Obama,+Technology,+&+the+Election

Read the NYT’s article, “[|How Obama’s Internet Campaign Changed Politics.]”

While reading, consider the Social/Ethical issues that come out directly or indirectly in the article; consider the specific IT systems involved.

Answer the following prompts:

1. Outline the various ways Obama used digital information technology throughout his election campaign. 2. Explain the impact Obama’s use of digital information technology had on the election process. 3. Compare Obama’s use of digital information technology with that of another politician or government agency in a different country.


 * Put your individual responses below. Separate your response from the next person's with a line.

1251130146 :

****1. Outline the various ways Obama used digital information technology throughout his election campaign.** //YouTube// - Free advertising, campaign speeches //Change.gov// - Website to communicate with constituents //Facebook// - Organize supporters //Twitter - Free advertising //

Obama's use of digital information technology effected the election process in his favor because he used the Internet to reach the masses. For example, he used Web 2.0 tools such as YouTube for his campaign that proved more effective than TV because it was selectively watched, rather than forced through show interruptions. Authentic and virtually free, YouTube videos can spread rapidly by popularity or recommendation, and be watched repeatedly. Another example of Web 2.0 tool use is Obama's Change.gov. This Web site lets Obama contact his constituents and keep them updated with transitions. Lastly, information about Obama, such as facts or speeches, is easily verifiable and searchable on the Web. Obama's use of the Internet effectively helps him "organize supporters, advertise to voters, defend against attacks, and communicate with constituents."
 * 2. Explain the impact Obama’s use of digital information technology had on the election process. **

Barack Obama and Al-Qaeda use digital information technology to spread information and gather supporters for their political campaigns. A comparison between them can show why the Internet is an effective yet also a dangerous information technology.
 * 3. Compare Obama’s use of digital information technology with that of another politician or government agency in a different country. **

Barack Obama is the current President of the United States. He distinguished himself among his opponents by taking advantage of the Internet to inform and connect his constituents. Web 2.0 tools such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and his Website //Change.gov// gave him voice and personality, as well as allowed him to effectively reach the whole nation through low-cost, high-exposure means.

Al-Qaeda is a radical Islamist group led by Osama bin Laden that aims to end foreign influence in Muslim countries and create a new Islamic Caliphate. It has been labeled a terrorist organization by the United Nations Security, due to their history of attacks and bombings. Since evacuating Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda has migrated online to escape detection, but also use the Internet's Web 2.0 to post //jihadi//-related multimedia, such as 'enemy' execution videos, Osama bin Laden's speeches, or instructions on how to make a bomb. Examples of Al-Qaeda Web sites include //Alneda.com// and //Jehad.net.// This multimedia sharing bolsters recruitment, coordination, networking, mobilization, and publicity.

For both Obama and bin Laden, the Internet can be used to self-advertise, or find and exploit information about the opposition, but it can also be used against them in the same way. This shows the versatility -- the good and bad -- of digital information technology.

Source: [|Tufts] and [|Wikipedia] 1251130146 = = = =


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** · The internet was used to organize his supporters which would have taken an army of volunteers and staff hired to do so without the internet.** ======

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** · Obama took advantage of the free advertising on Youtube instead of interrupting TV programs. His ad campaigns could be re- watched on the internet as well.** ======

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**2. Obama heavily used digital information technology on his election process. For example he used YouTube for his ad campaigns as he took advantage of the free advertising and videos he could post up. This helped him as he could save costs on advertising in other mediums such as TV or radio. Also, if it weren’t for the internet, he would have required a much larger army of volunteers and campaigners to do it for him. This impacted the election process as it appealed much more to this current tech-savvy generation and it was much more effective as friends could send video links between each other instead of being interrupted when watching TV shows. Americans overseas who didn’t have American cable TV, could also watch his campaign videos online.** ======

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**Another way digital information technology helped him was the website Mr. Obama made to talk to his supporters directly. In this way he could know the needs of the people so he would know what to offer during his campaign speeches. He used this website to keep in touch with the public during his transition as president. This enabled him to have a network on online supporters were he could add a ‘personal touch’ by talking to them directly which eliminates the possible dangers that could happen to him if talking to the people face to face.** ======

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**3. ANC (Africa’s National Congress) use of digital information is very similar to that of Obama’s during the April Elections in South Africa. Obama used Youtube for free advertising and campaign videos. Similarly, with the use of Youtube, ANC uploaded videos of the campaign which allow people who didn’t attending the campaign to know what is going on and hear the speeches again.** ======

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**Also, Obama created his own website which allowed him to interact with the public. The ANC also created an interactive website called www.myanc.org. They hoped to challenge the people of Africa with issues such as Health like this directly instead of the public watching them on stage or on TV. In this way, they can view these videos whenever they feel like it on the internet.** ======

