Obama

Obama’s visit today begets massive social media coverage

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

PressBox_0512Happy to note that I am part of the social media ‘swat’ team at today’s commencement at Arizona State University, where president Barack Obama will speak. (Sun Devil Stadium, 7 PM Mountain Time, 63,000 people).

Now unofficially called the ‘Tweam‘ (in the tradition of making horrible words to describe anyone also using Twitter as a communication tool) about 20 of us will provide a different type of coverage from what the major networks will bring: multiple angles, twitpics and more uploaded to Flickr, perspectives and commentary on several blogs, podcasts etc. Befitting, of course Obama’s and the White House’s use of social media.

A few things to get you started:

Watch how ABC15 profiled this social media blitz last night –click on the TV story, top right of page

Quotes for the week ending 24 January, 2009

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“Citizen participation will be a priority…”

Macon Philips, White House’s director of new media, in a blog post a few seconds after Barack Obama took oath as the nation’s 44th president on Tuesday.

“Communication. Transparency. Participation”

The first message on the WhiteHouse.gov web site that switched over on Tuesday at noon., spelling out the details why ‘change has come to whitehouse.gov’

“an excellent example of witness media and pro media cooperation. It’s not about the ‘versus.'”

Steve Safran, quoted in an article about the evolution of ‘eyewittness journalism’

“Inaugural speeches serve two purposes. They are designed to heal whatever rough roads people had to go down to get elected. The other purpose is to lay out the agenda and the key metaphors for what’s to come-and hopefully to induce people to cooperate.”

John Adams, Colgate Speaking Union @Colgate University, quoted in Ragan.com

“You must find ways to spread – in a new manner – voices and pictures of hope, through the internet, which wraps all of our planet in an increasingly close-knitted way.”

Pope Benedict XVI, on the Vatican’s launch of a channel on YouTube.

“Obama gets a thumbs-up for his Blackberry.”

Headline of a series of articles that celebrated the fact that the ‘tech president’ gets his way in being able to step out of the communications bubble. Only a few people will have his email address, the White House says.

“Twitter IS a massive time drain. It IS yet another way to procrastinate … But it’s also a brilliant channel for breaking news, asking questions, and attaining one step of separation from public figures you admire.”

New York Times Tech columnist, David Pogue about how he’s learning to use Twitter

How fast should you update history?

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

OK, so the headline was a bit provocative. Maybe we don’t update history when we update a wiki. But in the case of the newly minted president of the US, changing his profile meant turning the page of history.

Not many people look at Wikipedia the way I sometimes do –at the Discussion pages –but on the night before the inauguration (Jan 19th) I learned some unusual things about how information gets written, edited, and in many cases fought over.

The Wikipedians managing Obama’s profile faced one nagging question –apart from the expected edit wars over how to describe his African-American heritage: At what point should the word ‘elect’ be dropped? At the oath, or at noon?

We saw how in other quarters, particularly on the White House web site (and blog) and the State Department’s blog, Dipnote, how timing was everything. On WhiteHouse.gov on Tuesday, a few seconds after noon, there was a message from Macon Philips the new media person behind the web site. He announced that ‘change has come’ to the official web site.

Back to Wikipedia, the question arose if a ‘bot’ ought to be assigned to do change Obama’s information, saying the official time he would assume presidency was 11.56 am. One said his photo was creepy and needed to be changed. While the debate raged, it was agreed that “If stuff starts to get out of hand requests for page protection” would be made.

Meanwhile, Wikipedians wait, fingers poised over keyboards, for Hillary Clinton to be approved by the Senate. As of this morning there’s the word ‘designate‘ after her Secretary of State title’ waiting to be scrubbed, among other things!

Will millions of cameras in Washington DC make surveillance easier?

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

When I wrote about Photosynth in June 2007, I wondered what it might do for crowd-sourcing mega events, even political ones.

That day has come.

Microsoft (which now owns Photosynth) has teamed up with CNN to enable all those snapping up the moment in history, to share those images, and more importantly knit them together as one composite.

