Mediated Preference

Vlog it good!

2005-07-25T17:11:00.000-04:00

Soon we'll have seen everything--see the NYT article about vlogs. Who needs CNN's video feed once everyone gets on board with vloging? Ok, first: I'll have to brush up on things, camera, lighting, sound, editing--but I'm sure it'll come back--but: I'd like to announce that I'm available (as a consultant) to any candidate or office holder who would like to jump in with both feet (Pending acceptance to my (to be developed training) program. I'll have it done just as soon as I train myself. But first I need some start-up capital. Oh! Where are the venture capitalists anymore?).

No? Come on! Pleeeease? We can edit in clips from C-SPAN! I'm sure that at least three or four people in your district will see it!
Or we should just have our illustrious elected leaders drinking raw eggs and vomiting. That would show that they're in touch with the common people, right?

Ok, so it is like podcasting video. But why not synergise the power of blogs with the power of video? A splash of RSS, and we should have a good drink. But video podcasts? Please! It doesn't work with iTunes, so I'm not buying (not that I'd even make a micropayment for a video of Dick Durbin dishing judicial pillow talk in his boxers, or maybe...).

Lessig Lessons

2005-07-24T17:03:00.000-04:00

Well, now that I've finished the Lessig flash lecture I'd say that was a dessert for the meal which was this class.

I've already talked about copyright and commidification, so I'll just say this: Listen to what Bill Gates said. This is why we don't want to run government more like business.

One last question: since this was one of the last one of "these" that Lessig did, what does he do now? Juggle cats?
(I kid, I've seen his site, his blog, and so on)

And as that was one of his last, so shall this be my last. But no cat juggling! Father, could there be a God that could let this happen? (Was that fair use, if there is such a thing?)

The internet is not a library!

2005-07-24T16:44:00.000-04:00

Vaidhyanathan makes some statements about culture, but I just don't agree with the characterization of culture. Perhaps he is just a bit more optimistic and focused than I.

I can't accept culture as something that seems as if it organized upon anarchy. Why? It lacks rejection of a certain principle that I feel is of the utmost importance. One of this and that (and even the other thing). I agree with Vaidhyanathan in the desire for cultural openness, fluidity, and openness, this anti-imperialist impulse has been accepted for years (until the Bush Doctrine).

The need for a pluralist view of cultures and values is, I feel, essential to open societies. Culture acts as an organizing principle for people. The culture to which one belongs determines rights and wrongs. What is due and what is owed. Herder said that culture offers a "center of gravity" which may now be, for us, civic republicanism in governance.

Lessig Copyright

2005-07-22T09:45:00.000-04:00

Thank god Lessig doesn't sing. But he does: about Mickey Mouse! I knew it!

Taking material that hadn't yet fallen into the public domain (at least in the case of Steamboat Willie, at the time copyright only lasting 14 years!). At least some of Walt's source material was already in the public domain. But according to him turnabout isn't fair play. At least, not for the shareholders.

(Vaidhyanathan puts it in a rather crystaline form: "the United States corrupted its copyright system by privileging corporate interests to the detriment of the public interests.")

The question of culture as something that is owned speaks to the question of commidificaiton (I'll write about this later, with micropayments) of our own idioms and signifiers.

So I'll quote the refrain:
1. Creativity and innovation always build on the past.
2. The past always tries to control the creativity that builds on it.
3. Free societies enable the future by limiting the past.
4. Ours is a less and less free society.

Micropayments

2005-07-22T00:32:00.000-04:00

As much as I like the idea of micropayments I still find that I don't like the idea of micropayments. Much. Except I sort of do.

Overall: I'm not a fan. The increasing commidification of our culture is something that was a frequent topic of conversation in my art soaked past. We, as postmodernists, didn't steal. We appropriated. Hell, if it was from Disney, Pepsi, or the US government we liberated!

Earlier today I listened to part of Lessig's talk that came so highly recommended. In it he brought up the distinction between closed culture and allowing for free derivatives. Micropayments give opportunity to pay at each marginal step in cultural production. Of course, this is a naturally exclusive process. While fifteen cents doesn't seem like much it makes a difference when compounded.

Although if it is only 15 cents to see this or that piece of art (why limit it to viewing on the internet? Why not attach radio tracking units to museum goers? Charge per painting!) then the cost is so low that there is no public incentive to support such things. I have one word to respond to that and I can't say it here.

But about the political side: like we touched on in class.

Microgiving? Like PBS says: "If you love the Inspector Leher Nature Theatre call now to support it and ensure that we can keep it on the air!" Indicate a preference. Show what you care about.

In a representational system should there be a process of generalization of private concerns into the public realm? I'd say yes...this is why we attempt to limit some 'corrupting' influences on our representatives. After all, microgiving in a manner that indicates responsiveness to a specific issue placement or pitch offers a sample of those who care, have shown up, have the technology, and the microcash.

