techPresident - citizen journalism - Comments

citizens' press in Denver

Nancy Scola — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:19:57 -0400

So great to hear from you, Mayhill. I'm curious as to what you mean about bloggers not having the same access as "regular press" at the DNC. As far as I can tell, bloggers credentialed by the DNC got the same light purple creds as all other media, and in some cases received some extra perks -- a dedicated lounge in the Pepsi Center and a blogger sky box at Invesco among them.

access of citizen journalists

Mayhill — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:29:37 -0400

Nancy, a couple of comments. First of all, bloggers did not have the full access in Denver that the regular press had. Except for INVESCO, everybody--delegates, volunteers, MSM and bloggers-- stood in the same 20-min. to hour-long line to get into the Pepsi Center. Most of the time we OtB folk shared a pass to the blogger Big Tent; I got in there briefly only twice.
On the campaign trail, I always stand in line with the eventers--my record I believe is 6 hours before getting into a union hall in Houston to see Hillary Clinton. Sometimes I sit with the spectators; sometimes I go in the press compound. Many days this is not my decision but the campaign's. Often there is nowhere for non-traveling press to sit, much less have ethernet. I have broadband and pay for that myself. Local press are the people seriously inconvenienced, because their papers don't pay for broadband. There is no "privileged access" Off the Bus--I've even had my hand slapped away from a bottled water when, just starting out, I didn't realize all food and drink set out is for the traveling press only. The only privilege is in listening to great people I otherwise would never have met. A chair and workspace, a line cut and an electrical outlet aren't worth giving that up.
Mayhill Fowler

Wish us luck

shelbinator — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 12:04:33 -0500

I've swung the complete spectrum of emotion from, "This is silly, I'm a doctoral student in engineering looking for a career in arms control and I'm about to go all Real World?" to "Holy crap, I am so not ready to handle this." I hope getting together with the other 50 and hearing what MTV has to tell us settles some of those butterflies. Will they tell us what the criteria are for network-worthy content? Who knows. But I'll be interested to see what the reception from the MTV audience is online. When I can interview presidential candidates and only garner 65 YouTube subscriptions, and even a powerhouse like James Kotecki's 4,000-ish subscribers (or the "official" Citizentube's 4,900-ish) pale in comparison to TheHill88's 55,000 or HappySlip's 99,000, what can we do to jazz up politics and draw attention? Ah, the continuing conundrum....

Press or Bloggers

EburgObama08 — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 12:18:53 -0400

I'm in Chicago on vacation, and was hoping to stop by the Barack Obama's national campaign headquarters to make a short video.

It was just going to be a quick - "here's a tour of the headquarters for all of you Barack Obama supporters" type video.

It was a beautiful day in Chicago, so I hopped on the CTA from Skokie (where my hotel is) and headed into the windy city.

I walked down the Miracle mile and past the Chicago Tribune building and then went into the the building where the headquarters are on North Michigan.

Of course I could not just walk in, and so the security person called upstairs and asked if I could stop by for a short visit. She explained that I was a Obama volunteer from Pennsylvania. The answer was short too. No.

OK. Understood. Security, etc. But do I give up or do I persist? Did I just knock on 97 doors on my "Walk For Change?" Persistence is my choice.

After calling the toll free number, I spoke with Lynn, (or was her name Liz? cell phones!!!!) who listened to my request, and said that she was not sure if it could be honored.

Did I mention that I bought a new HD video cam and wanted to make a short video of the headquarters to put on my blog - http://eburgobama08.org?

Lynn/Liz took my contact information and said she would let me know. Hmmm.... sounds like what they say when you don't get that job.

That was a week ago. I don't think this is going to happen. One thing though, if you say to someone that you will let them know, either via email or phone (I left both with Lynn/Liz), even if (as it appears now) - the answer is still no video, you should be polite and send the email or make the phone call.

It's just manners, or "Netiquette", don't you know. I guess I was placed in the "just brush the person off" category.

"Not Nice!" as Borat might say.

B-(

Oh well, I had a nice walk, and took some video, which I'll try to edit and post on my blog.

Jim Lyons
http://eburgobama08.org
"Learn at least one new thing each day" - Stephen Poulos 1955-2001

lesson's value is not so much for "us," but for the campaigns

iwilker — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:36:06 -0400

The smart campaign will love an opportunity like this, will in fact have trained for it assiduously. "How will we react when someone tosses us a curveball? When we're criticized, or when someone with a cam and a Mac remixes our 'brand' into something far, far away from our intent?"

The electorate knows to pay little or no attention when candidates are able to stick to the script. And they spring to alertness when ever an unexpected, unscripted out-of-left-field moment arises. They want to see the real person; they want to see what happens when a candidate (and a campaign) has to improvise.

Moments like these are a huge chance to be authentic, to show faith that your constituents will also get the difference between authorized and unauthorized views, to show belief that it takes all kinds (within obvious bounds) and that the candidate will take people as they come).

From what I've read about Obama, he's got the chops to handle things like this in perfect key. And if so, the electorate will say, "Ah, Obama-san, your social-media kung fu is very strong."

-----
Ian Wilker
roots.lab - helping nonprofits leverage the social web.
www.ianwilker.com/rootslab/