Obama's World post Wednesday November 5th.

Now the dust has settled it might be time to take a breath and look back at a few interesting bits and pieces.

I've been following Obama on Twitter for a while. On the fifth he sent me and 121,064 others this message.

Newsweek has a fascinating series of articles looking "behind the scenes of the campaign".
Reporters were granted access to "the McCain and Obama" camps on the condition that nothing was published until after election day.
It's hard to imagine that happening here in the UK.

Here's the front page of the New York Times.
Kottke notes that this was only the fifth time the paper used 96.pt. type for it's headline.

There's only one place to go for election pictures. As ever "The Big Picture" has the very best photographs.

An interactive video and a transcript of the President Elect's Victory speech can be found here.

And I've discovered only today that the President Elect has a half sister called Auma, who supports West Ham.

The ever reliable and informed Mashable points us in the direction of Change.gov, where the President Elect's transition team outlines some of the forthcoming agenda.

"Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world
we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today"

I've added the page to my daily reads (can't see a rss feed anywhere)

Dave Winer's observation on the result. Look what he wrote in 2004!

Look at what Silvio Berlusconi said!
According to the Guardian,
"Later, when he returned to his hotel, Berlusconi said his comment that
Obama was "giovane, bello e abbronzato", "was a big compliment," which
only "imbeciles" would misinterpret, Italy's state news wire Ansa
reported. "If some people don't have a sense of humour, then it's their
problem,'' he said."

Comment from Andrew Sullivan and a reader in the Atlantic.

And finally,

from the future. Go Nanobama!

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Election Stats. !

The CNN site that some of us watched last night received 27 million unique visitors yesterday.

More than five times their normal daily traffic.

Those visitors generated 276 million page views.


Staggering.


via TechCrunch via Twitter

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The American Presidential Debates

There is an extraordinary video on BoingBoing.

Who says politics isn't spontaneous?

Or that politicians can't dance.

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On Obama and Inclusivity.

Driven by my friend Datblogu's interest in this video, I've spent a little more time on Obama's website.

There can be no doubt that Obama works hard to be inclusive.
He has prepared and made available text, video and sound messages aimed at the many different communities and ethnic groups to be found in the United States.

I'm going to list in alphabetical order the people he aims to connect with here :-

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
African Americans
Americans Abroad
Americans with Disabilities
Arab Americans
European and Mediterranean Americans
Environmentalists
First Americans
Generation Obama
Jewish Americans
Kids
Labor
Latinos
LGBT
People of Faith
Republicans
Rural Americans
Seniors
Small Business
Sportsmen
Students
Veterans and Military Families
Women.

It all seems a bit clinical to me, or am I being too cynical?

My eye was drawn to the Sportsmen, curious as to where the sportswomen were?
I am so dull!
Sport in the USA is not quite the same as sport here.

Obama speaks to the sportsmen.

“I am very mindful of the fact that sportsmen in America may have gone hunting with their fathers, their grandfathers, their mothers, their grandmothers, and that this is part of a tradition and a way of life that has to be preserved. And there's nothing that I will do as president of the United States that will in any way encroach on the ability of sportsmen to continue that tradition.”

No mention of animal rights then :)

Digital Inclusion, Get on Line and Digital Champions

It would appear that today is "National Get Online Day'

Did you know that?
I didn't.

I discovered about today online, surfing the net, drifting in the flow of information and knowledge that streams across my computer screen.

I've been taking an interest in Twitter, investigating a range of Twitter tools and watching Political Twitter activity. I've been watching is called HMGOV, "an unofficial service of official news feeds from UK Government". I'm one of 161 people following this feed which to date has issued 10, 473 updates! I don't know who provides this service, or how. I guess it's a mash up of some kind, taking government news feeds and tweeting them.

It makes for interesting reading, BUT to be honest the output is overpowering. It is one of those feeds that may just need to be culled :)

Earlier today I noticed the following tweet :-

#WalesOffice Paul Murphy unveils new role of Digital Champion: A new high-profile Digital Champ.. http://twurl.nl/rj4rty

Following that link I discovered all sorts of interesting facts.