So I say:

Microgiving: worse than governing by polling.

Not as influential as you.

2005-07-21T20:07:00.000-04:00

The Washington Post had an article about AimFight. This is a new website through which you can compare your popularity to others through your prevalence on buddylists of the aim software. This seems to fill the need for a petty side of social software.

So my score was only in the 600s. I'm a nobody. I've heard tell of people with scores over ten times that.

Is this a predictor of status as an Influential?

Online political influentials would seem to be the same as offline political or someone who is otherwise an influential?

Now I know I need to read the book, but I remember another book that I'm sure many of us have read, The Tipping Point. In this book Malcolm Gladwell outlines three types of people: Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. These sound like various subject positions of infulentials.

No reason that someone can't occupy more than one of these positions, but it is more than believable that one position may dominate over the others. In any case utilizing the multiple roles in campaign volunteers and associations couldn't hurt.

Walt Disney stole my Pooh!

2005-07-19T23:23:00.000-04:00

With the class discussion in class tonight about copyright I, once again, have my dander up about the Walt Disney corporation. The continual moving of the goalpost on account of intervention by Disney and other private interests is telling.

I find things like the Family Entertainnment and Copyright Act to be a bit much--the name even moreso than the content (I will not go into how the Personal Responsibility and Work OpportunityReconciliation Act of 1996 is not that at all)--that I have trouble taking them seriously. Goes to show that you can pass a bad law as long as it has a good sounding name. Who else is up for some climate change?

On second thought, this isn't a good place to talk about property rights, now that they have become the meaningful element of citizenship in the United States. This blog is not for grade.

2005-07-18T23:26:00.000-04:00

2005-07-18T23:25:00.000-04:00

Revolutionary DMV!

2005-07-18T23:09:00.000-04:00

I've just bought a new car. I just thought you'd all want to know this.

As a result I've spent some time on the DC DMV website. Well, I've been there a few times now, I've used it to pay parking tickets since I brought my old car out east in January (and never in my life have I had as many parking tickets as I've had since I've been in DC!).

So here we have a government agency which "is committed to an almost revolutionary amount of change" (as I found out when I called to try to locate my car after I thought it had been towed, turns out they towed every car on the street except mine and the huge pick-up truck it was hidden behind. I'm serious, it on the 'please hold, your call is important to us' message if you call 202-727-5000).

The agency website seems to includes a high degree of functionality. I can't say that I had to worry much about he navigation, although it seems quite serviceable--I found the pages I needed by searching from the dc.gov homepage. That is, when I'm lucky enough to spell correctly.

Since I've been trying to register a car I've found that there are simply some gaps in the procedure to title, register, tag, inspect, and so on procedure as explained on the website. Although that seemed to explain it more comprehensively than when I visited the DMV in person.

It is revolutionary when thinking about he who I will not speak of and his prognostications about usability of various websites.

Ceci n'est pas une Blog

2005-07-18T22:18:00.000-04:00

Here is an article on blogs from the Washington Post. About blogs...I know, we are all so tired of blogs. But take a look.

Talk about a clash of cultures. Vico would crap himself over the disparate nature of the discourse going down between two relatively similar (seemingly) individuals. So here we're seeing two distinct political cultural positions. The usual. But we also get to see an expression of a cultural position of the journalism industry.

So I quote this:

If you are reading these words in a publication called The Washington Post Magazine, then the bloggers have not entirely overtaken the so-called mainstream media -- yet.

I didn't ever read this article on paper, but in reading it the I did see ads for Vonage and HP printers. At least the MSM isn't as dead as painting--and that's been dead for more than 80 years!

One other thing: I liked seeing the information about pay levels for bloggers. I'd like to see a more complete accounting for the political blogging industry. (And if I ask for this information should I ask for similar information for real (MSM) journalists? What would that be?)

Goodness, a blog post about a MSM article about blogs. Cosmic.

Readability, or: One problem at a time.

2005-07-10T23:50:00.000-04:00

I was reading Neilsen's Lower-Literacy Users article last night. I read the IPDI "Putting Online Influentials to Work for Your Campaign" earlier this week. I didn't enjoy it. Then I tried to read something else, an essay on phenomenalism, pluralism, and the inevitability of determinism. I couldn't stand doing it. I couldn't follow it, I didn't know what it was saying or why it was saying it at all.

I've tried using reader programs, I can't stand that either--even though there are days that I can't read well because of headaches or such things. Really, I have a problem at the other end. I need to get some of that voice recognition software--what with my arthritis I have days where I can hardly pick up a pen, let alone type (try opening a bottle of cola with no grip and a profound caffeine addiction).

But for now I went out and bought a printer. I was struck at how much more I absorbed when I read things on paper that I had only read online before (or, in this case, how little content there was to begin with after all). So I've found my readability solution. I reread the IPDI paper today--I found it much closer to being interesting--now I've found that I'd even like to read the book that they referred to. Now I can read things that are really interesting.

