Concluding Post

Well, you knew it was coming: our final post. We were given 5 questions by our teacher in order to help us reflect on our blog. We decided we would post the questions (and our answers) as our last post so that you, our viewer, can also give us feedback.

1. What are the primary strengths of your blog in terms of these criteria — the quality of the content provided, the design and visual appeal of the blog, the quality of the written postings, the level of outside interaction that the blog attracted (community), etc.? What does your blog do particularly well, in your view?

Some of our strengths lie in our use of videos and pictures. Firstly, this makes the blog more attractive to the eyes. Secondly, it helps break up blocks of text to allow the viewer to read our posts with ease. We felt that we created a professional look with the layout and design of our blog which consequently made our posts seem more credible. Of course, this is not to say that our posts would not have been considered credible without the current blog layout and design; however, the layout and design have helped us achieve this level of credibility. Thirdly, we attracted over 800 hits and over 85 comments. We feel that we were able to attract a community which followed our blog.

2. Provide some evidence that your blog was successful in attracting outside interest, especially intelligent and substantive outside interest. (For example, refer to # of comments for certain threads, overall blog activity, etc.)

As mentioned earlier, we were able to attract over 800 hits and over 85 comments. Out of these 85 comments, all of them were substantive. We received roughly 30 spam or unintelligent comments and promptly deleted them as they took the blogs credibility away which we worked so hard to build. Additionally, each of these posts had over 35 views. Our three most popular posts according to clicks were: TechPres Wins by a Landslide, E-Voting, and The internet in the 2008 election. Granted, people can view a post without clicking on it; however, WordPress has claimed these were the most popular posts. Some posts attracted over 8 comments which is roughly about 8% of our total substantive comments. Unfortunately, we are unable to copy and paste our graph which shows the number of hits per day, week, and month. The coding which WordPress uses does not allow anyone to copy and paste these graphs.

3. What are the ways in which your blog could have been stronger — again, in terms of these criteria: the quality of the content provided, the design and visual appeal of the blog, the quality of the written postings, the level of outside interaction that the blog attracted (community), etc.?

We feel that we should have tried harder to attract people not from Michigan State University. Most of the comments had email addresses which ended in msu.edu which is why we feel the way we do. Another thing which we could have done to make out blog stronger was to make a schedule for posts. This would ensure that we are constantly updating our blog and that we avoid over posting. What we mean by over posting is certain days we posted about four posts but on other days we posted zero. We should have spread out our posts. The quality of the content provided was for the most part high; however, in the beginning, some posts were not very insightful. After a couple posts, we quickly realized what made a post good or bad.

4. What did you learn about the art of blogging (or political blogging)? How is writing for a blog different from other kinds of writing?

We learned a plethora about blogging. It is very different from writing an essay. A blog requires constant attention: writing posts, commenting on other comments, and perhaps leaving comments on another team member’s post for clarification. Furthermore, sometimes blogging is not solely about perfect grammar. Sometimes, it is better if bloggers are lax with their grammar; doing so makes them look more human. However, this is not something that is different from other kinds of writing. Writers are expected to tailor their writing to their audience which is something that we learned from maintaining this blog.

5. If your team were to do this kind of project over again, what would you do differently next time — in terms of organizing the project, setting up the blog, working together as a team, attracting outside interest, etc.?

As mentioned earlier, we would create a schedule where each team member was responsible for posting on certain days. This would ensure we have an updated blog (more posts) and a blog were all posts are viewed. During the course of this project, sometimes we posted four posts in a day. Some of these posts were not even looked at because it became too much for the reader. We would also try to get people outside of Michigan State University to come and visit out site. We would also encourage our readers to let their friends know about our blog. We could write at the end of our posts, “Don’t forget to tell your friends about us.” During this project, we expected that our viewers would tell their friends. We learned that if we want something, more viewers, then we must not only take the initiative, we must have other people join the cause- in this case inviting their friends.

