In case you missed it: My first guest post On epolitics.com
Written by Henri Makembe on February 6, 2010 | Comments
I spent a week in Massachusetts helping the Coakley campaign. After the loss, a slew of blog posts and news articles were written analyzing the online component of the race. However, I felt that they all lacked something – an insider’s perspective. I sought to expand on the commentary already in the blogsphere about what really happened on Coakley’s new media team at HQ. Colin Delany was kind enough to let me guest post on his blog to share my side the story. I titled the post “In Defense of Martha Coakley’s New Media Team” and began with the following:
Running on cheese pizza, RedBull, cold Dunkin Donuts coffee, cookies and the memory of the late Ted Kennedy, I spent the last few days volunteering for Martha Coakley alongside some of the best Democratic new media operatives. Some analysts are describing this as the most important election in the last 50 years — not including presidential contests. Despite our best efforts, Scott Brown won the seat that was held by someone who continues to be regarded as one of best, if not the best, senator of our time. Mr. Brown has some big shoes fill, and while I will be working hard against him in 2012, I wish him and his staff the best for the sake of the people of the commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Read the of the post on Colin’s blog and don’t hesitate to share your thoughts.
Best of Links – Weeks 3 & 4
Written by Henri Makembe on February 2, 2010 | Comments
Due to some light post on the twitter during Week 3 (I was in MA lending a head to Coakley), I decided combined week 3 and 4. Without further ado, the best links for week 3 and 4 are the following:
1. They Gave Us The Beatles, We Gave Them Data.gov – Vivek Kundra introduces data.gov.uk on the white house blog. Since then, there has been also of buzz in the blogsphere about the data project.
2. What Organizing for America did right and wrong in its first election – Lydia Depillis goes over what she think Organizing For America did well during the Massachusetts special election as well as what they need to improve on. Unlike other blog posts and articles analyzing the race, this is one is fairly balanced. I also wrote a post defending Coakley’s new media on E-Politics.com.
3. HOW TO: Set up a free online monitoring system - This is good guide for campaigns or organizations that are the just getting started in social media or have very tight budgets.
4. Movement in Gov contests across the country – Weekly update about various political races around the country from Campaign Diaries.
5. Gillibrand Gets GOP Challenger – New York attorney Bruce Blakeman announced that he will be challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in the Fall. Since then, Harold Ford, Former Congressman for TN, has also been hinting that he may throw his hat in the race.
Honorable mentions
Internet 2009 in numbers – Pretty self explanatory fact sheet. 1.73 billion internet users worldwide – That’s a lot of people.
Will Citizens United v. FEC Change the 2010 Elections? – Stuart Rothenberg looks at how have the Citizens United v. FEC Change may affect the fall election cycle. He concludes that the verdict is still out but Democratic operatives seem to be more worried the Republicans operatives
Best of Links – Week 2
Written by Henri Makembe on January 19, 2010 | Comments
I have been voluntering for Coakley in Massachussetts since thursday. Thus I have not had a chance to complie last week’s best links. I will include some of them in next week’s edition. Apologies for the delay.
UPDATED: Who to follow on twitter to get started on Gov2.0
Written by Henri Makembe on January 15, 2010 | Comments
Sometime last week, a friend emailed me. He had just accepted a new job in Federal agency and was going to play an integral part to revamping to their website and possibly their intranet. Knowing that I’m twitter addict, he asked that recommend a few folks on twitter that would get him caught up on the latest and greatest on Gov 2.0. After thinking about a bit, I came up with the list below. It’s by no means definitive but only a start. By following the people below, you will inevitably find other people to follow who are just as bright and working on very cool projects.
Jeffrey Levy – @levyj413. Jeff was one of the organizer of Gov 2.0 Camp here in DC. He is also on the Federal Web Manager council. He provides first hand account of working with technology at a gov agency.
GovFresh – @govfresh. A gov 2.0 newsfeed. If it’s gov 2.0 related, it’s going to be on Govfresh.com
Steve Radick – @sradick. Social Media Lead at Booz Allen Hamilton. Steve has built a great team at BAh and seems to be doing great work. What is most appealing about Steve is his candor. When everyone in the gov 2.0 community is signing praise to one another, Steve will not hesitate to point how much more work needs to be done and help move the conversation forward.