I hate blogs.

2005-07-10T23:41:00.000-04:00

This post is definitely not to be graded.

So: Blogs killed my new computer. I now hate blogs. hate. Hate. HATE!

I think it was some sort of java problem. It all started when the version of my RSS reader ran out of time. I thought I'd downloaded the 'Lite' version, I guess not. When I downloaded the light version it wouldn't unzip--so I decided that I'd try another tool. I found something which would fold into my browser. Then things really went bad. Nothing would work, not Firefox, not Safari, not Netscape, not Explorer. My mail and IM programs worked. Skype didn't, nor did my peer-to-peer software (which I only use to share files with no copyright! This isn't a deposition! You can't ask me those sorts of questions! Get your hands off my purse!).

Now, a week and a half later--I've reinstalled my system software, all my programs from back-ups (which I'd only just made, since I just sold my old laptop). This is my first computer death since the 90s! Since I used Windows 3.1! I had to reinstall everything and I blame blogs. And I still don't have a working RSS feed reader.

Influentials

2005-07-10T23:26:00.000-04:00

Wow, Influential are important. Influentials are well connected. Infulentials are important to winning! Make them your eCaptains! So: "the way people get through is by turning to people they trust.' Your Online Political Citizens. Your Influentials."

Ok, first off: I don't buy it that you can only use the Online Influentials. Wouldn't we want to use all Influentials available to us? Duh.

So this would be about making and maintaining contact and getting them to work for you. The internet serves as a communication and delivery device. The shape of the stuff might change given your audience, but that is something to be sensitive online or offline, young or old, creamy or crunchy. Back to message targeting, right?

I define myself by my cell phone ring.

2005-07-10T23:21:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I was up in Baltimore, minding my own business, drinking coffee and reading outside a coffee shop. Someone called me...So my phone starts to ring. Except nobody has a phone that rings anymore! That is so 1997! (Unless you are trying to be retro. Please, I'm hearing Hanson and The Verve all the sudden--bring me back to 2005. In any case, back to my story: my phone, well, it doesn't ring, but it does what it does. My friend who was meeting me was trying to locate me, sort call, you know the sort. When I got off the phone I noticed two teenage girls laughing at me. Mean schoolgirls. Alpha girls, you know what I'm saying? They were commenting on my ringtone! Apparently they believed that my ringtone had been some sort of Mariah Carey song! Poor, culturally backward kids. Fortunately, their mother was with them (at least I guess it was their mother)--she corrected them, telling them that she knew the song. It was a great song and a big hit--Genius of Love, by the Tom Tom Club (turns out that it has been sampled since). I'm still not sure if I'm more comfortable with being laughed at by kids or having their mother come to my defense.

In any case, even I think things are getting little out of control. The New York Times had an article today about ringtones. DJing with a cell phone? Oh lord. I'm all for good ringtones...But very few are worth $2. I'm also not sure that I'd be interested in an entire 'album' of this stuff. My last phone had a composer program, but being unable to cope with musical notes that aren't already associated and sequenced in some meaningful manner.

The most disturbing part was the 'senior analyst' at billboard magazine saying "That's part of how they brand themselves." Yikes. I thought that was what shoes are for.

Section 508

2005-07-03T18:39:00.000-04:00

Wow, did anyone else look into Section 508 accessibility? I tried to look into it and came across www.section508.gov. Honestly, it would have made more sense if I were a procurement officer. But at least it is good to see that there are some standards.

My problem with the arguments made in Chapter 6 of Johnson's 'Congress Online' is that I just don't buy it. Maybe I'm not the typical user, when I want to know about a vote I don't look to the member to tell me how they voted. There are media sources that offer that information--and will put it in context, if I need it. Any contextualization on a member's site should and will only work to put the member in the best light.

But I'm one of these people who has little respect for how most of our laws are written.

Moose?

2005-07-03T17:17:00.000-04:00

For anyone who missed this:
A moose wandered into an ER in Anchorage.

But the moose had no insurance.

Poor moose.

We need to do more for our brother and sister mooses.

Emails and feeling connected

2005-07-02T18:59:00.000-04:00

The one time I contacted my Representative by email they failed the e-test. It isn't like I would have ever voted for them in the first place, but still, they are my elected whatever. Email didn't work, so after a couple days of not hearing back I called the office and they responded by tracking down the forms which had been lost by some godforsaken office some place in some office. They got back to me the same Friday I called and my problem was solved by Monday afternoon.

