Archive: Year: 2012

"We think of [the Internet] as something like an abandoned mad scientist’s laboratory, in which various experiments in cognitive processing have been left to fizz and overflow together. Some of these experiments are turning into monsters, others unviable chimeras, others yet interesting hybrids." --Henry Farrell, parsing "The Politics of Open Data" on Crooked Timber....

Yesterday, the New Organizing Institute, a progressive training center, published a 210-page manual titled, "Campaigning to Engage and Win: A Guide to Leading Electoral Campaigns." Written by and for campaigners at every level of politics, it is also the Obama 2012 field strategy, hidden in plain view. Indeed, of the 40 people listed as advising NOI on the manual, at least ten of them, including Jeremy Bird and Marlon Marshall, the national field director and deputy national field director of Obama 2012, have played important roles in Obama's political operation since his first run for the presidency.* Joy Cushman, the manual's editor and NOI's organizing director, worked closely with Bird on the 2008 field effort in South Carolina. That was...

Yesterday, I had the privilege of talking with Genevieve Williams and David Burton, two of the three authors of "The Use of Social Media for Disaster Recovery," a 32-page guide built on the experiences they (and their co-author Rebecca Williams) had in the wake of the powerful and destructive tornados that hit Joplin, Missouri, just over a year ago. Less than two hours after the tornados hit, Williams used her iPhone to set up Joplin Tornado Info, as a Facebook page and soon thereafter as a companion website. The sites went viral quickly as they began collecting and sharing vital information about needs, resources, transportation, storage and dispersal of aid. Within days, the Facebook page had 49,000 fans and dozens of...

It's been three hours since the Supreme Court's momentous decision upholding the Affordable Care Act, and while both presidential contenders have made public statements, their websites are not on equal footing. It's interesting to note that BarackObama.com has yet to reflect the news, while MittRomney.com has already pivoted to respond to it. Here's what the two campaign home pages look like now: And the Obama blog, which is where you'd expect at least a pointer to the President's just-concluded live speech from the White House, is still leading with campaign manager Jim Messina's post from early this morning, saying, "We don't know what will happen this morning." UPDATE: By 5pm ET, the Obama website had a new message up on its landing...

It's a sad, sad day for America's "greatest news team." Just minutes ago, in the rush to report the breaking news from the Supreme Court, CNN's John King breathlessly told Wolf Blitzer that the court had struck down the individual mandate at the center of the health care reform law, calling it a "huge blow" to President Obama. And, as captured by Josh Nelson, from 10:11am to 10:18am, CNN.com had this pre-written headline and story up on its home page. Meanwhile, at 10:08, Amy Howe of SCOTUSblog had already written, "The individual mandate survives as a tax." Just in case anyone blames Twitter or new media bloggers for the mistakes in coverage, let the record show who got it right...

Wonderful news Romney in a landslide? Hell no You know it, I know it Dinner with the Obamas Fly out to meet us Before the polls open We're getting outspent Take this seriously Cat's out of the bag I will be outspent Sad to say --B.H. Obama It's only the beginning Want a seat? Your chance See for yourself This Saturday only! Road trip with Mitt I'll save you a seat Small towns What a ride Want a seat Ride along Kick off your week --W.M. Romney [All genuine subject lines from June 7 to present.]...

It's summer, and that means we may be in for another round of freaky weather extremes. Hopefully that won't include the city of Joplin, Missouri, which was hit by an extremely powerful tornado a little more than a year ago, on May 22, 2011. Natural disasters test us, and while the personal and financial losses may be severe, in the aftermath communities often discover hidden resources that enable them to rally and emerge stronger. In an age of ubiquitous social media then, it isn't surprising then that less than two hours after Joplin was hit, killing 160 people and destroying more than 7,000 homes, volunteers created the Joplin Tornado Info website and Facebook pages and started collecting and sharing information...

It's the "'meh'-ing" of the president, says Roger Simon. "The 2012 campaign is the smallest ever," says another headline in Politico. All over the political landscape, signs abound of a dismal political season. No one seems to want to read stories about Mitt Romney, Buzzfeed reports, noting that online traffic to a variety of political websites from the conservative Daily Caller to the center-liberal Atlantic to their own buzz-machine is a tenth of the attention flowing to stories about President Obama. And lest lefties take heart in that factoid, consider the results of a straw poll taken earlier this week at the Take Back the American Dream conference, where half the progressive leaders in attendance said they were "less enthusiastic"...

It's been a year It's only the beginning Want a seat? Not doing fine Your chance See for yourself This Saturday only! It's here --W.M. Romney In the aftermath of yesterday's news Meet me for dinner Go ahead, keep waiting Here's a twist A pretty cool dad Not you --B.H. Obama...

Tuesday morning at PDF12, there were five quick keynote talks in a row that could serve as a 50-minute primer on the radical power of the Internet public to change the world, why it's so important to nurture that public, where some of the threats to the Internet are coming from, and how people are routing around them to build a future "intranet" that might well stand free from governmental and corporate control. They were, in order, from Chris Soghoian, Dave Parry, Peter Fein, Sascha Meinrath and Deanna Zandt. You can watch them in order below. Soghoian kicked things off by explaining why the apparent use of powerful malware by the United States government was as troubling as the CIA's use of...