Bad Metaphor
Tom Friedman says the internet is the dial tone of the 21st Century. Really? To me, “dial tone” conjures up images of one-to-one conversations over a dedicated line. But the internet is an omni conversational dynamic platform. One-to-one, sure, but also one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many conversations are also possible. So the use of such a round world metaphor as a dial tone by Mr. Friedman seems most inappropriate.
This has been another instant reflection brought to you from the Personal Democracy Forum by DrDigiPol. 
Steal This Presentation
Larry Lessig kicks off the Personal Democracy Forum today. his ultra slick slide show and presentation on the incongruities between tight copyright controls and journalism. we have to ensure our rights to use news footage from news networks in our reporting on politics and how the media covers politcs.
It was a great presentation I would love to steal it.
Iraq the Casbah, Part Deux
(Iraq the Casbah, Part Un can be found here)
The shareef dont like it. And apparently neither does the DoD. In a ruling that conjures up shades of the Ayatollah Khomeni’s edicts outlawing rock and roll music in Iran, the Department of Defense has banned soldiers in Iraq from accessing MTV.com and Pandora.com, along with a host of other social network and video sharing websites.
Are they trying to contain the leaking of classified information or the leaking of politically damaging information?
And why block Pandora? Pandora is this cool site that builds song playlists based on the user providing one of their favorite songs. Pandora uses that song to assemble a stream of songs that the user would likely enjoy.
Is that either politically or militarily sensitive? Nope!
And while the DoD has blocked access to MySpace, Facebook, Orku, and a host of other online social networks are not off limits. Huh?
This move seems to be more about blocking soldiers from letting off steam by firting, viewing silly videos, and connecting with people away from the battlefield than about plugging leaks.
I am reminded of a letter sent to a newspaper in Sydney, Australia during the Monica Lewinsky affair. It read, “Thank god we got the criminals and the Americans got the Puritans.”
Is that what this is about?
Because it seems that, like the Ayatollah before, the DoD is trying to purge naughty behaviors out of its soldiers… hmmm… maybe this is a delayed response to Abu Ghraib?
Well, check out the story in the Washington Post and see if you can figure it out.
Iraq the Casbah: US Military to Clampdown on Journalists and Bloggers in Iraq
In celebration of World Press Freedom Day yesterday, the Bush Administration has made two policy decisions regarding media coverage of the Iraq war that fly squarely in the face of a free press. First, new military rules require soldiers to clear all content with superiors before posting them to their blogs and this rule may be applied to email, as well. Second, the Army’s 1st Information Operations Command new handbook lists journalists alongside al Qaeda as a threat. Add to these the fact that the US continues to hold two photojournalists prisoner without charge and we begin to see a picture of an Administration that is aggressively assaulting our rights to a free press.
Is Web 2.0 Not Catching On?
A new study reported on MSNBC yesterday, Participation on Web 2.0 sites remains weak, makes the claim that Web 2.0 is not really taking off becuase the contribution rates on YouTube and Flickr are incredibly small. Most of us are voyeurs, rather than contributors.
The study, conducted by Hitwise, I believe misses the mark on several levels. First, and foremost, Web 2.0 is not just about contributing content, it is about sharing content. And sharing requires a contributor and a viewer. So the fact that most of us only view so-called Web 2.0 sites does not mean those people are not an integral part of the Web 2.0 world.
Study Shows Better Campaign Websites Yield Better Fundraising
This is a press release from Bentley College regarding a study by Christine Williams and Jeff Gulati:
Media Contact:
Carrie Izard Richardson
781.891.2755
crichardson@bentley.edu
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 18, 2007
Bentley College Political Science Professors Examine
2008 Presidential Candidates’ Websites
Most Innovative Sites appear to be Catalyst for More
Campaign Contributions
Waltham, Mass. – A Bentley College study has found that the current field of presidential candidates who have the “most comprehensive and innovative websites” have also raised the most money, according to Bentley Political Science professors Christine B. Williams and Jeff Gulati, who have just completed an initial and general analysis of the nine Democratic and 11 Republican presidential candidates’ websites. The two professors did a similar analysis of the 2006 and previous years’ Congressional campaign sites.
While the candidates who raised the most money in the first quarter are also the ones who currently have the “most creative” websites, it’s important to note that more Democratic than Republican candidates have fully developed websites, according to Williams and Gulati. To date, 20 candidates have declared their candidacy for president or established exploratory committees and launched official campaign websites.
“The surprise is not the bare bones, undeveloped sites, but the depth and sophistication of so many sites this early in the campaign,” says Williams. “And these presidential candidates’ websites are much more interactive than the Congressional sites we studied in 2006.”
So far the sites are primarily about promoting the candidates and collecting donations and contact information, according to Williams. Only three candidates — Senator Barack Obama, Senator John McCain, and former talk radio host John Cox — provide a voter registration link.