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**Both Obama and ANC relied heavily on digital technology to help them with their campaigns and spread their views across. In this way they could promote on-going engagement with their supporters. 1250829998** ======

1. · Used interactive tools of Web 2.0 to organize supporters, advertise to voters, defend against attacks and communicate with constituents. · You tube for free advertising, where he could reach a lot people · Using Internet for fact checking, to see what politicians said in earlier speeches. · People are able to rewatch the speeches made by Obama. · Uses Facebook to update their supporters, posting news etc. · Mr. Obama created a website called “Change.gov” where he talks with citizens and his supporters during the transitions. 2. // Obama’s use of digital information technology has impacted the election process a lot. Obama’s use of interactive tools of Web 2.0 // made him able to get a lot of organizers and supporters all over the country, but also the entire world. As said in the text “// Mr. Obama used the Internet to organize his supporters in a way that would have in the past required an army of volunteers and paid organizers on the ground”. //// By using the Internet he could use people’s individual networks to get supporters, inform people and he could involve more people in his campaigns. // // Another impact Obama’s use of digital information technology had on the election process is that politicians are on 24/7. The fact that Obama posted his speeches online and took advantage of You Tube as an advertisement source meant that he was online 24/7. Also the fact that speeches were uploaded on the Internet meant that politicians could be online without knowing it, and people could re watch their speeches, just focusing on their mistakes. This was an advantage Obama’s camp, because they knew how to deal with information technology, and they could quickly reach people through Facebook etc. to inform. If something went wrong they could just throw a new speech online and let people watch it. However the 24/7 has made it harder for individuals to control what is uploaded and watched by the entire world. This has made politics more open to the public, and there is less editing when the speeches are directly filmed and uploaded at the spot. // // 3. // // Obama has been using the digital information technology during his election campaign a lot. He has benefitted from this, because he has been able to reach more people than he ever would. An example could be the fact that he used Facebook to create a network of supporters for his campaign. He used different communication methods, which meant that many people could join and support him, including young people. Another example could be that he used You Tube to create advertisements and inform people. This allowed people to access the information whenever they want. He also created a website where he informs people about the real facts of what’s happening, and how he’s going to change the system. On this website people can also access a blog about president Obama, which is updated every day (source: //[]// ). // // As well as Obama the Danish party Venstre (Right) has a Website, where they post the latest updates about their politics. Their banner on the website consists of a video application, where users can watch news about the party’s members and their politics. The past prime minister also used Facebook a lot to communicate with people and inform them about his public activities, such as arranging a running competition for all his supporters. The new prime minister is basically informing through the website ([]) and using old methods such as newspapers to advertise. // // The blog that Obama has makes it more personally, and people can follow him every day. They can see his progress. Compared the Danish Venstre, they only have press information with updated news once in a while. This is not as personally, and I guess people don’t feel as connected as to Obama. However both of the ideas of having a website with updates and information, makes it possible for people to pull information 24/7 whenever they need and want it. A similarity for the two is that they are both using Facebook ( //[]// ) as a way of getting a larger network of supporters. However the Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen was using this even more than the present prime minister. Another similarity of the use of digital information technology is the use of You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=venstre&search_type=&aq=f). Both of the party’s have been using You Tube as a source of advertisement. This has allowed them to reach a lot of people, who has been sharing it through their network. //1250834600



//“How Obama’s Internet Campaign Changed Politics” //

 **Outline the various was Obama used digital information technology throughout his election campaign. **   **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Explain the impact Obama’s use of digital information technology had on the election process. ** <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Used the internet to revolutionize what mediums are used in campaigns
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">“Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president.” - Arianna Huffington
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Used interactive Web 2.0 tools
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Organize supporters, advertize to voters, defend against attacks, communicate with constituents
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Took advantage of of YouTube for free advertising
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Facebook
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Social Networking Sites
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">New website, Change.gov, used to keep connected to public during transition to White House

Obama’s use of digital information technology had a large impact on the election process in the sense of reaching out to the public and allowing them to share their own opinion. One example of Obama using interactive Web 2.0 tools is his use of YouTube videos as a free advertizing medium. YouTube enabled millions of people to //<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">willingly // <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">view ad campaigns and speeches made by the current President of America. As well as spreading the word and Obama’s political policies, the amount of viewers also gave the Obama administration a clue as of how many supporters they may have. Another example of Obama using the internet to boost his publicity was his presence on the social networking site, Facebook. By creating ‘pages’ and ‘profiles’ on the site, Obama was becoming a part of the younger generations’ culture, and thus making him more appealing for young voters.