Let us know what you think about each question. We would love to hear what you have to say. Thank you for helping make our blog a success!

Yours,

Team Tech2008election

Touch-Screen? Or just feed the machine?

Since technology has been a serious necessity in today’s fast-paced world, then why hasn’t it truly effected the election? I am from the DC-Metro area, and when I voted in the preliminaries, the ballot was all touch-screen. It was very simple and easy-to-use. So, when I went home I told my parents all about this “new wave” of voting. But to my dismay, voting here in Virginia has always been that way. However, when I voted in Michigan for the final presidential ballot, I had to physically take a felt-tipped pen and draw in the middle part of the arrow… AND THEN… flip it over… AND THEN feed it into a huge machine that spitted out a receipt. Now how is it that in the 21^st century, we cannot all of the advatges of technology? But, now, is that truly an advantage? So, I called my mom about the voting and she informed me that there was trouble with the voting machines in my county because of technical malfunctions. However in the county that I voted in, there were no glitches to be found. So, is technology truly is what it has cracked up to be? And if so, why is it not more universally-incorporated into the election?

Can YouTube.com actually be useful?

“BARACK OBAMA HAS WON THE PRESIDENCY!!!”- No matter who you are, that statement has a serious impact on the you as the “viewer”. Decades ago the reaction would only be replayed by word of mouth. Now, with the invention of YouTube.com, millions of viewers from across the globe can view in awe of this historical site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrG_Jjw87ks&feature=related. Here, in this real YouTube video, it depicts how Obama was able to affect them on such a profound level. How does this have any significance? Well political analysts are beginning to login into YouTube.com to see what the current social trend is. Why do that? So that the next presidential candidate can see what he/she must do in order to attain this great awe of devotion. Not only can YouTube physically show how people are feeling, but can almost give them an outline of how they got there. First, it was the Obama Girl craze, then it moved onto skits of SNL, then people making fun of SNL, then to serious debates, and finally, on to more heart-wrenching tears of Obama’s victory. All in all, YouTube can serve as a constantly updated chronicle of the world’s innermost thoughts.

P.P.P Version 2.008

Post Presidential Phenomena:

 

Since we have all finally surpassed the last presidential election drama, now we have to deal with a new wave post-presidential phenomena. It is known as the “hip”-post presidential era. Since our new president will be Barack Obama, who is a younger man, more and more of our population has engaged him in that “youthful” caliber. For instance, other nation-wide supporters have sent out mass texts saying “Get the new Obama for change ringtones!” Who would have thought that Obama’s slogan could have a ringtone? So, I clicked on the preview of that ringtone and a techno-based sound blurted out the word “Change” over and over. Now our cell phones have become a target of ridiculous efforts to profit on America’s new change of course. I do not care what side you are on, political ringtones? Really?! Now, I ask you: How have the post-presidential jitters affected your means of technology?

New Technologies Used on Election Night

This does not have much to do with the actual election itself but it was really fascinating to see this happen.  Technology over the past decade has really come a long way and the candidates in this election used all of the available technologies to the best of their abilities.  This video looks like something out of Star Wars, it shows a hologram image of a reporter being beamed in from another location far away.  This remarkable technology shows everyone what great technological advances we can expect for the future.  What do you think about this technology, is it worth any time developing further, or is it just a waste of time and money?

Large Turn Out to Vote

One of the largest turn outs ever to vote!  It is estimated that 133.3 million people voted in this years election.  Why was this one of the biggest turnouts since 1964?

Sure you could say it was the large amount of technology used during the campaigns of both President Elect Obama, and Senator McCain.  A reporter talked about Obama’s campaign saying, “They used the newest technology and old-fashioned organizing skills to harness the grass-roots enthusiasm his candidacy generated to help raise record sums of money and build a volunteer army to turn out the vote.”  Obama reached voters of all races, and ages from black to white and young to old.  He used many technology’s specifically the Internet using sites such as Facebook and Youtube to connect with the younger generation. McCain did his fair part setting up a well designed website, but he just didn’t have the technological intelligence that Obama has to effectivly reach the voters through the Internet.

