Politics Online

Garrett Graff’s Washington Post op-ed published last December raises some very interesting issues regarding our presidential candidates and their technological literacy.  Garrett states that, “our economic future and security require that we have a higher standard for our leaders.”  And he goes on to pose the question, “Why is it that we blithely allow our leaders to be ignorant of the force that, probably more than any other, will drive and define the nation’s economic success and reshape its society over the next 20 years?”

In addition to many other Bush-isms, President Bush has referred to google as “the google” and the internet as the “internets” and thus dubbed (among other things) “Googler-in-Chief” by The Wall Street Journal.  Did you miss it?  Don’t worry, here’s a quick CNN clip that has it all:

In his op-ed piece, Garrett also mentions Senator Ted Steven’s description of the Internet as a “series of tubes” and Mitt Romney’s inability to distinguish the capabilities of YouTube from MySpace during a campaign trail question in early 2007.  Although we all get a good laugh out of this stuff, I have to agree with Garrett when he says that “technology shouldn’t be a laughing matter.”

It is my hope, too, that the 2008 presidential elections will reshape our standards of technological literacy for our leader.  In a Republican presidential debate in 2007, John McCain admitted his need to rely on the Vice President for up to date knowledge of our new technology.  The full transcript is available here, but this is what he said:

McCain: Look, I am going to give you some straight talk. This president came to office in a time of peace, and then we found ourselves in 2001.

And he did not have as much national security experience as I do. So he had to rely more on the vice president of the United States, and that’s obvious. I wouldn’t have to do that. I might have to rely on a vice president that I select on some other issues. He may have more expertise in telecommunications, on information technology, which is the future of this nation’s economy. He may have more expertise in a lot of areas.

Obama has publically stated that he intends to make technology literacy a priority in public schools and to use the “Internet as a tool to increase government accountability” according to alternet.org.

Only time will tell…

Web 2.0 Fills the Gap Created by Mainstream Media Coverage of the War

Web 2.0 has changed reporting as we know it.  This is especially apparent with combatant-reporters from Iraq — real soldier correspondents eager to share what they have seen and experienced with the rest of the world.  For my assignment this week, I have been asked to explore various military blogs (aka miliblogs) as well as any other blogs and YouTube clips pertaining to the war.

The shear mass and detailof reports and footage coming from soldiers in Iraq and other parts of the world is simply incredible.  The Internet, with its Web 2.0 features, brings it all to us instantly, with a click of a mouse.  Gone are the days when we have to wait for the morning paper, or a magazine, to see or read about breaking news updates or graphic photos of a major event.  (FYI, Without a functional updated website, Life Magazine has still yet to fully embody Web 2.0 which is not in their best interest since the popularity of individual blogs and Flickr sites have been overwhelming) – Update: Wow, I’m a space cadet.  Thanks, Crystal, for letting me know that Life folded last year.  However, reports show that they intend to keep their website.

I believe that seeing and reading about the war is a good thing, although hard to stomachat times.  It is in America’s best interest to have this much access to the front lines and show the reality of the war to as many people as possible in order to make our country feel directly connected to it.  This new way of sharing information provides us with a broader understanding of the war leading us to make properly informed opinions of the war, and hence appropriate decisions on what should be done.  Blogs and YouTube clips from combatant-reporters also provide Americans with alternative views of the war that perhaps the mainstream media left out.  Colby Buzzell, a famous blogging soldier, agrees in his blog when he talks about military bloggers,

In the sleepy on-base hours between missions, they share their stories directly with the world, unfiltered by the biases of the “mainstream media” many of them distrust.

Also, I read about one of the biggest online controversies involving Kevin Sites’ video clip.  While being an independent journalist in Iraq, Mr. Sites videotaped a soldier shooting a wounded and unarmed Iraqi.  Mr. Sites provides an in-depth explanation about his experience, as well as the aftermath of releasing his video to the world in the following YouTube clip: 

From blogs to Flickr to Twitter to YouTube, soldier-reporters have a lot to show and tell us, and it is in our best interest to watch and listen.