Paul Murphy is the Minister for Digital Inclusion, who intends to appoint a Digital Champion as part of the Government's Digital Inclusion agenda.

Do you suppose the Champion might become known as Cyberman or Cyberwoman?

The job description is a bit vague, in fact I don't think it's written yet.
They'd like a Champion but don't know what he / she should do.

“The post of Digital Champion will be independent of Government, but
will work closely with myself as Minister for Digital Inclusion, the
Cabinet Committee and the cross-Government Digital Inclusion Team. The
Champion will work as a high-profile public figure who can raise the
profile of this agenda, gaining support from industry, the third and
public sectors, plus central and local government, whilst maintaining
their independence.

“The exact role and responsibilities of the Champion are not yet
agreed, that is why we are asking people to respond to this
consultation to help us shape our plans for the future. We are eager to
hear people’s views on how this new post can work most effectively, and
indeed to suggest individuals or organisations to fulfil this role.”

There's a forum where you can discuss the main themes of the Digital Inclusion Action Plan.
No ones chatting there yet, but it's only been there two days ......

PS.
Paul Murphy can be found here and here.
Somehow I sort of thought that the Minister for Digital Inclusion might have had a news feeds, or a range  of digital media, or a Twitter feed.
Perhaps the Minister should follow the Foreign Office.

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What it Says on the Tin.

The Brokers with Hands on their Faces Blog.

Only on the Internet.

(via Boing Boing)

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On American Politics, the Internet and Twitter.

You will remember some months ago I commented upon the way in which Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama were using Twitter to pursue their political objectives. I followed them they followed me.

Hilary is no longer as involved but Barack continues to lead the way in his use of technology.
Take a look at his web site.

Here is a politician who is really making every effort to connect and stay connected with his electorate in the United States, and with admirers world wide.

Looking at his web site we see a complete mastery of the internet as a medium for mass communication. This election campaign and his digital presence has raised the bar for politicians everywhere. He has achieved a world wide ambient presence.

On his web site, the home page is easily navigable, neat and clearly laid out. The navigation bar guides or leads visitors to information quickly and elegantly.

Casual and determined browsers are invited via rollovers to learn about Barack and his team and to discover what he thinks about the major issues. Users are offered a rich choice of Barack media sources (wallpapers, music and the like) and direct links to all the different types of people who have chosen to support Barrack. Additionally the site provides a Blog, a store for Barack merchandising and links to local Barack websites in each American state. And as you might expect there are opportunities for the faithful to contribute financially.

There is a list of things to do, including a reminder to register to vote (lets face it Americans need help in coming to terms with Democracy). There are videos, news articles, messages to Hilary's supporters and an astonishing list called Obama Everywhere.

Obama Everywhere provides links to sixteen yes sixteen places on the Internet where Barack can make his presence felt ..... worldwide.
So comprehensive is this list that I am copying it here.

Obama can be found on

Facebook, MySpace, You Tube, 

Flickr, Digg, Twitter, Eventful, 

Linkedin, BlackPlanet, Faithbase, 

Eons, Glee, MiGente, MyBatanga, AsiaAve 

and 

DNC Partybuilder.

This man is connected! (he even has his own app on the iPhone).

__________________________________________________

Knowing that Number Ten Downing Street can be found on Twitter I thought I'd have a little look round and explore the world of political tweets.

Consider the statistics (as of 6/10/08)

Plaid Cymru are on Twitter with 35 followers.
The Labour party are on Twitter with 133 followers.
The Liberal Democrats are on Twitter with 542 followers.
The Conservative Party is on Twitter with 606 followers.


Ten Downing Street is on Twitter, with 5,104 followers.
The White House is on Twitter with 1,174 followers

McCain is on Twitter with 2,451 followers.
Obama is on Twitter with 92,256 followers.

Note John McCain also has a web site, but in my opinion it's not a slick as the Obama offering.
Take a look and see what you think.

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On Politics and Web 2.0.

I see that Gordon Brown, our Prime Minister is taking an interest in Web 2.0 technologies.

Here on the Downing Street Channel he's posted a video, launching a sort of Prime Minister's Question Time on the Internet.

Members of the public can leave a question for Gordon, between 30 seconds and 1 minute long with "no party political content"!
Submissions must be made by June 21st.

