Archive for February, 2007
Read/Write Web has put together a great collection of resources for online video, including everything from file-sharing sites such as YouTube and iFilm (and a bunch more I hadn’t heard of) to online video-editing sites, video search sites, streaming video vendors and video blogs. And, the initial list is growing fast through reader additions and comments. This is about as comprehensive an overview of what’s out there as I’ve seen — well worth taking a look. Thanks to Micropersuasion for pointing it out.
– cpd
February 14th, 2007
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Last week, I got reconnected with one of the first people I met when I moved to DC ten years ago, Eric Wingerter, only to find out that the poor guy has been bitten by the blogging bug. More than that, after just six weeks, his site is already attracting a healthy and growing readership of several hundred people per day. Plenty of folks have talked about the impending “maturity” (in market terms) of the blogosphere — that the major niches are taken, leaving less room for new voices — yet Eric is clearly finding people to listen to what he has to say. What can we learn from his experience?
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February 13th, 2007
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Those of us immersed in the online world tend to go a little ga-ga over the cutting-edge stuff — social media, social networking, RSS, viral video, etc. While these new channels for online activism are cool and all, what if you’re working with a campaign that really needs a public face and that’s about it? Sometimes, a stiff dose of brochureware is just what the doctor ordered (particularly when accompanied by a medicinal gin and tonic, for the malaria of course).
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February 12th, 2007
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Brian Fitzgerald of Greenpeace has written up a couple of ways his organization is using RSS and has allowed me to reprint his description here for e.politics groupies. Besides straightforward applications such as content distribution across a constellation of sites, Greenpeace is also combining RSS, Technorati, Flickr and Del.icio.us to show the buzz built up around a campaign — neat trick.
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February 12th, 2007
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- Spotlight: Hit Back Hard. Another reminder of the need for speed in the web world. “Rapid response” means just that.
- Campaigns brace for Web video blitz. Online video goes local, singing “Kansas City, here I come” (“Of the city’s 12 mayoral candidates, seven have Web sites that include video.”)
- If you’re looking for more places to post that incriminating clip, Eric Benderoff of the Chicago Tribune looks at how targeted video sites are taking off: Web video niches constantly evolving.
- Online groups ponied up early for Obama ’08. A sampling of the pre-announcement Obama web frenzy, courtesy of the Rockford (Ill.) Register Star.
- AP: New Tech Puts Online Ad Measures to Test . The page-view controversy encapsulated, via Micropersuasion.
- Hotsoup Vs. The Bivings Report. Much like Godzilla vs. Mothra, but without the weird tiny chicks singing to the monster (damn). Money quote: “After all that hype, you’d think they’d be doing a lot better than our stupid company blog.” I’m shocked, SHOCKED to find out that a portal site wannabe is having trouble building an audience.
- Don’t just hire a blogger, BE the blogger! With the Edwards/blog dust-up in mind, will campaigns try a little sincerity in a medium that theoretically rewards it?
- And to end on a serious note, Wonkette classes up the joint in typical style: Booger Eater: Ohio Republican Steve Chabot? Suggestion to politicians: just as you should treat every gun as a loaded one, tell yourself that the camera is ALWAYS on, the messages are ALWAYS saved and the IP address is ALWAYS traceable.
– cpd
February 11th, 2007
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Now, 100% zombie-free! (Apparently, and sadly, zombie humor is a bit too obscure for primetime.)
- IPDI interviews Jeff Mascott of the Adfero Group on 2006 as a breakthrough year in politics and technology, the rise of user-generated content, and integrated CRM as a key to victory. Nice techno beat, too.
- Two tasty morsels from DIA: Goldilocks Samples E-mail Frequencies (too hot or too cold?) and a look at a Kintera shareholder revolt.
- Blog P.I. uncovers the first instance of online political networking.
- Zack Exley: Will Obama be the first candidate to fully embrace online media?
- Hillary Clinton In Blog Ads Flap. Via PoliticsOnline’s Weekly Politicker newsletter.
- Apex Reached? Moving From Bloggers To Communities. By Chris Bowers of MyDD.
- The YouTube Gotcha Game. How web video could sink a presidential candidate or two.
- The Distance Paradox. If telecommuting is so easy, why do we travel for work more than ever?
- Interview: Steve Hall of Adrants, a site I read often and that not coincidentally is obsessed with sex in advertising. Via Micropersuasion.
- Three takes on the John Edwards blogger flap, from Hotline, The Wall Street Journal and PDF.
- Attack of the mini-Googles! Reminds me of a certain political search engine of legend that survives now only as a museum piece.
- In Campaign 2008, Candidates Starting Earlier, Spending More. No surprise, but they have numbers to back it up.
- More on the presidential races from the Bivings Report: McCain and Blog Outreach and Peer-to-Peer Campaigning.