It’s not just  the collaborative potential of this technology that’s mind-boggling. It gives new meaning to what we often refer to as the Big Picture, letting you look at a something in fine detail from multiple angles and distances, and in a thousand of different ways. You can zoom, tilt, look at a person or an object from its side, and often get a close-up view.

From a surveillance angle, this could be a great deterrent to anyone planning mischief. After all, any moment during the inauguration will easily be captured not by the surveillance cameras — there are some 5,000 in the area –but by the hoi polloi.

photosynthTake a look at this image of the Capitol (Sorry, but you’ll need to download a small application on your computer first to use Photosynth) and you’ll see what I mean. You could move in so close to the dome, and the windows below, you could spot the surveillance camera looking down at you!

Quotes for the week ending 29 November, 2008

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“The impending total collapse of the dollar will render the true value of the average savings account or investment portfolio roughly equal to a bucket of warm piss.”

Thomas J. Wurtz, CFO of Wachovia, quoted in a press release about a new, daring billboard ad campaign

“If wearing your baby hurts your back or neck, you need positioning help, not Motrin”

Josh Bernoff, on the huge headache –um, backlash–Johnson & Johnson got on account of the ad about ‘wearing your baby’ in a sling.”

“Let’s face it: your beautifully lit, ideally scouted, model-perfect spot is likely going to be consumed in a 320×240 window. In that environment, Martin Scorsese would have a difficult time distinguishing between something shot on a Panavision Genesis versus a $150 Flip.”

Lewis Rothkopf, on the need to leverage broadband to narrowcast and target messaging in the way broadcasting has never done.

“Cheer up, it could be worse: it could be flu we’re facing and not merely a once in a 100 year meltdown in the financial system.”

Comment about a six-part drama, Survivors, on BBC1 where the story involves 90% of the population being wiped out in a flu pandemic.

“You get 14-year-old boys yelling out `I love you!’ because they learn these English expressions and try to use them.”

Kathleen Hampton, a teacher, using Skype to teach English to students in Korea in a reverse-outsourcing business from a town in Wyoming with a population of just 350.

“It’s not that we now have a president who’s black. It’s that for the first time we have a president who’s actually green.”

Oakland, Ca-based green-collar evangelist, Van Jones at GreenBuild conference this week.

“It’s a terrorist strike. Not entertainment. So tweeters, please be responsible with your tweets.”

A Twitter messge from Mumbai from primaveron@mumbai as the awful terrorist attack on the city broke out. Bloggers and the media took to new media to report the standoff and rescue operation

Quotes for the week ending 15 November, 2008

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“We are now offering a 25% Discount on all Collectable McCain/Palin08 products left in inventory”

Fire sale notice from the McCain-Palin campaign store.

“Simply put, things are already close enough between Change.gov and the Google Gang.”

Chris Soghoian, at CNetNews, commenting on Google’s relationship to the incoming White House administration. He also recommends BitTorrent for Pres. Obam’s fireside chats.

“massive employee raiding.”

Agency.com’s complaint that Scottsdale-AZ based agency, specifically Don Scales, a former Agency.com staffer, has been poaching its employees and clients.

“I go dark some weekends and evenings until 8 p.m. because my kids come first. It’s not easy, but I don’t need to be big on Digg.”

Jason Falls, Head of social media at Doe-Anderson, interviewd by Jason Baer

“Martin Eisenstadt doesn’t exist. His blog does, but it’s a put-on. The think tank where he is a senior fellow — the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy — is just a Web site. The TV clips of him on YouTube are fakes.”

The not so shocking news that an unnamed source for the Sarah-doesn’t-know-Africa-is-a-continent story a fabricated person, carefully set up by two film-makers. Many media outlets were duped.

“Create a video hub for the executive branch – call it GovTube – that aggregates all video content throughout the government in a searchable, user friendly video portal.”

One of the recomemndations by Dan Mannet, at TechPresident, for how the new administration could use multi-media.

Quotes for the week ending 18 October, 2008

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“But let me tell you one thing straight away — I’m envious of plumbers.”

John Brown, of Georgetown University, in his Public Diplomacy and PR blog.

