Archive: Category: TechPresident

I'm at the annual Freedom-to-Connect conference, where the over-riding topic this year seems to be "connectivity as the killer app." While we could debate that phrase, here's a great example of a project that shows, beautifully, the power and potential of universal, home-based, connectivity. The Telecare for Rural Health Project, based in Burlington, Vermont (no link, sorry!), has starting providing a two-way interactive video and audio over broadband exercise class for seniors who have fallen or have a fear of falling. It's a three times a week class that runs for one hour per class, for 15 weeks. The project is a joint undertaking with the University of Vermont’s Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Science and is funded by the National...

For the record, the top three questions by each sub-topic on WhiteHouse.gov today are listed below: Education (465,858 votes on 13,737 questions from 28,425 people) -"The Founding Fathers believed that there is no difference between a free society and an educated society. Our educational system, however, is woefully inadequate. How do you plan to restore education as a right and core cultural value in America?" Takeok, Boston, MA (6153 pro, 1029 anti) -"For students graduating from college and graduate school, many of us have obscene amounts of debt. Do you have any plans to help alleviate some of that debt, given the current state of the job market?" Am, Chicago, IL (4719-1338) -"Mr President What are you going to do about local public...

I'm writing from my iPhone so I'll be brief and fill in more late. White House new media staffer and director of citizen engagement has announced that over at http://www.Whitehouse.gov/openforquestions they are reviving Change.gov's "Open for Questions" interactive forum. Perhaps today's stories in the WashPost and Politico critical of delays in implementing President Obama's promises to make more robust use of the web shook this loose; I'd prefer to claim credit on behalf of the "Ask the President" coalition. Not clear as of this writing: how and when the President will respond to top questions. Perhaps someone will ask about it at tonite's press conference. As Nancy reports, Obama will be responding to some of the most popular questions...

Organizing for America rolled out its "Pledge Project Canvass" this past weekend, and reports about 1200 groups went door-knocking across the country seeking signatures in support of President Obama's budget priorities. Considering that OFA boasted somewhere between three and four thousand house parties back in December, when the Obama campaign was gathering information from grass-roots activists about what they wanted to do next, this is a significant drop-off. The Washington Post reported that "the organization remains skeletal, and the Pledge Project does not nearly cover the 435 congressional districts. The organization aims to develop a structure -- including at least one paid staffer in each state -- in time for larger fights over health-care, climate change and education legislation. "'This is...

[Last Wednesday, I pinch-hit for Clay Shirky (who was homebound with bronchitis) at the inaugural gathering of "The Little Idea," the spawn of Ari and Jonathan Melber, who dreamed up the notion of getting a bunch of folks together in a bar to hear one person speak for ten minutes, no Q&A, and then much imbibing. Here's a slightly polished version of my remarks.] How many of you get twitchy when you can’t check your email or your mobile or your Twitter or Facebook account? How many of you are thinking right now, I wish I had my laptop? How many of you have ever experienced losing your device, or having to send it away for repair? It feels like a lost...

Melissa Jenna Compagnucci (didn't we see her in one of the YouTube debates?) posts a YouTube video plugging "Ask the President." The Washington Times on its support for "Ask the President." EchoDitto's Michael Silberman digs deep into the Obama tech operation and how it moved online enthusiasm into on-the-ground activism. The secret? Data, data, data. The Obama team is recruiting new media directors for various government agencies. Details here. Recovery.gov is spawning a web of sites and structured data at a fast pace, writes Greg Elin....

Is there such a thing as the "Daily Me" effect? Is New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof on to something when he writes: ...

Remember two years ago when Senator Richard Durbin took the blogosphere and specifically MyDD.com and RedState.com for a series of open thread discussions about shaping a broadband bill? "Legislation 2.0" got some attention at the time, but then the Durbin staffer who was responsible for shepherding the process reportedly went back to graduate school, and little more was heard of the notion. A couple of legislators have turned to the web to take questions from the public--most notably Speaker Nancy Pelosi at last year's Netroots Nation with "AsktheSpeaker," and a couple of Senators and Representatives who have been going on YouTube's SenateHub and HouseHub to solicit and respond to questions there. But in terms of actually involving the public in...

Gov. Corzine is using the web to get suggestions on the state budget, reports GovTech. Unfortunately, it's just a one-way suggestion-box form. FAIL. Celebrity shlock blog TMZ decides that politics actual does have good looking people. Now, could they go stalk some lobbyists, please? President Obama's teleprompter has a blog. Now that's funny. And it's already sucking up to Rush Limbaugh. And that's not. Colorado and Nebraska are using Twitter accounts to share news of recovery spending US Justice Dept...

On the first full day of his presidency, Barack Obama issued an executive memo calling on the government to become more transparent, participatory and collaborative. He wrote: My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government. Of course, public participation is a two-way street. That's why, today, Personal Democracy Forum is proud to announce that we are partnering with a cross-partisan coalition of old and new media in launching "Ask the President," an open, collaborative, participatory forum where anyone can post a question and vote up...