Lauren Coleman, Punch Media Group, Inc.
So, back on the PDF trail and ready to Day 2’s events.
Rose Hall was packed to hear the CIO of the United States, as he is referred to, Vivek Kundra unveil the beta version of usaspending.com, a site which will enable transparency of government spending like never before. A jovial and passionate man, Vivek vibrantly discussed the importance of citizens being able to track exact procurements, their progress and more. The IT dashboard and its presentation and the fact that a blog will be created for feedback, received a standing ovation.
What a way to start the morning.
From there, Beth Noveck from the White House Office of Science and Technology discussed the self-moderation tools on that site as well in order to encourage as much engagement as possible.
In essence, this is not your mom’s version of U.S. Government.
The point of concern, however, might be exactly how all of these wonderful endeavors will be “promoted”, if you will, so that there is truly diverse feedback. Because if PDF says that it can’t even “find” us for a convention, well… you get the idea.
Passions rose though when Todd Herman, the gentleman overseeing the GOP website and one of the sole Republicans in attendance at PDF, took the stage to discuss his thought process behind the new site which will be unveiled in just a few weeks. Not a man to be fooled with, he definitely put a heckler in check who didn’t have the courtesy to wait until he finished to ask questions and to do it properly at a microphone rather than yelling from his seat! At any rate, Herman did manage to get a variety of interesting points out, none the least of which is that back in the day the GOP’s site was actually rated between ESPN and Disney in terms of being most entertaining. In his words, “We’ve been here before, so there is nothing to stop us genetically (to creating something great again).”
After a more than brief coffee break, Randi Zuckerberg (sister of Mark) from Facebook then discussed how the site is instrumental in connecting around “movements”. They are also now enabling Farci to be utilzed in light of all the Iranian election activity. (they are not yet validating site). (btw, she was asked about her thoughts regarding the “white flight” comment made yesterday by Boyd, but she totally glossed over it, not being familiar with the hot presentation made earlier with the reference to the company).
From there, the next treat was a presentation from Alec Ross who is overseeing innovation for Secretary Clinton. It’s all about re-defining the relationship between government and foreign affairs: what the government calls 21st Century Statecraft. Since they view that every citizen can become a diplomat, it’s all about examing how new media tools can enhance global relations. It’s at Page 1, Chapter 1, in his words, but this can best be exemplified by some of the the metholodology of using cell phones to distribute video of President Obama’s speech in Cairo and more.
For BPOTW, the lower point during the morning was presented by cultural anthropologist Michael Wesch. No doubt with a point of view colored (no pun intended) by his work with students solely in Kansas, he posits that youth are disillusioned, narcissistic and driven by fame (in order to connect in a society where conversation primarily takes place via television, one then only exists in relationship to television). This supposedly then leads to disengagement and fragmentation thereby affecting political outreach. Honestly, given other statistics, even just presented at one of the Breakouts BPOTW attended, we are just not certain that this is an accurate assessment. And given that all his video examples and still images on his presentation were solely caucasians, we would say that this gentleman is not aware of how this country is really trending. But obviously touching a nerve with most of this audience for some reason, he received a standing ovation too?
Mark Pesce, “a digital visionary” (okay….) made the suggestion that there needs to be a political science for the 21st century, given the impact of new media. A provocative question: what happens when hierarchies conflict with other entities he deems ad-hocracies such as Wikipedia. It’s an interesting thought but one that probably will only be able to truly be explored through actual practice. Only time will tell.
The unfortunate thing is the length of time allowed for questions and that PDF’s essential “customers” are repeatedly rushed, cut-off by moderators and sometimes over-ruled.
Something to keep in mind for next year.
And as BPOTW watches the parade of absolute no faces of color on the main stage of PDF, an idea crosses our mind about PDF creating some kind of mentoring program so that it can help cultivate a group of speakers of color which maybe it actually deems valuable to conferences to come.
I will see that my idea has a like mind as I make it to the Breakout section after lunch entitled “Crossing Boundaries On-line”. Within discussion on utlitizing tools from the corporate world to reach more of a variety of constituents, and that there are many missed opportunities since so many new media strategists just don’t know where to go; was also the need for a potential speakers bureau of speakers of color for all such conferences, a mentor program for introductions and guidance and more.
What a power-packed panel.
It is unfortunate that it was held in one of the smallest Breakout rooms at the venue and many people were turned away due to fire safety rules after the room reached capacity.
All in all, a huge opportunity to network, challenge,learn, observe and share.
The take-away, new media is changing politics and in order to be relevant; it’s about staying on top of the observation of it and utilizing it where it is most appropriate for you, Dear Reader.
Go for it!
