1st Tech President!
 | Author: Jauretsi | Posted: November 24th, 2008 | Filed under: Digital | | Comments Off |
Lots has been said about Barack being “down” with the Internet. Sure, his email blasts are formulaic, but I still somehow felt special when my blackberry vibrated on election night with a note reading “We did it! I’m about to speak at Grant Park now”. It was those similar small notes that kept me in the game, made my ADD brain focus on important issues, and suckered me to give whatever little crappy donations I could. Even while I was out of the country — no matter what corner of the globe I was on — I was ALWAYS connected. For that, I’m grateful.
(Barack’s Announcement of Biden Pick was Texted to Supporters First)
It’s almost like coming out of a bad relationship with a flaky meanie ex-boyfriend. Then finally, one day you meet a new guy who slowly starts to train you that not everyone is that bad… that some people are consistent… and can be trusted. I’d say millions of Americans feel the same way in the sense that this guy got under our skin slowly, challenged our cynicism, and has spent his campaigning months earning our trust slowly.
But back to the role of the Internet —- This was the first year that the internet BEAT THE NETWORKS at announcing the presidency.
“Obama Wins the Presidency,” wrote Slate.com at 9:27pm. One minute after, The Page website declared “The Networks Won’t Tell You, but The Page Will: Barack Obama Will Be the 44th President of the United States.” Then 90 minutes passed and the networks began to announce it one by one. CBS and other TV competitors didn’t officially call the race until 11 p.m (until Barack’s electoral total surpassed 270). It’s understandable considering the 2004 “fake-out” when it was called wrong on the TV networks. But it’s official. The general process of announcing instant news on broadcast is a wrap! The TV process proved to be slower and lagging.
Right after the victory, Barack started a blog. The First announcement? The introduction of Rahm Emanuel, his new Chief of Staff. Did you know Rahm happens to be the brother of Endeavor’s Ari Emanuel (the real life agent played by Jeremy Piven on Entourage). How about that he has a Facebook page? Can it get any more surreal?
There’s a charming episode of Charlie Rose with all 3 successful Emanuel brothers — go to iTunes and download the show.
(Emanuel Rahm’s Facebook Group Page)
This is all old news. Let’s deal with the present issue at hand… Barack’s title of “First Tech President”.
It seems not only does he “get it” with online strategies… but it goes much deeper…. he’s also the man that will be championing Internet freedom and innovation. Obama has shared his third major element of his digital approach: Transparency. “We will put government data online in universally accessible formats.” This was the exact mantra Google mentioned earlier in the year.
The term is called “Net Neutrality”… and there’s a growing movement of companies and government folks who are championing this freedom of information. Obama vowed to defend net neutrality and deliver broadband Internet access to everyone in the country. Instead of “no child left behind”, one newspaper called it “no child left unconnected”.
Political debate regarding network neutrality focuses on whether companies operating lines handling Internet traffic should be allowed to charge for higher speeds or capacities instead of treating all users equally.
Here’s the politics behind freeing Internet for all:
Service providers contend that charging for priority on the Internet will promote investment in networks and let them better manage congestion caused by tremendous amounts of digital data traveling online. Internet firms, including Google, argue that service providers are making a money grab that would stifle online innovation and economic growth. Obama agreed that having “the Internet divided up to the highest bidders” would shut out startups and discourage innovation.
(“We have to assure free and full exchange of information, and that starts with an open Internet,” Obama said during an on-stage chat with Google chief executive Eric Schmidt.)
While speaking with “Googlers,” Obama said his priorities in the White House would include developing clean energy and using technology such as electronic medical records to help achieve universal health care. Obama also promised to put more government information online so people could track, and comment on federal contracts and legislation.
Case in point: 2 weeks ago, Barack announced his weekly Presidential address on YouTube. Why not? YouTube was probably the reason he won the campaign. He uploaded over 1800 videos that have been viewed over 110 million times total. The new Presidential addresses are aiming to — for the fist time in American history — create tight communication between public and president. Now, there’s no more networks in the way skewing the story for sensationalism or ratings or ad revenue. No more “big media” agendas in this case. The videos are being compared to the internet version of Franklin Roosevelt’s famous “fireside chats” between 1933 and 1944 – except you’re not stuck seeing them at 7pm. Your president will now be at your fingertips “in-demand” style any hour of the day.
Another major breakthrough: Barack plans to appoint the nation’s first Chief Technical Officer to make certain we incorporate technology into every decision we make.
Obama says: “I will take a back seat to no one in my commitment to network neutrality. Because once providers start to privilege some applications or websites over others, then the smaller voices get squeezed out and we all lose.”
Amen.
(Our government has a face now!!!! Yay!)
In the next few weeks, senior members of the transition team, various policy experts, and choices for the Cabinet (among others) will record videos for his website, Change.Gov. There is a blog on the site too. Each of the weekly videos will run roughly 4 minutes.
Stay tuned from your desks…
J
