What do you think about Obama's use of the Internet as a part of his campaign? His post-campaign strategy?
Besides the fact that the web design of both sites is, dare I say it, beautiful, the networking and public quality of both sites helped create a movement.
“Just like Kennedy brought in the television presidency, I think we’re about to see the first wired, connected, networked presidency,” Mr. Trippi said.
***Check out Print magazine's analysis of various designs used in presidential campaigns over the years. You can download a PDF.
2 comments:
Maybe this is more than a little obvious, but didn't Obama display a certain savvyness with technology that made him much more appealing to young people? I remember the stink that was caused when John McCain admitted that he didn't know how to use a computer. It's fair, though, because it's not like economic disadvantages were keeping John McCain away from technology; kinda makes me wonder if he had someone man his senate e-mail address and print out his messages for him so he could read them on paper. Maybe it gave people flashbacks of Reagan's ineptitude?
Something a lot of people have ignored is how Barack Obama ads started showing up in video games. In Burnout Paradise, a racing game for the XBox 360 and the PS3, Barack Obama's "vote early" campaign was present on many of the in-game billboards--obviously, this is something that McCain didn't do. Actually, I can't think of any youth-targetting maneuvers by the McCain campaign; by the end, it felt like they were trying to appeal primarily to grumpy, white middle-class people who honestly believed they would be making more than $250k a year in the future.
And then we have change.gov, which can be compared to Roosevelt's Fireside Chats of the Great Depression. I think this is the first time in history that a President ELECT's web site has been so forthcoming about what he plans to do in the future. Actually, I think this is the first time in history that I've ever been to a President Elect's web site. Go fig.
This kind of fits very nicely into some of our readings on genre this week. Behold:
Pennell: ""In part, this reciprocity forces us to investigate the conflation of genre as artifact (noun) and genre as action (verb) in genre theory—a conflation that complicates individuals’, and genres’,
actions in structures." p.79
Just like the Kennedy/Nixon debates that radically changed the way that presidential debates were viewed/were enacted, I would be willing to lay down a hot nickel that every campaign going forward uses technology (not just the internet...but see also Bob's comments about the "embedded advertising" in video games. How long is it until we see this sort of "product" placement in film, or other supposedly "non-political" media? I don't think it is too far of a stretch. As a culture (if you accept the beast that is Amurican-ness as culture...), we are willing, en masse, to take quite a bit.
Elliot
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