We are invited to "come back soon to vote on your favourites". Then having considered the "wisdom of the masses"
Gordon will answer the top voted questions on YouTube sometime towards the end of June.

It's not exactly what you could call instant interactivity, but it's a start.
I think it's quite an interesting and brave experiment.

Looking at the video on YouTube, away from the Downing Street Channel I see that Gordon's introduction has been viewed 13,230 times. That's not bad for a 40 second video clip that was posted barely three days ago.

I also notice that the channel has 3,725 subscribers, while webcameronuk has 846 subscribers.

As you might expect mainstream media has picked up on the story, here, here and here.
Apparently several thousand people have already submitted questions.


PS Gordon already has a presence on YouTube. You can sing along here.

On Twitter, Hillary, Barack and Paul.

When I first heard of Twitter I was less than complementary in my judgement.
I think I was wrong.

When I noticed that Twitter was integrated within Flock, I was persuaded to try again.
At first I twittered from my Mac Book, yesterday I twittered using my mobile phone.

Wikipedia tells us that Twitter is is a

"free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" (or "tweets"; text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter website, via short message service, instant messaging, or a third-party applications"

furthermore;

"Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. The sender can restrict delivery to those in his or her circle of friends (delivery to everyone is the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, email or through an application."

I'm not certain I'll use it often, I don't need to be so connected; but there are people for whom such connectivity must be important.

I explored and searched for interesting tweets and on finding that Cardiff University was offering news tweets, I became a follower.

Encouraged and made curious by a note from Tweet, I observed that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are using Twitter. I don't suppose they do their own Twittering, their staff must do it for them; but I could be wrong.

Here are Barack's last three Twitters.

Feb. 21. Excited to learn about winning the Dems Abroad primary today. Getting ready for the Texas debate. It will be live tonight at 8pm ET on CNN.

Feb. 19. Is encouraging everyone to tell friends in Wisconsin to vote until 8pm tonight. And tell friends in Hawaii to get to their caucus by 6:30pm!

Feb. 12. Encouraging everyone in DC, MD and VA to vote today. Heading to Madison, WI for a Rally for Change event at the Kohl Center (6:15pm tonight)

and here are Hillary's

Feb. 28. I’m looking forward to the “Solutions for America” town hall in Hanging Rock, OH tomorrow in the Appalachian region.

Feb. 27. Want to help win in Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont? Visit www.hillaryclinton.com/twit... to start making calls!

Feb.27. Today I’m attending an Economic Solutions Summit in Zanesville, Ohio followed by rallies in Saint Clairsville and Belpre.

Is it me or is there a difference in style between these two twitterers?
Is it possible to notice a diffference of style in only 140 characters?

Hillary's stats reveal that today she has 1,436 followers and has made 51 updates.
She's following no one.
Barack's stats reveal that today he has 6,661 followers and has made 73 updates.
He's following 6,793 twitterers, of whom I am one!!

Presumably if I Twitter about him, one of his staff will notice.
It seems that Hillary doesn't care about what I might say.

Ron Paul can also be found in Twitter.
His stats reveal 1,011 followers and 85 updates.
Like Hillary he's following no one.

Might we be able to predict who will win this seemingly never ending selection process by counting twits?

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On Surprises

Now here's a surprise.

It has been widely reported that .....

"Costly literacy schemes in England have not paid off, with children's reading skills barely improved since the 1950s, an independent inquiry suggests."

I could have told you that, as could any serving primary school teacher who was teaching before and during the introduction of the National Curriculum.
It's good that in Wales, in theory things are a little different.

You can read the same story; here at it's source, from the BBC and Reuters, in the Times and the TES, at the Guardian and at the Daily Mail.

It's worth reading them all just to see how the press deals with the report.

As might be expected Government spokesmen disagree with the findings.

On David Cameron, Facebook and life

Earlier this week David Cameron (bless) spoke to the party faithful at Blackpool. In a well received speech he mentioned the Internet saying

"We live in an extraordinary world of change and freedom. The Internet is transforming people's lives. The website MySpace has got 130m members. If it was a country, it would be the tenth biggest country in the world. Facebook, the social networking site, 30m members.

