How the DNC Rules New Media

This afternoon, I received an email from Organizing for America (namely Natalie Foster, the OFA Director of New Media). OFA wants testers for a new tool they are going to deploy. The tool is meant for phone-banking from your own home without the need for a call sheet. As described from the College Democrats of America website

The tool detects where you are, automatically brings up contacts in your area, and takes you straight to a script. And you don't even have to create a new username -- you can sign in using either your Facebook or my.barackobama.com accounts

In other words, if you're like me and hate canvassing, but don't mind phone-banking and have any sort of free time, you can help ensure a Democratic victory this November. I tested the program and it is very easy-to-use and straight forward. You bring up the website, a person information is listed (name, address, age, sex, and phone number); a script is provided; you call the person and record the results with the online form (this is all on a single web page). And you can do as many or as few calls as you wish.

However, if any of you have been following any of the other improvements OFA and the DNC have been developing, you know that this tool is the tip of the iceberg.

Currently, both the DNC and OFA have iPhone and iPad apps. They allow for you to read recent blog posts, get discussion points, find events, and contact members of Congress.

On the OFA app, you have an option to "Go Canvass." The app will determine your location and provide you with a listing of residences in the neighborhood to persuade to vote for the Democratic candidates. Once you get to the house, you can bring up your canvassing script. Instructions are provided on what questions to ask and when to stop. Once you're done, you reply back with the result and that gets sent back to OFA. As an incentive, with the more people you contact, the more awards you receive (like FourSquare badges).

Of course, none of the phonebanking or canvassing really matter if the people aren't registered to vote. So, the Technology Department at the Democratic National Committee created a website widget called "Raise Your Vote." Simply, it is an online form that you can add to any website. Users open up the form, enter their information, and a PDF which the user has to print and mail in is generated. We currently have it on our website (http://www.fordham.edu/democrats), if you choose the "Register to Vote" link on the left navigation.

Finally, as proof that the Democratic Party is the Party of open government and politics, they open sourced much of their codes on Open.Democrats.org. Of course, they do not have their core codes listed (that would lead to users finding possible security lapses), but the source codes for the peripheral programs and widgets are freely available for anyone to download.

I don't know any other way to put it, but the work by the DNC's new media and technology teams is nothing short of awe-inspiring.

Media Studies Misses You, Jack

Right now I am watching Anderson Cooper 360 (instead of writing a paper). Dr. Sanjay Gupta is discussing the case of the partial face transplant at the Cleavland Clinic this past December. I ask myself why he declined Obama's offer to be Surgeon General. I know that he wanted to be able to keep working with his patients. But, how many patients can he have close ties with if he is a neurosurgeon and a CNN contributor? Neurosurgies can take hours, but he still does his reports. I guess it is true that you sleep less when you get older.

I begin to think how Kal Penn is now working for the Obama Administration. Two seemingly celebrity-types were approached to work for the President. Certainly, my counterparts on the other side of the aisle will say that this is more proof that he is more of a celebrity than a President. But are the two that different?

Presidents walk red carpets, don't they? Presidents are approached for autographs and photos, right? Presidents have name-recognition, yeah? A celebrity is nothing more than someone that is widely popular. So why not use other 'celebrities' to spread your message? Most celebrity-run political movements have several celebrities and few (if any) politicos.

Choosing Gupta and Penn was one of the smartest moves by the President. Why? "Medium is the Message." Every time I think of that Marshall McLuhan quote, I realize how brilliant the father of Media Studies was. I am a believer that Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan are so idolized is that they were first actors. Actors are trained in how to appeal to a certain audience and hone the message that way. The medium -the actor's craft- is the message -the idea or proposition trying to be conveyed. You never see a public speaker say a bold proposition as a first point. It is always the last. The effective speaker begins on a universally accepted proposition and will slowly flow into the proposition. If you do not believe me, watch the 2003 State of the Union; President Bush started on much more 'compassionate' conservative themes that democrats could agree upon and, eventually, highlighted a plan for war in Iraq. His speechwriters were brilliant.

Why not choose celebrities (even if they are b-list) to work for your administration? They, in theory, know how to shape the message so people will get what message is trying to be conveyed. Of course, you do not want to mention what is hot-button issue in one state, but will in a state that is cooler on the issue. Celebrities, from my experience, know how to give concise question answers in some media (like television) and more thought-provoking answers in others (like magazines). One must realize who the target audience is when shaping a message to communicate. Celebrities, likely, know who follow them (like strong women follow Oprah and teeny-boppers follow the Jonas Brothers), so if a celebrity says "I support this candidate because [issue followers coincide with celebrity]," the follower will listen. While typing that last sentence, I wonder if Obama would have done so well if Oprah had not enforced him; since all of time is based on cause and effect, I will never know. Kal Penn certainly knows that stoner-film and medical drama lovers will listen to what Obama, through him, says. I am also sure that Sanjay Gupta would have the same scenario with people that care enough about current events, but do not care to watch
C-SPAN all day out of quickly-induced boredom (like me). Using the proper communicator, people will listen.

