Barack Obama | TechPresident

Obama Jokes Visitor Logs, Talks Leak Prosecution

BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, March 30 2011

Earlier this week, open government advocates met with President Obama to talk open government in a 20-minute meeting that was off-the-record. Kidding! Project on Government Oversight executive director Danielle Brian ... Read More

The Most Secretest Tent in the World!

BY Nancy Scola | Thursday, March 24 2011

White House photo by Pete Souza Just because it's cool. From the BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan: A rare photo, released by the White House, shows Barack Obama fielding calls from a tent in Brazil, to keep up with events in ... Read More

Obama's Boing Boing Habit

BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, March 16 2011

At last week's Gridiron Dinner, it seems, Barack Obama joked about his online reading practices "And while I know I have my share of critics out there, I don't focus on the negative stuff. I just don't pay much ... Read More

And the Award for Openness Goes to...

BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, March 16 2011

President Obama's getting a transparency award today, right at the moment he's getting a swell of press for being opaque. His administration's focus has been on revamping institutional systems, but the short-term effect ... Read More

Hands-On President

BY Nancy Scola | Friday, March 11 2011

"President Barack Obama edits his remarks before addressing an audience at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Mich.;" official White House photo. Read More

Obama, Bullying, and Life Inside Facebook

BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, March 9 2011

Two Years Later: Recovery.gov Still Sucks At Public Engagement

BY Micah L. Sifry | Monday, February 28 2011

Two years ago, Barack Obama promised the public that he was going to run government in a more transparent and interactive way. Read More

Organizing for America Injects Effort (and Obama) into Wisconsin Union Fight

BY Nancy Scola | Friday, February 18 2011

Tech, Meet President

BY Nancy Scola | Friday, February 18 2011

White House photo by Pete Souza Read More

Watch: Via YouTube, "Your Interview with the President"

BY Nancy Scola | Thursday, January 27 2011

YouTube's Steve Grove is, at the moment (2:30 p.m. EST), having another crack at interviewing President Obama based on questions people have submitted through YouTube, and you can watch the exchange here. Read More

News Briefs

RSS Feed friday >

For Millennials, Institutions Are Out, Selfies, Social Networks and Diversity Are In

A Pew survey released Friday highlights that young Americans are noticeably detached from traditional institutions such as political parties, organized religion and marriage even as they are increasingly connected with their peers through online social networks. GO

Snowden EU Testimony Renews Calls to Grant Asylum

On Monday, Edward Snowden will participate in his first live discussion before an audience as part of SXSW Interactive through a video conference with his legal advisor Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy & Technology Project, as well as digital privacy expert Christopher Soghoian. (Republican Rep. Mike Pompeo from Kansas, also a member of the House Intelligence Committee, has asked SXSW to cancel the webcast, The Hill reported). Snowden's discussion will come amidst renewed calls in Europe to grant him asylum. GO

Minnesota Announces Civic Tech Legislation

Can civic innovation be managed statewide? A bill in Minnesota is betting yes. It is looking to grab some of the state's $1.2 billion surplus to fund open data, open government, and civic technology. Openminnesota.org, a site set up to promote and explain the bill, says the following: "Open Minnesota will build an engine for public open data use, civic technology creation engaging start-up companies and technology volunteers, and help hundreds more government units get cost-effectively connected to the best global open government lessons for local adaptation." GO

wednesday >

Now You Can See Who Really Pays NYC Property Taxes

Property tax revenue makes up around a quarter of New York City's budget, but until now broader information about it has not been easily accessible. Users could only look up individual properties by entering lot and block information into a basic online form on a city website, and would have had to cross-reference that information with a building's address and other sources, explained Chris Whong, co-organizer of New York City's Code for America brigade betaNYC. "This data is much more powerful in the aggregate," he said. That's why, as part of last week's Code Across NYC hackathon, he along with several collaborators worked to develop an online platform "born out of curiosity" that maps New York City property data. GO

Facebook's Got A Finger in India's Political Pie

Facebook is an increasingly active political force in India. The company launched their Indian election tracker Tuesday to coincide with the first Facebook Talks Live digital broadcast, “Town Hall” style conversations in which 2014 candidates field questions submitted by Facebook users. These projects build on the get-out-the-vote collaboration between the Times of India and Facebook, which was announced in September.

Civic Crowdfunding Looks to Bigger Projects with Phased Campaigns

Civic crowdfunding dreamed big but started small. The platform Neighbor.ly grabbed attention for a 2012 campaign to help fund a multi-million dollar rail car in Kansas City, but only raised $3,775 of its $10 million goal. The early campaigns of both Neighbor.ly and Citizinvestor that were actually successful reached for modest goals, usually less than $15,000. A look at the campaign pages of either platform today shows larger projects, in the tens or hundreds of thousands, creeping in as well. Civic crowdfunding is growing. To facilitate and attract more large projects Citizinvestor this week announced a plan to crowdfund projects in phases. GO

YanukovychLeaks.org Exposes a Corrupt and Violent Regime

Thousands of documents float and sink in a remote reservoir not far from a grand 345-acre estate contained within a sprawling wrought iron fence. As evocative as it may seem, this not the beginning of a spy thriller, but of Yanukovych Leaks, an online portal where the leaks have been uploaded by investigative journalists who say the extravagance detailed in those papers may prove ousted President Viktor Yanukovych's depth of corruption. GO

tuesday >

Surveillance in the Overlooked Corners of Africa

In the video below, filmed during the Oslo Freedom Forum in May 2013, Jacob Appelbaum breaks it to Rafael Marques, an Angolan investigative journalist and anti-corruption activist, that his laptop is being surveilled through a crude backdoor in spite of the fact that he is using Tor. He opens up a file where they can see all the images that have been stored and are waiting to be collected by the hackers. Appelbaum tells an understandably concerned Marques: “Every computer that's targeted is compromisable,”

monday >

How To Follow… The Crisis in Ukraine (Updated)

The EuroMaidan Revolution has passed the 100 day mark and Russian forces have taken control of parts of Crimea. The New York Times described the escalating conflict between Russia and the West as “reminiscent of low points in the Cold War.” The Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has said that “we are on the brink of disaster.”

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