techPresident - Mobile - Comments

Just a simple download

Michael Tate — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:56:11 -0400

If a campaign were to use exactly what I described, they would probably not have your mobile phone number. It is just a simple download onto the mobile phone.

Do Not Text Regulations

shimanepdf — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:50:59 -0400

Thanks for the post. Very interesting.

Did you see the introduction of the "do not text" registry last week in Congress ? (does not include political texts at this time).

More at my blog: http://thinkdodone.typepad.com/ccd/

I do see, however, a chance for misuse by campaigns, much like they have overused robo calls (now the top contact tool according to PEW).

Thoughts?

--
Cheers,

Shaun Dakin – CEO & Founder
The National Political Do Not Contact Registry
-- A non-partisan, non-profit program by Citizens for Civil Discourse
Register Your Phone Number Now for Free: http://www.StopPoliticalCalls.org/

live stream

Tex MacRae — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:53:31 -0400

The live stream is run by the Ron Paul 2008 National Youth director. It's accompanied by live chat and text messaging where supporters have input in where he goes, what camera views they prefer and who he interviews. We (as in supporters) were present through the livestream backstage at the debates, in the Spin Rooms and in the campaign "War Room" getting updates on Carol Paul (who was hospitalized for a heart condition at the Iowa Straw Poll) directly from Dr. Paul.

iPhone = mobile?

Joshua Levy — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:15:26 -0400

Ron Paul's campaign created a custom version of its site for the iPhone, much like Digg and Facebook have done. While this was a good idea, it's not what most of us mean by "mobile technology." Mobile means creating mobile campaigns that utilize shortcode and text messaging to create a dialogue with supporters.

Not sure where live-streaming (which was pioneered by the Dodd campaign) fits in with that...

Yes, they do.

Tex MacRae — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 14:43:48 -0400

>>>Unsurprisingly, no Republican candidates have used mobile yet.

*rolls eyes*

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/iphone

The entire Iowa Straw Poll was live-streamed here:

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/snippets/3/

Every rally and debate since Mountain View's rally has been streamed live on the web.

I don't know why I bother posting here, though. There's no conversation and no feedback. Kinda weird for a blog that's supposedly about Web 2.0.

FFN

Tim Tagaris — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 17:40:50 -0400

Again, in Ned Lamont's campaign we bridged that gap in a very serious way using a program envisioned and created by the campaign called "Family, Friends and Neighbors."

Essentially, it made the voter file public and allowed people to look up their family, friends and neighbors and then send them a physical, personalized postcard -- paid for by the campaign.

People would send postcards that contained a bit of information about the candidate, then said stuff like, "Hey Grandma, you should really check out Ned Lamont. He's running against Joe Lieberman and is the one candidate in the race who wants to end the war. I miss you, grandma. Hope to see you soon. Love, Tom"

Anyway, we sent out over 100,000 of these IIRC.

Tim

Internet 2.0 for Government?

Peter Erickson — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 06:22:49 -0400

I have a MyDD diary up that mostly poses a lot of questions. I'd be really curious about everyone's thoughts here:
The internet has been seen as a tool for further transparency, as a new means of disseminating information, but what about all the other things it could do for government? Just as political campaigns are now discovering that a website is no longer about merely posting position papers and photos --- but about fostering contacts between supporters, engaging them in the campaign, soliciting ideas, and creating new possibilities for interaction with their candidate, it's time that we expand our thinking about the role that the web can play in honest and open government.
Obama just might be starting to applying these same lessons not only to his political campaign but to his style of governance. In the diary, I try to work out a list of Obama's proposals for opening up regulatory hearings, making his cabinet officials more accessible to the public, etc. It seems like a start anyway.

Great finds!

Micah L. Sifry — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:22:11 -0400

psericks: Thanks for spotting both of those stories!
Micah

Iowans spend less time on the internet?

Peter Erickson — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:53:24 -0400

Jeff Zeleny NYTimes interviews Obama campaign manager David Plouffe:
"But since the race is scheduled to open with the Iowa caucuses, tentatively set for Jan. 14, the Obama campaign is focusing considerable attention on the state. Mr. Plouffe said the campaign is tracking the Internet usage of Democrats and has found that a smaller share of the voters in Iowa are actively engaged on the Web than in New Hampshire, so the campaign is factoring that into its organizing efforts."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/22/us/politics/22web-zeleny.html?8dpc

Obama's Ethics Reform: Live web-chats with Cabinet Members?

Peter Erickson — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 13:31:36 -0400

Tucked into Obama's ethics reform package announced today -- that he pledges to sign as an executive order on his first day in office -- are a couple of interesting internet-related sunshine provisions:

"(1) SUNLIGHT BEFORE SIGNING: As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days. And Obama will sign legislation in the light of day without attaching signing statements that undermine the legislative intent.
(2) 21ST CENTURY FIRESIDE CHATS: Obama will bring democracy and policy directly to the people by requiring his Cabinet officials to have periodic national broadband town hall meetings to discuss issues before their agencies.
(4) CONDUCT REGULATORY AGENCY BUSINESS IN PUBLIC: Obama will require his appointees who lead the Executive Branch departments and rulemaking agencies to conduct the significant business of the agency in public, so that any citizen can see in person or watch on the Internet as the agencies debate and deliberate the issues that affect American society. Videos of meetings will be archived on the web, and the transcript will be available to the public. Obama will also require his nominees to commit to employ all the technological tools available to allow average citizens not just to observe, but to participate and be heard on the issues that affect their daily lives."

Here's a MyDD journal on the topic:
http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/6/22/94735/7613
And a link to Obama's website with the full details:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/corruption/
(Click on the buttons on the middle-right.)

Made my day

tomh — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 18:44:29 -0400

You got to credit the Obama supporters, man they are creative. I love the song!

to txt or not to txt

justin@justinhamilton.org — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 08:04:04 -0500

Don't forget that that for the average consumer (read voter) txt-ing frequently can be quite expensive if you don't have some kind of plan; particularly for the young people who would be most likely to use sms in the first place. Unlike e-mail, you're asking people to pay money each time they hear from you. For some people this won't matter, but for many it will.

The GOP found that the best use of SMS was to keep in touch with their most solid supporters and mostly when used as an alert system for e-mails they sent out (i.e. "don't forget to check your email for an important message from candidate X"). In those cases SMS was used to drive up the open rates of the GOP's email program.

For the most part, candidates seem to think its enough that they've just heard of text messaging and that the wow factor they think that generates should be enough.

I think its real value (yet to be unlocked) is in field organizing and GOTV.

So ideally a candidate would build in interactivity to enhance dialog, not by rapid response, but by asking survey questions that draw on the crowd to help plot campaign strategy ala howard dean.

Once you build that trust relationship, and have buy-in, and loyal, regular users, you can branch out to informing people of "meet up" like events, candidate appearances, and ultimately, building a viral, peer to peer GOTV operation.

As far as rapid response, I think the Philippines holds the answer: offer a ring tone that is a voice recording set to music. this can be funny or serious, but must be interesting enough for me to decide that everyone I know should hear it.