Back Soon… I think

“Back Soon” from Frengo2.0’s Flickr Stream.  Licensed under the Creative Commons.
The semester is just about over, the election is behind us, and I’m feeling confident that Barack Obama is going to keep the world’s uteruses safe (for the time being).  I’ve so enjoyed sharing this space with you all and having to form (what I [...]

A Social Networked Protest in India

Each week about this time I report in on how social networking technologies (usually Facebook) and politics (usually Planned Parenthood) interact.  This week, I’m still going to do that, but I’m going to point to an article I heard last night on NPR’s All Things Considered.  Referencing the work of Howard Rheingold, author of Smart [...]

Interface The Future

I think that the Seattle Weekly got it right. Interface is “a Manchurian Candidate for the Computer Age.”  In fact, the whole time I read the book I kept thinking that the plot had kind of been covered in that movie a number of years ago.  This isn’t to say that I don’t adore Stephenson. When [...]

Still The Cause, Not the Technology

This semester I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about successful campaign organization and messaging.  One common thread, in all my classes and volunteer work, is that without a solid message or a good candidate all the technology in the world wont help.  Nowhere is this clearer to me than in the presidential election.  [...]

Election Recovery, Thank You Notes, and Forgotten Help

The day after Barack Hussein Obama made history, Planned Parenthood sent me a short thank you note via e-mail.  It included a link to the PDF of their “this is what it feels like” project– pretty cool but, from what I can tell from their website hasn’t been hugely successful.  Also, they didn’t ask me [...]

So, I’m Not The Only One Creeped Out By Facebook Politics

Just wanted to let ya’ll know that Jezebel agrees with me.  Writing about the post-election reaction on Facebook, the Jezebel ladies note:
But then something else hits you: the anger in her messages and the vitriol in her words must sound, to you, exactly like your anti-Palin/anti-McCain rants sound to her. And yet, she still sends [...]

We Just Saw “The First Campaign”

Not going to lie, it was a little weird to read The First Campaign: Globalization, the Web, and the Race for the White House just a few short days after Barack Obama made history.  I wanted to like Garrett Graff’s book, but as with so many books about globalization and technology’s potential I found that [...]

Donate Your Facebook Status?

Have you not asked for enough Sirs?!  Now you want my Facebook status too?!  I mean, I have big, big plans for my status on Nov. 4– but I do not need your fancy application to update my status for me.  No sir.  For me, part of what makes status updates fun is that they [...]

Blended Networking! Eureka!

Eureka!  I just finished reading another IPDI report, Person-to-Person-to-Person (like takes you to the free PDF), and am so glad I finally found the phrase I’ve been looking for: Blended Networking. I could’ve smacked myself on the forehead– all those posts I wrote about how everyone is describing the importance of online communications connecting with [...]

Agreeing to… Agree?

Comparatively, I don’t have a whole lot of friends on Facebook– 99.  I am NOT going to crisis over into the 100 realm, no sir.  It sounds harsh, but as soon as I finish up this degree I’m going to do some serious pruning.
Politics and Facebook is starting to bug me a little.  While I [...]