- Video press releases alive and well, unlike our friends the zombies. In case you were worried.
– cpd
February 8th, 2007
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Hi y’all, I’ve gotten my first issue of a new Business 2.0 subscription (Christmas present — thanks, mom and dad) and am clearly going to get hooked on this sucker. Besides regular coverage of recent developments in the online business world, both large and small (and if advocacy campaigns aren’t watching what companies are doing, we’re missing the main places where new tools are being developed), the magazine also looks at topics ranging from advertising to broadcast media to personal communications, all seen through the lens of changing technology. It’s similar to Wired in some ways, but with a little less gee-whiz/gadget-porn and a little more on the practical application of new ideas. Plus you get the occasional feature like this one, the 101 Dumbest Moments in Business, headlined by….
#1:Another Brick in the Wal
Because if there’s anything America loves, it’s a politician.
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February 7th, 2007
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Three upcoming events of note:
– cpd
February 5th, 2007
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Earlier today, I had a question about cheap/free email list management options, so I asked a big group of progressive web folks which applications they’d recommend. The results were impressively broad, and I’ve gathered them up in one list along with samples of what folks had to say about each product.
But first, an excellent overview article from Idealware:
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February 5th, 2007
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Our beloved Internets were all over the Post this weekend, from the political pages to Outlook to the Arts section. The fun started early on Saturday with a “Special to The Washington Post” article by Zachary A. Goldfarb about Barak Obama and social networking: at his first rally since he formed an exploratory committee, Obama spoke Friday to a group of thousands of students assembled through Facebook (via SmartMobs).
On Sunday the dam broke, with the ‘net figuring into at least four articles with some relationship to politics or advocacy, most obviously in Jennifer Earl’s excellent look at online organizing and activism (“Where Have All the Protests Gone? Online.”) featured on the front page of Outlook:
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February 4th, 2007
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For a more recent take on the topic of cell phones and politics, see the relevant Online Politics 101 chapter.
January’s Mobile Monday meeting in D.C. featured a fascinating presentation on Republican employment of cell phones and SMS text messaging in the 2006 elections, with a lot more detail than we’re usually able to get about on-the-ground use of this new (to the U.S.) political tool. Patrick Ruffini of the RNC discussed the committee’s use of text and mobile video to inform and motivate supporters, and Mike Connell of Connell Donatelli went into great depth about the DeVos campaign for Michigan governor’s foray into the world of mobile advocacy.
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February 1st, 2007
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DeadElephant.ORG Campaign Manager Jeff Goldsmith wrote up a great application earlier today on an email discussion list and kindly gave permission for me to reprint his message. He talks about an interesting way to integrate online and offline organizing by allowing website visitors to design and print their own shirts with the DeadElephant.ORG logo. Roll-your-own protest gear! (Dude, don’t bogart that shirt…).
Apropos of our conversation here about “message discipline” at protest marches, DeadElephant.ORG has just come across a new way to split the difference between uniformity and individuality, and it’s worth considering for your own organizing efforts. As of this morning, supporters can create their own message — any message — on a high-quality printed shirt bearing the DeadElephant logo. You can write your slogan, choose your fonts, and even include your own images. www.DeadElephant.ORG/roll.htm. The service is made possible by the folks at GoodStorm. If a new meme is to emerge as uniquely suitable to our times, our goals, and our values, perhaps this is a means by which that can happen.
Details: The GoodStorm personalized printing service costs us nothing to use, and took about 20 minutes to customize and install on our site. They host the function on their server, but it’s presented as integral to the DeadElephant site through a JavaScript call. This distributed model is similar to Care2′s distributed discussion board service, with which you might be familiar.
Very cool idea — send along any similar organizing tools and I’ll write ‘em up.
– cpd
February 1st, 2007
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My old Austin buddy Chris Cosart passes along this Newsweek column by Howard Fineman, who compares Hillary and Obama’s websites and more traditional offline organizing efforts and finds Barak’s lacking. Um, yeah. The guy just decided to run a couple of months ago, and you’re comparing him to a candidate who’s been planning for this moment since, oh, about two decades ago? Fineman focuses on one particular New Hampshire activist who’s beseiged by requests from Hillary’s supporters, really wants to work with Obama, but hasn’t heard back from his campaign. Hmmmmm, maybe this is more of a sign of how nervous Clinton’s campaign is?
I don’t have a dog in this hunt (yet), but I think it’s also a little early to be judging Obama in part by a campaign site whose final version won’t be unveiled for another week. Experts in the field have not been so complimentary of the Clinton campaign’s online efforts thus far. Fineman ends with the line, “I know it sounds crazy — it’s a year from the first vote — but Obama better get that Web site up and running, fast.” Somehow I suspect that he just might.
– cpd
February 1st, 2007
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