The problems for a Congressional office must be pretty bad if my experience is any measuring stick. And by what "Congress Online" says it is like that for a lot of constituents. If these problems are bad for elected officials, who have a known budget and a relatively stable and predictable timeline it is a wonder that campaigns can do anything right. Being competent in a response is great, but as in my experience, it is worthless unless the problem reaches the right person (I recall being handed off several times, from the person who answered the phone at the local office, to a correspondence person in the local office, to someone in the DC office, to a correspondence person in the DC office, to yet another person (who's title was not known to me) in the DC office. Like an email wouldn't have gotten totally lost even if the first person would have read it. Hey, it took four people to get me to someone who could help me with my problem, since they work in congress I'm sure they have a collective IQ of about 237, but I doubt that EchoMail would have done that much better).

When an established system has so much trouble one can't help but to wonder how difficult it is for a campaign, with a timeline that can be very much up in the air and a hand-to-mouth budget. Of course from what I've seen in other areas in which I've worked tech issues can be very easy or very hard--depending on two things: First, the devotion of the decision makers to having good (and appropriate) tech solutions--this doesn't mean the best or newest, but the most functional. Second, having an IT person who is good at it. Of course there are lots of good IT people and providers out there, but it can be hard to tell, for those of us who aren't 'tech savvy' to tell them from the one's who were educated with a banana and an inner tube.

Ohio Voting 2004

2005-06-29T08:18:00.000-04:00

After our discussion in class last night I dug through my records and found this:

The Ohio Voter's Bill of Rights (link is a PDF file):

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE:

1. If you got in line or arrived at the polling place any time between 6:30 a.m. OR 7:30 p.m. Ohio Code § 3501.32

2. WITHOUT PRESENTING ANY IDENTIFICATION after the election officials verify your signature. If you cannot

sign the register, you may still vote after you present proper identification to verify your identity. § 3505.18

3. BY PROVISIONAL BALLOT if your name is not on the list of registered voters, or you are a first time voter

who registered by mail and you do not have identification and you did not include a copy of your identification

with your application. Help America Vote Act of 2002, 42 USC 15482

4. At that same assigned polling place, IF YOU HAVE MOVED WITHIN THE SAME PRECINCT OR CHANGED YOUR NAME. § 3503.16 (B)(1)

5. BY PROVISIONAL BALLOT at the polling place in the precinct in which you currently live or at a site designated by the board of election if you have moved within the same county, moved from one precinct to another, or changed your name within 30 days of an election. §§ 3503.16 (B)(2), (G)

6. At a site designated by the board of elections or by an absentee ballot if you are unable to appear in person,

6A. IF YOU HAVE MOVED TO A DIFFERENT COUNTY within 28 days of Election Day. §§ 3503.16 (C), (G)

7. WITHOUT THE FIVE-MINUTE TIME LIMIT as long as one other machine is not in use or no one is waiting in line. § 3505.23

8. With a new ballot IF YOU MAKE A MISTAKE AND “SPOIL” YOUR PAPER BALLOT. You cannot receive more than three ballots. § 3505.23

9. With help from anyone except your employer, an agent of your employer, or an officer or agent of your union IF YOU CANNOT READ OR WRITE, ARE BLIND OR OTHERWISE DISABLED. § 3505.24

10. WITH ASSISTANCE FROM WITHIN THE VEHICLE THAT BROUGHT YOU TO THE POLLING SITE OR AT THE DOOR OF THE POLLING PLACE IF YOUR POLLING PLACE is inaccessible to you due to a disability.§ 3501.29(C) § 3501.29(C)

11. IF YOU ARE IN JAIL as long as you have not been convicted of a felony OR if you have been released from prison for conviction of a felony, even if you are still on probation or parole. §§ 2961.01, 3503.21

12. WITHOUT BEING INTIMIDATED or forced to vote for someone you do not wish to vote for. §§ 3599.06 3599.01(A), 3599.05, 3599.06

It was distributed by email and in paper versions. It is a good summary of the Ohio voting laws and it jibes with my Elections Judge handbook from Franklin County, Ohio (where Columbus is Located).

When I went to my Elections Judge training a couple of years ago all the talk was about keeping Ohio from being the next Florida. Of course that was in 2002, I guess we didn't keep our eyes on the prize.

2005-06-27T22:21:00.000-04:00

“Just imagine if someone came to your door [and showed you] the latest state-of-the-art-technology,” said Swire. “Then imagine if they showed you a video clip on an issue you truly cared about.”

From the Narrowcasting in Ohio article.

What I remember people talking about in Ohio last year was the technology. Now, still, whenever I talk to someone from ACT all they talk about the technology. I know it must be exciting to be able to show someone a customized video at their doorstep, but is it effective?

For the big one, the presidential election, that is, the ACT sort of targeting and customization might be justifiable given the cost involved. But for smaller elections I would be more comfortable being a candidate of a party that had a Bush-like organization reaching all levels of the various constituencies.

I don't think that this stuff is going anywhere, but I don't think it is ready for primetime yet. Of course, once doorstep videos and podcasts and such become commonplace they will be more effective as communication tools, until then they are just novelties.

