Election

Capturing the Moment of Obama's Inauguration Day

Submitted by mgifford on

Update: Had to share the following links Critical Reading, Internet Strategy and Pam Kapoor's Interview

Our view of Obama's AddressWell it was the day that most of us in the world have been waiting for. So great to see someone with vision, a sense of context and hope elected to the most powerful position in the world. We took out time in the day to watch this historical moment in our headquarters (via Ustream.tv) knowing that people around the world were doing the same.  We were lead here by the always helpful posts at LifeHacker.

As we have come to expect, he gave terrific and very moving speech. Not often is a politician born who can speak like that let alone win a position of power. Hopefully we'll see them in Canada sometime soon.

American Election, The Internet & Thanks

Submitted by mgifford on

If the World VotedWell just over a week ago I was presenting at Octopus Books about the elections and the Internet.  Last night showed the first decisive electoral victory in a US presidential election using the Internet as a primary force of communication, community building and fund-raising. 

The talk at Octopus was lined up between the Canadian federal election & American election, and there were some good examples that we could look at from the Canadian experience too.  In organizing the talk though I thought it would be most beneficial to look at the history of the relationship between USA presidential elections & Internet use since 1996.  With the adoption of the Internet, election campaigns have changed to reach it's users.  Likewise the flood of $$ from the USA election cycle has had a huge impact on online campaigning in general. 

Upcoming Presentations on Elections and Later on CRM's

Submitted by mgifford on
The presentation proceeded, despite the horrible weather. We've uploaded the notes and the audio for those who were unable to make it.

Octopus LaunchIt has been a very busy couple of weeks, so I've gotten behind in my blogging.  Fortunately, I've finally got the twist to blend together a couple news stories into something that will hopefully have some enduring interest.

Next week I will be presenting the first of 6 talks on Social Applications of the Web for Activists.  The first one is geared towards the ability for online tools to influence elections.  It is also interesting to know that in many ways the USA election cycle has helped to sponsor various surges in participation in online activism.  

Electoral Riding Lists - The Alright, The Terrible and The Redundant

Submitted by mgifford on

So, we have now amassed and organized a reasonable amount of data from elections departments, legislative/parliamentary branches & statistics offices. In the process of contacting individuals and searching websites in all of Canada's provinces, I can firmly state that the status of organizing & distributing information about how citizens are tied to their political representatives is presently unacceptable. This post is a direct response to organizing tools to help find representatives here in Ontario.

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