**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Compare Obama’s use of digital information technology with that of another politician or government agency in a different country. ** <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">

Obama’s use of technology and the internet was really, very ‘cutting edge’ as many countries still reply on the flyers and TV-adds for publicity. One example of a country where politicians still used ‘out dated’ methods is Norway. In Norway, the parliament groups and political parties still hand out buttons and flyers and advertize in newspapers to get their message and vision out into the public. This highly contrasts Obama’s ‘contemporary’ approach to publicity. While there are significant differences between the methods used to spread the word of their campaigns, both Norwegian party politicians still use public speeches and banners on the internet to publicize for their campaign, as did Obama. These similarities represent the fundamental and traditional campaign strategies which is generally the base of most politicians campaigns. This comparison shows how the political campaigns in Norway currently use the basic and traditional methods of campaigning, as do most countries, while Obama uses modern and unconventional methods to spread the message of his campaign. Because of Obama’s innovational use of technology, more people became aware of his campaign thus making him more popular and increasing his likelihood to win the Presidential Election. Also, one reason for that fact that Norway doesn’t seem to have caught up on the technology aspect of campaigning is that Norway is a much smaller country than America and thus doesn’t require large amounts of advertizing to get their party out there. user:annapettersen

· Use the Internet. · Used youtube for free (which were claimed to be more effective than television ads). · Allowed viewers to watch the speeches multiple times. · Exploited real time on internet, Obama started a site called “Change.gov” to keep in touch with citizens. · Gathered masses to rally with him on the internet.
 * Outline the various ways Obama used digital information technology throughout his election campaign.**

Obama’s use of youtube to advertise his presidential campaign reached more people than ever before. Youtube “videos were more effective than television ads because viewers watched them… from a friend instead of having their television shows interrupted”. Obama’s revolutionary method proved more effective than traditional methods because people were sharing his speeches online with each other and hence reaching more people, even Americans overseas, who wanted to watch his speech, when before Americans would have their favorite television programs interrupted. The use of youtube to distribute his presidential speeches also saved tremendous amounts of his presidential campaign budget. //“The campaign’s official stuff they created for YouTube was watched for 14.5 million hours,” “To buy 14.5 million hours on broadcast TV is $47 million”. Youtube allowed Obama’s speeches to be viewed by even more people than it would on television and did not cost him a dime, allowing him to allocate his budget to more pressing matters.//
 * Explain the impact Obama’s use of digital information technology had on the election process.**

//**Compare Obama’s use of digital information technology with that of another politician or government agency in a different country.**// <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-style: normal;"> Obama used youtube to advertise his presidential speeches online for free, allowing more people to view his speech, proving more effective than television. A right-wing Dutch politician, has released an “anti-Islam” film online, where it has been viewed three million times already. The Dutch politician is using the internet to spread the idea that Islamic people are “terrorists”. By “juxtaposing passages from the Koran with graphic footage of terrorist attacks.” Hence the Dutch politician is using the internet to spread his/her idea throughout the world. The right-wing Dutch politician employed a similar process to advertise his/her ideas, as Obama distributed his presidential campaign speeches online. 1251022964

1. Outline the various ways Obama used digital information technology throughout his election campaign. - Internet - YouTube - Facebook - started website (Change.gov)

2. Explain the impact Obama’s use of digital information technology had on the election process. The use of the internet has such an impact on Obama’s campaign, to the point where it even contributed to Obama’s nomination. With the freedom of the internet, Obama took advantage of the free opportunities, such as Youtube, to reach the public through advertising. Viewers were able to choose to watch them, instead of having their television shows interrupted by the commercials. As a result, people are more inclined to watch Obama’s campaign, instead of the dull commercials made by the Republican Party. In addition, people can re-watch Obama’s speeches on Youtube, making it a valuable tool for people to decide on the validity behind his actions. Another example of digital information technology that Obama uses is Facebook, reaching the eyes of millions of young individuals. With thousands of adolescents using Facebook, Obama was able to reach to them with the numerous advertisements on the website. Therefore, as more people use the social network to reach their friends, they can also partake in Obama’s campaign.