Computer Problems

2005-06-25T18:09:00.000-04:00

2005-06-24T18:08:00.000-04:00

Failure to regulate?

2005-06-21T00:50:00.000-04:00

I've just watched some guy (Walter Mossberg) on Charlie Rose talking about broadband. He pointed out that the failure to properly regulate has lead to crappy broadband service in the United States.

I'd just like to mention this--he gave the example of Japan, where there was active definition of the market and regulations which created a competitive market of fast, high speed (I think he said it was up to 8 megabits per second?) broadband service for about $22 per month.

A risk of lack of regulation!

RSS, Email, Privacy, and feedback

2005-06-20T18:55:00.000-04:00

After reading the article about RSS vs. email I wonder what the possibility for tracking of receipt and clickthrough of a RSS newsletter is. How easy is it to see who gets the newsletter, how can we target them, how can we track who opens the piece (be it an email or RSS thingy (post? article? what should I call this?) and how people respond to it?

One other thing:
How long will it take for someone to steal and massively misuse a political email list? That is, if it hasn't already happened. With the latest news from that 40 million records, involving MasterCard and Visa, having been compromised at CardSystems Solutions how can it not be a matter of time until someone cracks a campaign or advocacy group's database?

TiVo for the internet?

2005-06-19T23:37:00.000-04:00

With each new medium we find ways to filter out what we don't like or don't care about. I don't often read the travel section of the newspaper (not because I don't like travel, but because reading it makes me sad that I can't afford to travel these days). I wasn't around when radio was becoming commonplace, but it brought about a shift in people's sensory orchestration, often along generational lines.

As the Winning Campaigns Online book points out, people mute their TVs and fast-forward their VCRs when commercials come around. Now, this may be out of date--what with TiVo having come about (but that change is yet another reason to buy the third edition of the book, right?), but the idea is the same, skip to the content.

RSS feeders for news and information allow for the same filtering. I open up NetNewsWire and I don't see any ads. I open up the Washington Post and there it is: flat screen TVs and Nextel! Good, but now I have a way around that, as Mike D pointed out. Maybe they attach ads to the feeds? I don't know, I like to listen to my news. That way I can read at the same time.

The internet knows many things...

2005-06-18T10:36:00.000-04:00

But the voters want to know one big thing. Right?

This is why we send targeted emails. Except that the voters want to know the one big thing that appeals to them--but the politics of self-fulfillment (really self-absorption) are what we have and what we are good at, because it is who we have become--so we'd better give it to them.

It is a question of how to present a fractured and pluralist world and political message. But we seem to be continuing to only think about how to present it as a monolithic idea, just as long as it is the right idea to the right voter. Sort of like a sign I once saw, boasting of the "Right Car, Right Train" rate of a rail yard, as long as we hit 51% we are happy.

So we act as if we are giving the voters their one big thing, but instead puff up a little thing, and tiptoe around, hoping the souffle doesn't fall.

Googling Yourself

2005-06-17T22:58:00.000-04:00

Ok, every time I hear about googling one's self I do it. This time I was reminded by Southern Dems Still Exist's (and that is a good thing to hear!) post on the topic.

Turns out that I'm a conservative Republican, who ran for NYC City Council, district 12, in 2003. Yikes. And if that isn't the case maybe I play junior rugby?

My god, this is why I don't google myself. Yet another thing (along with blog posting) that shouldn't be done while drunk.

Evaluation and Who Won.

2005-06-16T23:39:00.000-04:00

The evaluations of the Bush and Kerry campaign email newsletters was interesting, but less than inspiring. Like most evaluations of this last presidential campaign I feel not only unmoved, but more than a little disappointed.

Ok, so most of the disappointment comes from being with the guy who lost. I'm used to loosing: never having voted for a winner in a federal campaign, very few at the state level, although a few more at the local/county level, and never having done anything to help a winner (beyond voting for them, and often that was just out of voting my party slate). But I'm disappointed by the interpretation of the last campaign.

The three Nielson readings for this week were very interesting, but I'm seeing an analysis which doesn't respond to the needs of those whose work he is evaluating. I'm happy to see that Nielson feels that both campaigns included plenty of content, and, as Nielson says: "if something is interesting, you can forgive many usability sins."

GOTV and fundraising are great things to do with your supporters. But your supporters are your supporters. You suck money out of them and make sure they show up to vote. Other than that, get them to show up at events to make the candidate look good. Ok, they can do a few other things too, like get me coffee.

If I were a U.S. median voter I could see having voted for Bush in this last campaign. I just don't get it in Ohio. Now, I'm from Franklin county, where Gore beat Bush by a little over 4,000 votes in 2000. In 2004 Bush lost to Kerry by just under 50,000 votes in the county. So I guess I should stick to local issues?