Alan Silberberg – @you2gov. Alan is one of the people organizing Go2.0 Camp in LA. for more information about the camp, check out the website at go http://gov20la.org/
Lovisa Williams – @lovisatalk. Straight out of the State department, Lovisa is full of knowledge about what the gov is doing abroad to work directly with various population abroad.
Heather Miller – @hmiller23. Working at PhaseOne Consulting Group, Heather played part in the launch of the much-praised data.gov. She continues to work on very interesting project.
Walter Neary – @wtneary. As City Council member in Lakewood, WA, Walter focuses on Gov 2.0 at the local level. He is also one of the conveners for opengovwest.
Dominic Campbell – @dominiccampbell /FutureGov – @futuregov – Dominic and his team at FutureGov publish a must-read blog posts of links on a daily basis. The links contains article about innovation in the gov 2.0 space here at home as well as across the pond.
Steve Ressler – @govloop. Steve is founder of GovLoop, the largest social network of government employers and contractors. Certainly worth being a part of is you’re trying to learn more bout the community. And once you sign up, invite me to your friend.
Sunlight Labs – @sunlightlabs. Headed by Clay Johnson, @cjoh, the folks are Sunlight Labs are doing some pretty incredible stuff. As their name suggest, their focus is on transparency and data portability.
That’s my list. Who did I miss? Who would you have recommended?
UPDATE:- Steve Radick, mentioned above, created a twitter list of gov 2.0 leaders and shared it with me. You can view his list at http://twitter.com/sradick/gov20-leaders
- Dominic Campbell, also mentioned above, suggested that I check out a list that he created for FutuveGov. You can find at list at http://twitter.com/FutureGov/friendsoffuturegov
Best of Links – Week 1
Written by Henri Makembe on January 11, 2010 | Comments
Let’s face it, I’ve not really had the chance to write as much as I want to on this blog. Part of it is a due to work and part of it is due to time. This is something that I will look to correct in 2010. I am looking for topics where I can still share what I know, what I’ve learned about politics, technology and the government at the local level and give a medium for other to do the same. One aspect of the project that have been fairly active is the twitter account. Since launching, the account has gained over 300 followers and that number continues to grow. Throughout the course of week, I share a number of the articles over twitter. I will use this post every Monday to post the five links that received the most clicks. With no further ado this week’s top links.
This week the received a total of 450 clicks. Ordered by most clicks received, last weeks top links are:
1. Internet in advocacy campaigns (VIDEO) – This is video of Alan Rosenblatt speaking to students of American University about about the use of the internet in issue advocacy and political campaigns. Topics discussed include 2008 presidential campaign, social networks, and the flow of information online. The video in 1hr 20 minutes long. Two key takeaways: 1. Don’t focus on the tools, focus on the strategy. 2. Don’t empower, Enable!
2. How to effectively campaign online with web ads – Originally from Spot-on, the post shares a series of Do’s and Dont’s when it comes to online ads. Key takeaways: 1. Start early; 2. Don’t skimp on creative; 3. Use the right tech specs; and 4. Consider advertising on non-traditional outlets.
3. 10 Things to watch for 2010 – This blog post looks at the some of the issues that the editors deem will make the news. Obviously jobs, health care reform and the midterms elections make the list. Also on the list is the role of new media in politics as the 2010 census. Missing from the list is the War in Iraq and States’ budget deficit (See California, Virginia and Maryland..just to name a few).
4. Democrats control twice as many state legislatures as republicans – This maps shows which state legislatures are controlled by either party, which are split and which are non-partisan. This map is very interesting if for no other reasons but the fact that if calls into questions whether or not the country as a whole is right of center.
5. 2010 Senate race ratings – Published by The Cook Political Report, this was last week senate race ratings. Of course with Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND) both retiring late last week, the ratings have obviously changed.
Honorable mentions:
Digital Politics: What Mattered in 2009 – Will all hype surrounding new media since the presidential election, what actually worked?. Kate Kaye from ClickZ explores. Her answer: Twitter and Online advertising.
Why open data matter for local authorities – Chris Taggart, of OpenlyLocal, makes the arguments that my making raw data available to public local govs would save money as well as empower developer to make create apps work work on any number of platforms. That being said, Targgart does not provide any actual figures to back up his argument. Regardless, It’s great to see the Gov 2.o movement going down to local level.
Tags: 2010 politics > 2010 senate reaces > Alan Rosenblatt > Best of Links > ClickZ > Kate kaye > Onlide Advertising
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