Obama was smart in implementing new media in spreading his message. Young people aren't reading newspapers. They're online. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube -Obama used it. It was a genius move. When you want to research a topic, you don't go to a library and go into the card catalog (like our ancestors did), you go do a Google search. A quick search on Obama and an noun would (and still will) reap thousands (if not millions) of results. Chances are, the top hits would be from legitimate sources (including official websites). So, when people wanted to know how Barack Obama stood on an issue, the top hit would be a blog post or a video. I cannot speak for you all, but I read (and remember) almost every website I read (not necessiarly true for schoolwork, however) (which, can make me seem to be a creeper when I accidentally remember what someone posted on Facebook weeks prior -but that is a whole other issue).

I am not saying that the President is manipulative. I am sure that President Obama knows that millions of Americans agree with him on many issues. But, if those people do not know that he agrees with them, they will not vote for him. He is just, strategically, expanding his base.

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You may be asking why I chose this title for this post. One of the things I am most proud of in my family's heritage is that my (now deceased) second-cousin was Jack Culkin, a man the New York Times dubbed the "Man that Invented Media Studies." Culkin was a protege and close friend of McLuhan. Some of my mother's fondest childhood memories was with Jack. Because of her passing on these stories, I have investigated and, hence, realized how much ourselves is shaped by the media. If I ever run for President, I will be sure to have bloggers and Hollywood-types working in my communications department.

Fail!

No, this is not a post about Rush Limbaugh wanting President Obama to fail. This is my inner nerd coming out (take that as a fair warning).

Tonight, we, the Fordham College Democrats are hosting Ari Melber of The Nation magazine and he will discuss the role of New Media in the new administration. Researching the White House Office of New Media, just a little while ago, I learned that the White House has added a blog. At exactly noon (and four minutes before Barack Obama took the Oath of Office, I may add), the entire site changed from listing President George W. Bush to President Barack Obama (along with a complete redesign). The first post on the blog, which was posted at the same time the new website went live, the first blog post was also written, authored by White House Director of New Media Macon Phillips.

Looking at the blog, I saw that they posted a link to the corresponding RSS feed. Looking at the code of the feed, I saw that it was not an RSS feed, but, instead, an Atom feed. Simply put, feeds are web pages that can be subscribed to like a email newsletter, without sending an email. The difference between RSS and Atom feeds is the coding behind them. RSS allows for people to create custom frameworks, but must stay within certain parameters (like putting HTML in the pages). However, Atom feeds are meant to be more like HTML web pages with the modularity that comes with them. People prefer RSS feeds because they have been around longer, allow for more customization, and is the programming choice for podcasting. The RSS/Atom format war is not a big problem since systems like Feedburner allow for converting one type of feed into another.

Well, I emailed the White House about it (no joke, I really emailed the White House about how they got the feed type's name wrong) and who I would contact about a job or internship in the White House Office of New Media (assuming that is the name). I will see how it comes out. What can I say? New media is my thing (hence, my title).

Getting back to the White House and new media, Obama's campaign and presidency thus far has been shaped by new media. As we have all heard, Obama loves his Blackberry. He goes on Facebook, Twitter, (and I assume), YouTube, and other social networking and web 2.0 -user-generated web content (like this blog)- sites. Guess who also goes on those sites? Young people (us). By appealing to the people where they roam, of course you will influence them and get them to vote for you. People no longer want phone calls, they want Facebook messages. New media is here to stay and the Obama Administration knows it, they have a Facebook, they have a Twitter, they have a YouTube, they have a blog. (Wait, come to think of it, we have all of that stuff as well.) They know that to get the message out, you need to be where your constituents are; in this case, in front of a screen.

These sites have sparked debates over privacy issues, but what is there to really be afraid of? Like with how President Obama has always shown himself, we should be what is referred to for nerds as a WYSIWYG (pronounced "wizzy wig") -What You See Is What You Get. By showing our true selves, not just in politics, but in business, and relationships, we can get better results. You say to your boss "we should have a company outing to boost employee morale," the boss will likely do it; but if enough people suggest it, chances are, the boss will do it. The problem is that we all hide behind a veil (or, in this case, a screen -not to say, necessarily, that it is a bad thing) and say it to everyone but the boss. The boss finds out and thinks you are insulting his leadership and fires you. Now, this may be a simplistic example, but look at the deeper meaning. The boss has should realize that this is who he has as employees, he chose them and they do the work. If he does not cater to him in some way, work will not be done.

In the same way, President Obama realizes that he needs the average American to work with him. Whether it be writing to one's senators and congressman, or signing up for a new program, or even to just pray for him. But to do that, he must 1) earn the person's trust and 2) listen to what the person wants in order to cater to him or her. By going on his Twitter every night (as he does) or his Facebook, or what have you, President Obama can see what the issue of the moment is to you and I.

New media has not reduced the level of personal contact, but widened it. The only difference between talking to someone face-to-face and sending him or her a text message is the level of intimacy (which can be a make or break for some interpersonal relationships, but that is a whole other issue entirely).