I've been listening to a lot of people say here is what Bush did right because he won, here is what Kerry did because he lost. In my religion they both did a lot of things wrong, they are failures as leaders, Kerry being unable to inspire, and Bush being intellectually dishonest. We are all sinners though, as I've said before: democracy should be an open process.
I'll stop foaming for now.

Concrete Things and the Small Donor

2005-06-15T03:42:00.000-04:00

The fundraising successes of the internet detailed in the IPDI Political Consultants' Online Fundraising Primer make the method seem promising. We see younger voters giving, we see more small donations. Good things? Sure, why not. Makes me feel better about young voters and small donations. Now, if only we could get poor people to give, maybe they'd start listening to us.

In any case, to get a big donor to give we work them, personally. A small donor? Oh, send them a letter, if they come to an event give 'em a card, whatever. The internet adds a point of contact. I've given money over the internet, I've given money a couple of times, all over the internet. Even on a few campaigns I've volunteered on.

The internet is a sufficiently concrete point of entry. A point of contact that can be called up by the voter, rather than targeted by the campaign. This may be one of the equalizing effects of the internet. Now if only everyone had some money to give to the people they want to see in office.

Crediting the Internet

2005-06-14T22:15:00.000-04:00

The question brought up in class about giving credit to internet activity if donors are directed to the website by a piece of direct mail, or anywhere else for that matter brings up questions about who gets paid. Given the extent of the information given in the IPDI Political Consultants' Online Fundraising Primer the current state of play seems pretty well outlined.

The question about who gets paid, well, perhaps this conflict is indicative of a failure of the market to adapt to changing circumstances. I'm no expert, but perhaps this would be a role for groups such as the AAPC? Since we don't seem to know what to do with them most of the time, why not task them with this?

Welcome to making decisions to structure our profession so we can all make more money.

Pop Culture Rip-Off

2005-06-14T00:36:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine told me about an advocacy video for the Organic Trade Association. Interesting to see who they talk about and who they don't. More than a bit cheesey, a bit long, but fun. Take a look.

Privacy and Repression

2005-06-13T19:22:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I commented on a post on the iammeblog about privacy and political contributions. Alerting us about a new website with information about political contributions.

The more I think about it the more I worry about public accessibility of records of political contributions in the United States.

The U.S. is a democracy, right? We have a system which operates openly and transparently. So why do I worry about others seeing my political contributions? Because I'm not so sure that we are open and transparent. I'm not sure that we follow the rules of the game. Ok, I think we don't.

In a repressive system one should be afraid to see one's political speech, actions, support, and contributions open to scrutiny by any who would choose to do so. We have something to fear if this information would be used against us. If one's political activity can put your job at risk, put your housing at risk, put your life at risk, then I'd damn well say that we live in a closed, repressive nation. What is put at risk here in America? Are we headed toward or away from an open system?

The political realm is not a private one, the political realm is one in which determinations are made about all of us. When we make such determinations it should be open and public. The amount of money given should be public, the candidate or group placing an advertisement should be stated. If I print up a pamphlet making a political statement or argument I should attach my name to it.

What worries me is that I'm not convinced that it is such a good idea to have such openness in the United States. I'm worried about what could be done to us. Will someone's income be placed at risk if they state their political convictions outside of the work place? Hell, it is well known that if one states their sexual convictions outside of my workplace that it could endanger their job, or ability to serve the country in the armed services, or even participate in the Boy Scouts.

Blogging is great, but I'll be impressed when everyone goes by their real name. I know I wouldn't. But this isn't so much a statement about blogs and the internet as it is about our society.

Post blog ergo propter blog.

2005-06-12T23:54:00.000-04:00

While I've been having a good time reading the class blogs I have to be honest, I'm bored as can be with reading blogs. I've never found reading daily blogs that interesting. I'd rather pull my own teeth out than read a political blog every day.

But, will political blogs become an key part of the political institution? I don't think it would. There is a difference between having influence and becoming part of an in institutional system. So much of what we attribute to blogs may not truly be because of blogs, but it sure feels good to say that blogs had such an impact.

Now, after a couple weeks of reading mainstream blogs every day I feel like chewing my own foot off. It seems like the same thing again and again, most of the information I've heard of elsewhere, the analysis is, more often than not, limp, and not really something I care a great deal about.

Why do I like reading the class blogs? Because they are about a topic I'm interested in, not as much sorting the wheat from the chaff.

Providing for Us?

2005-06-11T23:03:00.000-04:00

Catching up a bit here...

Who is the source on the internet? If the NRA or CSX or HRC or IBM or the UAW puts up a website with a public message board/blog then I write something on it, whose problem is it? If endorsements are being made, say, by me, whose problem is that? Does this constitute sponsorship of an endorsement?