People are using it to talk with each other and meet people. I had a look the other day. There is a network on Facebook called 'David Cameron is a hottie'. It's got 74 members. And I looked a little further and there is another network called 'Am I the only person who doesn't like David Cameron?' and it's got 379 members - I am sure there is nobody here today. But the point is a serious one."

He's so right, "the Internet is transforming people's lives" yet Cameron, his speech writers, his advisers and his party so obviously don't understand it. He describes MySpace as a website and Facebook as a social network as if they were in someway different. He has explored Facebook, or someone has shown him around, yet he made no mention finding things of interest in MySpace. Remember danah writing about American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace?

He tells us that there is a network called "David Cameron is a hottie" and another called "Am I the only person who doesn't like David Cameron?" (facebook membership required), In telling his Conference (and us) of these networks he aims to impress but fails, revealing in fact that neither he nor his advisers understand how Facebook works. The networks he describes are not networks they are groups of little importance. I find it hard to understand how belonging to a group of like minded people who think that David Cameron is a hottie might "transform my life".

Networks lie at the heart of Facebook's structure, originally based on colleges networks have expanded and are now consist of geographical regions, colleges, workplaces and High Schools. Within these networks members join groups (such as those described by Cameron) often directly related to their personal interests.

A brief glance at these groups shows that conversation here is limited. Indeed to the members it is the belonging to the group that matters. I suspect that many Facebook users place or choose groups for their profile in the same way as train spotters might sport lapel badges or a WAG might leave books scattered on a coffee table.

Observers of Mr. Cameron on the Web or at his Conference might be persuaded of his digital credentials. I am not so sure. In Prensky's terms Cameron's words tell us that he is more of a digital immigrant than a digital native.

He is of course not alone, in every workplace, every classroom, every lecture theatre, every Faculty we constantly encounter those who would have us believe that their understanding of our digitally connected world is much more advanced than our own. Their voices are often strident, loud, and convincing but we need to take care that we are not led astray. Remember the story of the Emperor's New Clothes?

There was another speech much reported at Blackpool this week, 'the quiet man spoke'. Firmly embedded in the real world, he reminded the conference that

“You cannot love your country if you do not care for its beating heart, the people who live in this country"

Whatever our personal enthusiasm for the wonders of the Internet or Web 2.0 might be, those of us who are or were teachers, need to remember that all our work must be grounded in the real world, with real students in real groups and communities.

On Blogging the Assembly

Yesterday I came across this post in the blog of Bethan Jenkins Assembly Member for South West Wales. While attending the first full session of the Welsh Assembly. Bethan blogged the experience.

There are all sorts of things to think of here.......
Is blogging during an Assembly session allowed?
Should it be allowed?

I can't tell when the posting was actually made, though Bethan prepared the post during the session. Her observations are made as a narrative, recording both the content of the Senedd debate and her immediate reflections.

From time to time we have thought about whether students might find it helpful to blog during lectures or seminars.

Instead of taking notes on paper, those with laptops, PDAs etc would make their notes and immediate reflections directly to a blog. Their peers who might also be live blogging, would have access to every one's notes and could leave comments. The theory behind this is simple, the practice far more complex.

Although it is said that digital natives are masters of multitasking I doubt that students in a large lecture would be able to listen, take blogged notes and comment on their peers blogs simultaneously. Having access to notes after the lecture could well be of use, even more so if the use of comments led to the sharing of extra information.

Alternatively I can see that use of something like Twitter could facilitate discussion during a lecture. The Twitter stream or flow of short observations could be easily displayed in a multimedia lecture theatre and could facilitate the sharing of knowledge.

The comments associated with Bethan's blog reflect observations that might be made by some lecturers in relation to blogging students. Some feel uncomfortable when faced students with laptops in lectures. In my limited observations of lectures very few students seem to use laptops for note taking. Encouraging live blogging of lectures or similar activities may depend upon the availability of laptops.

During practical sessions in the labs our students all have computer and Internet access, should we try live blogging of practical tutorials?

In the Senedd Bethan and her colleagues are all equipped with computers and Internet access, I wonder how connected they are one with another during debate?