008 election it was crucial that the candidates recognized this change and used it to their advantage.

After winning the campaign, www.my.barackobama.com focuses on current political topics with the help of blogs and videos. The supporters are able to express concern or praise for policies and this allows a more personal network for Obama and his supporters.

Link: Social Networking and the 2008 Election

Questions:

1.) The article states that McCain attempted to use network socializing through his daughter’s “bloggette” to attract younger supporters. Why was this not as successful as Obama’s online tools?

2.) In your opinion, what created the large number of interactive volunteers and supporters during the 2008 election and how did this election differ from past elections?

3.) The media has consistently focused on politician’s private issues rather than political. Blogs and online articles have enabled the public to gain a larger role within journalism; therefore, do you think the public has more knowledge of political issues today than what is framed by the media?

4.) How has MyBO had a negative effect on Obama? What are some examples?

Paper-writing: guiding questions

WHAT?: Is your main claim about your specific networked journalism product?

HOW?: Does your research support this claim or provide evidence for it?

WHY?: Is it important to make this claim? Why is your claim relevant?

Revised last few weeks

Here is a revised schedule for the rest of the quarter. I added a day of presentations so we won't be rushed. Also see the below post. We'll talk about fair use in class before then. I hope you all can make it. I PROMISE it will be more entertaining than the broadband panel I made you come to!

Week 8
Tuesday Feb 23 New New Media Landscape
Beckett Intro and Chapter 1
Review of Beckett
Leader Joshua
Respondent Alex

New New Media landscape cont.
Beckett Chapter 2
Leader Elizabeth
Respondent Bianca

Thursday Feb 25 Networked Journalism and Politics: How Obama Won
Beckett Chapter 3
David Talbot, How Obama Really Did It! (I'll email it to the class.)
Leader Alyssa
Respondent Jenna

Networked Journalism and the Political:The French Riots and Networked Global Media
Beckett Chapter 4
Leader Riley
Respondent Elizabeth

Week 9
Mar 2 The Future of News
Beckett Chapter 5
Leader Jenna
Respondent Alyssa
Shirky, Clay Thinking the Unthinkable
Leader Kacey
Respondent Nate


Mar 4 Presentations

Week 10
Mar 9 Presentations

Wireside Chat with Lessig 2/25 (Derigan, Chris, and Laleh too): Come if you can!!

Denver Open Media and DU's Digital Media Studies program are hosting a Wireside Chat with Lawrence Lessig, and a live panel discussion on fair use, February 25 starting at 4.

What: Live Webcast or "Wireside Chat" from Harvard's Berkman Center with Lawrence Lessig - http://openvideoalliance.org/event/lessig/ and live local broadcast panel on digital media and fair use with Chris Coleman, Laleh Mehran, Derigan Sliver and Jonny 5 of the Flobots.

When: February 25. Lessig's talk starts at 4pm. Then panel starts at 5:30.

Where: Denver Open Media, 700 Kalamath

All are invited. See details below. Hope to see you there.


The Talk

The lecture by Lawrence Lessig will last 45 minutes, and will be
followed by a 30 minute interactive Q & A session. The event will be
moderated by Elizabeth Stark of the Open Video Alliance. Questions can
be submitted using the hashtag #wireside.

This is a talk about copyright in a digital age, and the role (and
importance) of a doctrine like “fair use.” Fair use allows limited use
of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights
holders, and is essential for commentary, criticism, news reporting,
remix, research, teaching and scholarship with video.

The Panel

Chris Coleman is a digital artist and educator at DU who uses numerous
technological tools to share ideas. He has been teaching Processing
for three years to Undergraduate and Graduate students and presented
his research on the topic of "Interfacing GOOD Information" at the
FlashBelt conference in Minneapolis. The research dealt with inviting
people to experience information about the good being done in the
world (like work on sustainable energy solutions) both visually and
spatially. His work has been showcased in museums, galleries and
festivals in nearly 20 countries, and one of his software tools
(maxuino) has been downloaded 4000 times by people in 58 countries.

Laleh Mehran’s creative research and pedagogy explore digital video as
a tool to inspire critical discourse. Mehran has been teaching digital
video production for over a decade and has recently introduced High
Definition video into the classroom. Her video work has been exhibited
nationally and internationally at venues such as the European Media
Arts Festival in Osnabruck, Germany; Ponte Futura in Cortona Itlay;
the Orlo Video Festival in Portland, Oregon; the Carnegie Museum of
Art, and The Andy Warhol Museum. Mehran is an Associate Professor and
Graduate Director of the Electronic Media Arts Design program at the
University of Denver.

Jonny 5 is a writer, educator, and former high-school counselor,
better known as the lead-MC and founding member of the Flobots.
Currently signed to a multi-record deal with Universal Republic, the
Flobots' third album, Survival Story, will be released in March, 2010.
While the songs and videos released by Universal have tight copyright
restrictions, Jamie has also participated in a number of alternative
projects, including his current "Rhyme of the Day" effort to share a
new rap/verse every single day of 2010 on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/flobot5

Derigan Silver is an assistant professor in the Department of Media,
Film and Journalism Studies at the University of Denver. He teaches
courses on First Amendment law, media law, and Internet law and
regulation. He is the author of several book chapters and journal
articles, and his new book, National Security in the Courts: The
Requirements of Transparency vs. the Need for Secrecy, will be coming
out later this year.

1/3 of Americans Do Not Use the Internet

Here is another interesting article I found.  Its really short with mostly statistics, but I thought it was pertinent to our class discussions.  Click Here

Buzz about the Buzz

Here is that article I was talking about in class today about Google Buzz.  Click Here