I don't want everyone to know who I am, but if I'm going to be making a political endorsement should I be compelled to make a disclosure? How about if I print up a pamphlet? Sponsor a documentary (I'm very interested in the possibilities of documentary as political tools)? Pay people to stand on street corners in sandwich boards?

New Media & the Spectacle

2005-06-10T23:29:00.000-04:00

The Spectacle is not a collection of images; it is a social relationship between people that is mediated by images.
-Guy Debord

I wouldn't have expected that the next step in communication and mediation would be quite so text based. I have vague memories of pulling up what would become webpages in text only, pine email reading, ASCII art, all this along with a 1200 or 2400 baud modem. Now still and moving images cover the internet and are beginning to creep into cell phones (both peer-to-peer (picture phone messaging) and mass media (Verizon's V-Cast).

To be honest, I never would have expected the next step in communications to increase the amount of textual communication available to people. However this is, again, an opt-in communication stream (raising increased concern for factionalism) and I'm not convinced that a large enough proportion of society will do so. I'll also put this thought forward: as the internet becomes increasingly commercialized what are the prospects for continued openness?

Is it a matter of time before our cell phones (sorry, mobile phones, cell systems are so 1989) start to send us coupons, as I've seen others talk about? I've read some of the articles referred to and if Starbucks sent me a message on my phone promising me a free cookie if I stopped in (like they would wait until I was in the store! If I'm already in the store they've got me!) I would, no doubt need a four dollar coffee to go with it.

How should the corporate interests implement this? Two words: incremental action.

How we talk now.

2005-06-09T23:12:00.000-04:00

I'm still getting used to this blogging format, and I should have started with the part that I actually wanted to talk about: the way in which people were talking about the problem.

It is the way in which the language seeps across boundaries that I'm most interested in . I read dailykos mostly for the diaries and comments--and in the case of the 'pie fight' comments I have seen the word 'censorship' thrown around more than a couple of times. Similarly in the case of United Church of Christ ads rejection by television networks last year.

But wow, ad revenue as speech, an enabler of speech, and an oppressive force. My head spins, but I still can't use the internet and chew gum at the same time.

Blogging about a blog...

2005-06-08T11:25:00.000-04:00

If anyone else has been following the "pie ad" controversy on dailykos I wonder what everyone's thoughts are in so far as the approach that people are using to argue for and against it. Although if I were to run a website with commercial ads that I'd be able to be selective about what advertisers and content I accept (and this pie thing is one I'd take a pass on). But we do have to pay for our bandwidth, right?

What I find interesting in reading the diaries and comments about this topic is how close the discussion comes to that of money in political campaigns. What the discussion flirts with is the question of money as a protected form of speech. It isn't always part of the dialogue, but it comes in at a number of points.

Now, commercial advertisements are certainly different than protected political speech. But, I think that the difficulty in discerning the difference between speech, money as protected speech, and a commercial placement.

Then there was the c-word being thrown around. Censorship. I once censored someone: I was running a show of artists back when I was an undergraduate, and someone's work sucked. So I threw them out. Now that was a stink. So how do these lines get drawn in the internet? Who draws them? Will we like the picture we are getting?

Why read...

2005-06-07T22:39:00.000-04:00

I've just been watching an interview of Don Hewett on Tavis Smiley. Don Hewett just said that people don't read newspapers to get the news, they read the newspaper to read columnists.
So why read blogs? For the same reason. Good for that.

The interview spent a good deal of time discussing how politics was ruined by television. Hewett spent a good amount of time discussing the importance of the first Nixon/Kennedy televised debate. Sure, it was historical and all that, but his point was that it ruined Christmas.

Not so much Christmas, rather it began a transition to new type of relationship which shifted television news from one in which networks regarded the news departments not as something which acts as a fulfillment of the public service responsibility (due to use of the public airwaves) to a situation in which profit could be gained from such departments. This profit association was further strengthened by the success of 60 Minutes (which Hewett stated has brought in $2.2 Billion in profits over its years).

Television is primarily a delivery medium, the Internet acts as both a delivery and fulfillment medium. The internet has been going from a transition from one which was, years back (wow, someone asked if anyone remembers BBS'? Takes me back), a user driven medium, to a profit based medium.

So with the internet can we have a nice Thanksgiving?

The last thing the internet needs...

2005-06-06T00:07:00.000-04:00

The last thing the internet needs is another fat white man prognostication about things from a privilege place. I guess I'm just sore about someone having described where I come from as "fly over" a couple days ago.

My admission is that I'm less concerned about usage of new technology in the United States. We have a deep division of wealth and resources. However, from an absolute standpoint a large proportion of us can afford a great deal of technology.

The Democrats and Republicans can use this technology and, relatively, so can the Greens. So what about places that have a greater measure of absolute poverty? How can this relative imbalance in resources influence the use of these technologies?