They didn’t have these technologies back in 1964, so you can’t just say the turnout was all because oftechnology, but it definitaly had a large role in gaining support of younger generation of voters.

So what do you think really made the difference in this campaign from so many others before it?

I provided a link below, you should definitaly check out the video, its a nice recap of the entire election process from the candidates first deciding to run for president up to the election.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27549215/?GT1=43001

The bayonet to Obama’s rifle: Facebook.

For my WRA class, we were given this article to read from the New York Times. It talked about Chris Hughes, one of the founders of facebook, and how he worked for Obama and his campaign. If you have not find out yet, Obama won the 2008 presidential election, and not just by a little either. Honestly, i believe Obama did a better job of grasping attention, but that is just my opinion. Of course, one way he did it was with the help of Mr. Usetobefacebook. He did use many other methods, but i believe the internet was one of the biggest attention grabbers. Im not saying i am for or against Obama, i am just saying he used the internet in a way that was a big part of him winning the election. Do you think it helped him?  Oh and by the way, if you dont know what Obama’s rifle is, its the internet….and the bayonet is facebook…..yeah, if you dont understand, its a weapon on a weapon. ( I like to use examples…and i thought it was a pretty good one.)

Here is that link about Mr. Hughes.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008036639_obamaface07.html

Technology in the 2008 election

Well election day is here. While we don’t endorse a particular candidate, we do encourage everyone to vote!!!

Anyways, with that being said, it is time to begin wrapping up our blog. Yes, yes, it is unfortunate; however, with the 2008 election being completed after today (unless there is a recount), it must be done. I wanted to summarize briefly how candidate’s used technology in the 2008 election.

1.) Youtube- It allowed people to record videos of themselves asking a question. Once uploaded, it had a chance of being selected and used during “Youtube” debates in which candidate’s responses were uploaded onto Youtube.

2.) Obama used SMS to announce VP choice

3.) Just as Al Gore attempted to convince the public he created the internet, McCain’s adviser attempted to link him to the creation of the Blackberry. He wanted to show America that McCain was not technology illiterate. Obama tried to connect himself with voters through text messaging; McCain attempted to connect himself with voters by saying he helped create the Blackberry through his work in Congress.

4.) MyBarackObama.com – this is an online social networking site, similar to Facebook or Myspace, which Obama created to link his supporters. Also, McCainSpace was launched by McCain, a social network where users can create McCain-centric personal profiles. Both candidates attempted to connect their supporters from accross the country and allow their supporters to bring in their friends. It also allowed their supporters to organize events. In essence, the traditional top-down heirarchy was thrown out.

So there you have; the top four uses of technology in the 2008 election.

Voting Online?

With an increase in technology use during this election, theres nothing that isn’t possible for the 2012 election.  Since you can already register to vote online, why not cast the actual vote over the Internet.  There could be one main website, for security purposes you will need a drivers license, and voter registration number, and you can vote from the comfort of your own home.  This idea will most definitely increase voter turnout among younger and older voters, that other wise may of had a difficult time getting to a voting location.  The idea of online voting does pose some security and reliability issues, there is no paper trail of the votes, and hackers could be a threat.  So what do you think, should there be online voting in the next election?

Election Almost Here!!!: How has technology affected the campaign??

http://www-tc.pbs.org/newshour/rss/media/2007/01/22/20070122_online28.mp3,

With the Election Day so close how have the new mediums affected the campaign trails? According to Carol Darr the campaign trail has become a lot more interactive with the voters, you can now consider is dialogues instead of monologues, at least for the activist who choose to participate. Reaching out, seems to be a catch phrase associated a lot with the new campaign strategy. Millions of people have the accessibility to access the internet and participate in this election, and everybody can do it!