Social Media Is The Future of Politics . . . and Independence!

amp160It39s fitting then to commemorate Independence Day by broadening our focus this week beyond the consumer to the citizen They are after all the same person Last week39s Personal Democracy Forum PDf touted its organizer TechPresidentcom was the most mediated conference in all of recorded history In this one instance believe the hypePDf truly was a spectacle of networked social media During the twoday event it was ground zero in the Twitterverse presentations were simultaneously uploaded to Slide Share sessions were not only filmed for CSpan and uploaded on YouTube but cofounder Micah Sifry used Qikcom to livestream video from his cell to the Web Beyond being blogged notetaking was enabled and rewarded the prizewinning scribe won an iPhone through Confabb Noteshare and questions for speakers were posted in realtime through a tool created by Jonathan Zittrain one of the keynoters And during the quotMastering the New World of Online Political Videoquot session attendees got a first look on Bob Greenwald39s latest amp8211 a howto for viral political videos later that weekend he would be profiled in the New York Times This all sounds very sexy but the stories of what these tools support amp8211 and can enable is the true takeaway hereTransparencyPerhaps the singlemost encouraging panel at PDf in this era of hyperpartisanship was Watchdogging Government It described the building of a quottranspartisanquot movement to make government more transparent The session was chaired by Ellen Miller founder of the Sunlight Foundation and bookended ideologically by Mark Tapscott of the Heritage Foundation who averred that the earlier keynote felt like an Obama rally But Tapscott was equally quick to tap into shared common ground amp8211 that whatever one39s ideology faith in government or contempt for it a la Grover Norquist accountability is best achieved through transparency Members of OpenSecrets and FollowtheMoney were singled out by the panel for their groundbreaking contributions to this effortBuckling under pressure from this loose coalition all members of the Senate but one have complied with the request to reveal their mortgagefinancing information Next up a demand that both campaigns unbundle donations and disclosure of lobbying in real time Speaking to Saul Hansell of the New York Times39 BITS blog Miller recalled quotI was at a meeting with lobbyists last week and asked how many have BlackBerries Of course they all raised their hands I said they should be reporting on their meetings by sending a text or an email as soon as they walk out of a legislator39s office They all gaspedquotLitmus Test for PC LiteracyA debate surrounding Technological Literacy sparked at PDf and continues to gain momentum While McCain will never live down saying quotthe issue of the economy is something I don39t understand as I shouldquot PDf attendees were even more shocked by McCain39s selfprofessed computer illiteracyamp160While his campaign was keen enough to send a staffer to PDf online advisor Mark Soohoo39s defense of McCain amounted to a limp quotHe is aware of the Internetquot Why should there be any litmus test Let us count the ways How can any presidential candidate otherwise grasp the complex issues surrounding spectrum copyright ecommercetrade Net Neutrality while properly sizing up our infrastructure against any threat of cyberterrorism What39s most astonishing is that McCain sat on the Commerce Science and Transportation committee for six years While CNN39s Jeanne Moos looked at this from with her trademark whimsy this is an issue that should have standing in the current and future campaignsAn Uprising In The Obama RanksNot that we39re going to let Obama off the hook A thread among the panels was empowerment through bottomup democracy While most presenters were quick to acclaim the Obama campaign for its use of social networking to raises buckets of cash a few thought leaders including Jonathan Zittrain The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It and virtual reality pioneer Mark Pesce were otherwise unconvinced that the campaign itself was truly peoplepowered Regarding the Obama campaign he offered this peek into what it might look like once the governance when pilot goes to series begins quotThe mob now mobilized will do as it pleases Obama can lead by example can encourage or scold as occasion warrants but he can not controlquotThe test of this proposition isn39t waiting until January 21st In response to Senator Obama39s FISA quotyesquot vote a quotPlease Vote Noquot group formed on MyBarackObamacom last week demanding that he filibuster with Sens Dodd and Feingold after the holiday recess As of this writing the group is the fifth most popular on the campaign Website with 5452 members and counting Will this groundswell pressure Obama to rethink his position It a first draft for WikiGovernmentPosting on Jeff Jarvis39 BuzzMachine Monday Joe Trippi now cofounder of Open Congress with Creative Commons39 Larry Lessig wrote quotI believe that the next President will stand at the end of the Television Presidency and at the beginning of the Networked Presidency in which the President and the people will connect and work to pass their agenda together where they can and do agreequotOpenLeft39s Matt Stoller went Trippi one better quotA good amount of 21st century campaigning will look like the 19th century with a politicized business community much stronger local political machines and engagement levels at 80 or 90 Local debating societies nonprofits that do service work and voter turnout and a blurred line between government and politics are probably in the cards As social media and public spaces increase in importance in our culture they will dominate our politicsquot

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Social Media Is The Future of Politics . . . and Independence!

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Jerry Weinstein

Beyond Space: Dr. Scott Parazynski on AI, Courage, and the Human Future - By Jack Myers

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Jerry Weinstein

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