The use of Radio in the Rwandan Genocide is bound to expand into the new media, just like we have. Wow, additional tools. Imagine a vertically integrated system of mass- and peer-to-peer- communications.

I hate to ask this...

2005-06-05T22:25:00.000-04:00

How long until the first genocide directed by text messages and MoSoSo?

I was just looking at the distribution lists option in my cell phone. Never used it, I won't even cc emails to people, unless it is just to ensure that a third party has a copy. One of those things about the alienating nature of efficiency.

Don't get me wrong, I like this technology. I have been reading news/opinion blogs for a number of years now. Things cut both ways. It doesn't help me sleep better knowing that MoveOn has been successful with the internet, when, unfortunately, white supremacist also use the tool to recruit successfully. The reason to be here is to be better at it than them.

Any ideas?

Mediation and Opinion

2005-06-04T22:17:00.000-04:00

Much of what we see on the internet is strongly tainted with opinion. But, come on, what isn't?

Last week at church the Memorial Day sermon included a reference to Donald Rumsfeld. Not direct, but clear. Political ideas and opinions color everything, often where we do not want, or expect, them. I suppose that now days we can agree that the internet is here to stay. Text messages have been a favorite way of mine to communicate for around 5 years now. Do these things intersect? Yes.

The internet offers us access to more information than any of us have time to consume, just like the old method of choosing what paper we read or what network we watch. Now we have more outlets and more definable parameters. So what?

But will this drive us further apart?

Yet another website.

2005-06-03T23:06:00.000-04:00

I wanted to offer this for everyone to look at:

2004-America & the Globe

I had a class from the guy involved in this, they did a similar thing in 2000, I think it was called "Democracy-The Last Campaign"--A little omonious maybe, and by todays terms it was a really simple site. But it is more of what I am comfortable with, being something that grew out of a community I'm more accustomed to. Take a look.

Are you a good witch or a bad witch?

2005-06-02T23:45:00.000-04:00

I was reminded of the IPDI conference from a while back (which was fantastic, for those of you who put it together), where blogs were all the rage. Seems like they still are.

However every panelist I heard referred to blogs in a monolithic manner, nothing little difference in the function of the various types of blogs out there. To even talk about political blogs there must be several different types. The campaign blog (classic example being Dean) is the most obvious and blatantly political. Then we see blogs put up by organizations, perhaps for their advocacy efforts. There are blogs that offer commentary, then those that just hammer opinion (the talk radio of blogs).

Much of the discussion was about the regulation of blogs (as mentioned on Kathie's Politech earlier today). Wow, bloggers sure know how to complain. But by not having distinguished between the different types of blogs the bitching was limited as far as how useful it is. Many concerns were voiced about blogs which served very different masters, but might be regulated in the same way. So I guess my question is when do we stop calling them all blogs? Then what do we call them?

Media Filter

2005-06-01T17:20:00.000-04:00

I don't have specialized news feeds. I watch a variety of sources. I don't pay attention a lot of the time. I don't care what happens to Michael Jackson, just like OJ Simpson or Lizzie Borden (although I care about the functioning process). I read a lot of the paper, but not all of it. Never the travel section, since that reminds me of how poor I am.

There is a difference between news and events. Not that I don't care about events, I try to keep up on the antics of Tom Cruise, J Lo, Paris Hilton (engaged?!?), Ashton and Demi, and what George Bush hit his head on last weekend (ok, that might be news). I filter by specialized function, flipping between the last half of the News Hour and Inside Edition. Tavis Smily and ER (except now it sucks, so not so much).

The separation of presentation and opinion is tricky, but hey, I have all my own cultural baggage. That must be why I turned into a NPR listening, Atlantic reading, vegetarian, pinko commie scum. So that is what I read, and when I watch Fox News (which I do from time to time) I'll watch it much more critically. Of course I find bias, even when there is little.

Blog needs.

2005-05-31T17:12:00.000-04:00

Seth Godin states the following about blogging for CEOs:
"Blogs work when they are based on:

Candor
Urgency
Timeliness
Pithiness and
Controversy

(maybe Utility if you want six)."

(linked from the webpagesthatsuck.com reading: http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/biggest-web-design-mistakes-in-2004-part2.html)

If any of you are going to read this blog in the future I had better learn how to insert a link, because this is already failing to present content in the easiest possible manner. I often violate of the rules of maintaining a simplicity, ease of use, and consistency; something that can be challenging and successful in art, but not on the internet.

My sins so far:
-I learned how to make a link, but didn't take notes and no longer remember,
-I failed to define my intent at the beginning of the post, I'll be lucky if I buried it half way through. At this point I'll be lucky to mention it at all, and you won't notice it even if I do because the structure isn't putting it forth in the best way.
-This doesn't tell anyone anything new, nor does it give reasons to come back for the same again or something that is new.

Blogger has sinned too: The site includes a spell check which does not recognize the word 'blog'