“social capitalists”

What NBC calls the target audience for its local ‘TV web destinations’ as reported by Mike Walsh, at Online Media Daily

“a mortadella sandwich”

Fabio Betti Salgado, an IABC member and blogger from Sao Paolo, quoting Brazil’s presidentLuis Inácio Lula da Silva on his definition of the financial crisis.

“If you look at it holistically, marketing is social media. It’s a two way exchange – value exchange.”

Mike Kujawski on the TwistImage podcast.

“Our little brains were never in a position to handle that much infomation.”

Fabrice Florin, or News Trust, quoted in a New York Times article on rumor in the digital age.

“This is a Google cache link, because the picture of the disgusting T-shirt…”

Article on misogyny aimed at Sarah Palin frm an Obama-Biden campaign web site.

“Oh wait. This is advertising. Reality is irrelevant. All that matters is cool art direction and great photography.”

AdRants, commenting on a inane Pepsi ad that involves a lifeguard and a woman on the beach.

“Copyright law is a mess …Complain to Dub-ya who signed another bill this week on copyright law.”

Steve Jones, commenting on Larry Lessig’s blog post about McCain-Palin campaign complaining to YouTube about meritless copyright claims that have a chilling effect on free speech.

“You don’t ask a cosmetic surgeon how many hours it will take. You don’t really care about the cost. It’s an abstraction, but your face is not …As a writer, you’re a sort of surgeon yourself-a word surgeon.”

Art Spikol, at Writers Digest, on Flat Fees vs Hourly Rates.

“The idea of online cannibalizing print is not just wrong, it’s the opposite”

John Ridding, CEO of Financial Times, whose newsstand sales rose 30 percent in the US, and 20 percent in Europe.

“True enough, it is a special rule. But isn’t it appropriate?”

Lawrence Lessig, on the McCain-Palin campaign asking YouTube to   give special consideration to video take-down complaints. Critics believe the politicians should stick by the free-market model!

“Bacteria, caffeine, the pain reliever acetaminophen, fertilizer, solvents, plastic-making chemicals and the radioactive element strontium.”

Ingredients found in brand-name bottled water, which, it turns out to show is no more pure than tap water!

Quotes form the week ending 27 September, 2008

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where – where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border…”

Governor Sarah Palin, in response to a question by Katie Couric of CBS about her experience in international relations.

“When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened.”

Barack Obama’s running mate, Joe Biden, displaying a poor sense of history, on the Today Show. Roosevelt was not in office at that time, and, radio, not television, was the medium used.

“In what respect, Charlie?”

Sarah Palin, in her first media interview given to ABC News. Charles Gibson asked her about her stance on the Bush Doctrine, about which she didn’t seem to have a clue.

“Turn off the rumor mills, pull down the mocked-up artwork, and say goodbye to the blogger speculation.”

Announcement of Google’s Gphone, launched in collaboration with TMobile. It is the first mobile device built around a Android, Google’s Linux application.

“He wants to socialize Wall Street and privatize Social Security. Talk about upside down.”

Reader or The Arizona Republic, Roy Otterbein or Phoenix, commenting on Bush’s approach to the financial crisis.

“Our 94-year history of leadership in the financial industry has been a source of confidence…”

Copy from a Merill Lynch full page ad, appearing in the September 20th issue of The Economist, whose cover featured a cyclone sucking up brand names Fannie Mae, AIG, Morgan Stanley, Washington Mutual, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers.

“Talks are breaking down, I think McCain’s move just proved how important it was to be in DC.”

Tweet by one James Eiden about legislators and the White House hustling over the $7 billion bail out.

“McCain’s bluff called! Un-suspends campaign and attending 1st debate, even though $700B agreement not reached yet”

Another tweet by one Presceile, revealing how the pendulum swung.

“The US President has been wrong about so much during his eight years in office that it is tempting to dismiss his warnings of the impending financial apocalypse as yet more hyperbole – the boy crying wolf.”

Economics editor Edmund Conway or The Telegraph, on the need for the British to act fast too, and stop trying to give paracetamol to someone with a heart attack.