Some website innovations introduced in the 2004 presidential election have become commonplace, according to Williams and Gulati, while others have yet to catch on. For example:
• Sixteen of the 20 candidates have a blog and nearly all allow visitor posts.
• Fifteen of the candidates link to one and usually several social networks; two without links allow visitors to join a social network on the candidate’s own site.
• Thirteen of the candidates provide message boxes for entering a custom or prepared message to e-mail friends encouraging their support or contributions; a few allow the sender to track their responses.
• Six candidates currently offer RSS feeds.
• Five candidates have used splash pages as introductory covers before entering their sites.
In contrast to how most candidates managed their blogs in 2004 and 2006, current blogs are more open and participatory, say the professors.
But there still remains a huge variation in how the blogs work, their level of organization, and how active they are in terms of the number of posts and comments, says Williams.
Some sites tell you who is currently online while others list or link to a blog roll (recommended independent, i.e., off-site, bloggers). Former Senator John Edwards and Representative Dennis Kucinich even have a “Help” section to explain new technologies and how to use them.
“As the campaign progresses, however, and the comments of staff or supporters attract more scrutiny, it will be interesting to see how campaigns exert control over the messages and messengers on their blogs,” says Gulati.
Some candidates offer unique features on their websites. For example:
• Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani offers state-by-state talk radio station information.
• Former Senator Mike Gravel offers an e-poll.
• Senator Christopher Dodd offers a chance to create your own audio testimonial.
• Retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark, and Representative Duncan Hunter offer podcasts.
• Senator John McCain had a contest (Basketball Bracket) to pick winners for prizes.
Traditional web content often gets a new twist on some sites. While every site solicits contributions, some tally the total number and dollar amounts of contributions. Senator McCain lists the supporters who have raised the most by name and amount while Senator Clinton has viewers set up an account to get credit for contributions, tracking how much they’ve raised. Event finders (by zip code, state or region) help visitors locate campaign venues quickly, and many sites facilitate creating or hosting events.
In addition, there is more video content, often on the homepage and in some cases initiated automatically without being selected or clicked to open. Websites are packaging short clips from multiple sources, not just news reel footage. There are interviews from television shows such as The Daily Show, The Tonight Show, and The O’Reilly Factor, as well as the major news networks. YouTube videos supplement the candidate’s own coverage of campaign events; Senator Barack Obama even invites viewers to send in their photos and videos from the campaign trail.
Some of the candidates’ websites have invested a great deal of space promoting a particular feature. For example:
• Senator Hillary Clinton promotes signing petitions (currently, on the war in Iraq and regarding Attorney General Alberto Gonzales), although others use this feature as well.
• Former Senator John Edwards has an extensive blog, including live chats, and organized by groups in each state.
• Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain have provided extensive tools to create a social network on their sites.
• Senator Joe Biden (endingthewar.com; planforIraq.com; headtohead08.com) and retired U.S. Army General and potential presidential candidate Wesley Clark (stopIranwar.com) sponsor and promote issue sites at independent URL addresses.
• Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has extensive video clips, organized by topic with play times.
Professors Williams and Gulati will update their findings on the presidential candidates’ websites over the course of the campaign.
Bentley is a national leader in business education. Centered on education and research in business and related professions, Bentley blends the breadth and technological strength of a university with the values and student focus of a small college. Our undergraduate curriculum combines business study with a strong foundation in the arts and sciences. A broad array of offerings at the McCallum Graduate School emphasize the impact of technology on business practice, including MBA and Master of Science programs, PhD programs in accountancy and in business, and selected executive programs. Enrolling approximately 4,000 full-time undergraduate, 250 adult part-time undergraduate, and 1,270 graduate students, Bentley is located in Waltham, Mass., minutes west of Boston.
Blackberry Down
Blackberry service provider, Research in Motion (RIM), is having nationwide network outages. Millions of Blackberry owners cannot send or receive email. RIM is trying to get things back up today, but cannot provide a timeline.
So those of you working from the beach, go in for a swim.
Case for Email Archiving
We were very excited to provide more insight into Karl Rove’s role in the firings of the eight federal prosecutors, but we have apparently lost the emails containing those insights. They were last seen being carried off from the RNC mail server by an AI named Wintermute. Rumor has it that Wintermute has been working with the Bush Administration to ensure that official communications exchanged via unofficial email addresses were not available for investigators to review as they try to detail the extent to which Mr. Rove is politicizing every aspect of the Executive Branch in order to shore up a perpetual Republican majority. It seems Rove might no longer be confident that the Iraq War will serve this role in securing the President and his Party’s legacy. The Democrats would be well-served to call in their own cowboy to dig to the bottom of this technical and legal faux pas.
