Call today a study in crowdsourcing contrasts. First, the good: public-interest news outlet ProPublica is asking citizens to help track political advertising by candidates and outside groups like SuperPACs (they need assistance because the FCC has...
In his Times piece from yesterday, “Hashtag Activism, and Its Limits,” David Carr at first doesn’t seem so sure about this whole online advocacy thing: I’m starting to experience a kind of “favoriting” fatigue...
The folks over at Edelman Digital have done us a solid: they’ve looked at months of data on the Twitter habits of U.S. House members and Senators and drawn conclusions about what works: In the analysis, the team defined success metrics for...
For another of the occasional glimpses we get of the Obama campaign’s comprehensive effort to re-energize his 2008 online supporters, check out this article from The Times, which came out right before I ran off to Austin for SXSW: With a...
Be sure to head on over to the Campaigns & Elections site for the latest edition of Technology Bytes. On the menu this issue? Profiles of three interesting tools campaigns can use to organize and mobilize volunteers, two of which have social...
With all the talk the last couple of weeks about the Kony 2012 video — including why it went viral — let’s go back a few months to Epolitics.com’s own contribution to the literature of virality, which broke 1000 views on...
Howdy folks, I’m back from SXSW and none the worse for wear, despite the best efforts of man, beast and beer. One story that almost slipped through the cracks while I was gallivanting about: ABCNews’s Amy Bingham picked up on the Super...
Patient: Reported on SXSW Music Festival Day 3 (of 4), overall SXSW Festival Day 8 Diagnosis: SXSW Syndrome Symptoms: Subject displays a wide array of SXSW-related symptoms. They include: perpetual squint, even with sunglasses on. Jeans worn three...
Today’s South By Southwest Interactive discussion on the Occupy movement as citizen journalism should be fascinating: I’m looking forward to a terrific discussion with Priscilla Grim, Kira Annika, Charles Wyble and Boyd Carter. Check out...
I’ve heard from three different people today that they’ve suddenly ended up on Rick Santorum’s email list — WITHOUT signing up or opting in. In one case, the address (and the name associated with it) were only used to sign up...