3. Compare Obama’s use of digital information technology with that of another politician or government agency in a different country. The use of the digital information technology has been a huge debate over the recent years, especially during the elections of numerous politicians. However, as the world leans more towards the digital world, it has become a large factor in their campaigns. While President Obama was able to effectively use the internet to intensify his influence in the public, Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician, had sent to the people his opinion about the Islamic terrorist attacks. However, this brings into light the advantages and disadvantages of the use of digital information technology. Technology is an important tool used to spread information quickly and efficiently. With the internet, Obama was able to spread his campaign all across America, and impacted a large group of individuals through mediums such as Youtube and Facebook. With the internet becoming a more reliant source of information, the use of the internet allowed Obama to easily reach the people, instead of the common advertisements shown on television. Wilders was able to spread to the public his opinion through a fifteen minute video with passages from the Koran that while accompanied with footage of Islamic terrorist attacks. By sending it through LiveLeak, he was able to send the video through the internet, even though there were concerns voiced by the Dutch government. As a result, many people around the world are able to see the acts made by the terrorists, and understand more of the juxtapositions between the Koran and the attacks. However, technology can sometimes be a liability, causing much misfortune to many politicians and government agencies. While Obama was able to show people the positive aspects of himself, the internet also highlighted the negative characteristics of himself, and his approach to helping America. For example, Obama accidentally remarked about “guns and religion,” causing a rise of a bad image of him during his campaign. As a result, many politicians are disinclined to say much on the internet, let alone perform embarrassing accidents on television. The film made by Wilders had made many people angry by how the film “wrongly equates Islam with violence,” as condemned by the prime minister of The Netherlands. There is a possibility of riots made by the Muslims; as a result, the Dutch government had made a moderate response to the release of the film. With the internet, not only has Wilders caused trouble for his own country, but he has also risked more attacks by terrorists who can also view the film. 1251131383


 * Outline the various ways Obama used digital information technology throughout his election campaign.**


 * Wide use of the internet
 * Youtube free advertising, saving millions and gain online publicity
 * Set up website Change.com to communicate views with supporting citizens
 * Using Facebook for crowd/audience rallying from a distance and off-television

Among most other politicians, Obama is among the first to use the internet to organize and manage his campaign. Through the time between 2004 and 2008, many new web 2.0 tools were developed to make this applicable, such as Twitter, Facebook and many free web-publishing capable sites. Quoting from the article, //“The campaign’s official stuff they created for YouTube was watched for 14.5 million hours,” “To buy 14.5 million hours on broadcast TV is $47 million”. Youtube allowed Obama’s speeches to be viewed by even more people than it would on television and did not cost him a dime, allowing him to allocate his budget to more pressing matters." His use of Youtube saved $47 million dollars, as the equivalent of the hours spent watching his videos. This also brings convenience to the citizens as they do not have to wait for the speech to come on the television, or have their favorite show interrupted or canceled for the speech to fit in.  Obama's use of such method is the first among politicians  and it was revolutionary. Not only did Obama gained the online audience’s attention, (as some don’t watch television) but he also shows to the new generation that he is tech-savvy, which is a very good impression and helps him gain favor from the younger generation.  //  <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: black;"> Hong Kong politicians, similar to Obama, use Youtube to upload their individual speeches. This broadly expands their audience as many people in Hong Kong visit Youtube daily. Youtube labels these videos with a priority and makes the videos downloadabledon’t prefer to make their own websites, they do not use ads on web pages. Instead, they put their “vote for me” ads on messengers such as MSN and QQ. They also abuse the “MSN today” styled daily update with their picture as head lines. The politicians still resort and prefer to traditional methods such as campaign posters. Even though the Hong Kong politicians have these posters, ads and Youtube videos, they still have tendency to interrupt regular television schedules to put in their campaigns, which, is still not very effective and is commonly disregarded.
 * Explain the impact Obama’s use of digital information technology had on the election process.**
 * Compare Obama’s use of digital information technology with that of another politician or government agency in a different country.**

1)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> Outline the various ways Obama used digital information technology throughout his election campaign. o<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> Use web 2.0 tools such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to get supporters and raise money. o<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">  Created his website [|Change.gov] to stay in touch with people. 2)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> Explain the impact Obama’s use of digital information technology had on the election process. Obama’s use of the digital information had a big impact on the election process, one of the ways he used digital information was to communicate with people through the use of social networking sites such as facebook, MySpace, YouTube. By using social networking sites he was able to advertise his stuff for free and was able to get large support from people all around the world, mainly teens and young adults. Another way he used was that he created a website where he was able to talk to citizens about their concerns, by using this website it was easier for him to talk to people all around the country from one location, instead of going around the country asking people about their concerns. 3)<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> Compare Obama’s use of digital information technology with that of another politician or government agency in a different country. The Internet has changed the way politics works, and has caused many politician to change the way they run their campaign. Barrack Obama has recently shown how effective the internet is in running campaigns, many other politicians from around the world have followed his path. Social Networking sites were the key to Barack Obama’s campaigns, as it helped him communicate with people all around the world. Many Israeli politicians have followed the same path, Benjamin Netanyahu also used social networking sites such as YouTube and facebook to give daily updates on his campaign Barack Obama was the one of the first politicians to successfully use the internet, and many others have followed him to build on the ways the internet can be used. Obama’s campaign was generally run by his colleagues, with not a lot of outside help from his supporters, Benjamin Netanyahu changed this and allowed supporters to create their own blog on his website and talk about him and create events where supporters could meet. By doing this he allowed those supporters that wanted to help, to be able to contribute to his campaign.

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2009/02/how-obama-inspired-israeli-politicians-online-campaigns057.html