First POST: Addressable Transcendence
BY Micah L. Sifry | Tuesday, July 22 2014
What San Francisco techies and tenant activists have in common; the future of online political targeting; problems with Washington DC's new open data policies; and much, much more. Read More
Will Online Political Targeting Generate a Voter Backlash?
BY Micah L. Sifry | Tuesday, August 7 2012
A recent study finds an overwhelming majority of Americans do not want targeted political advertising, but industry insiders dismiss the results. They say that unlike broadcast or direct mail, their ads are delivered anonymously. They're missing another difference: With Internet advertising, the viewer can talk back. And they may be ignoring this at their peril. Read More
[OP-ED] Big Data: What Happens When Elections Become Social Engineering Competitions
BY David Parry | Tuesday, June 26 2012
UT-Dallas assistant professor David Parry argues that big data and message targeting endangers democracy. Read More
First POST: All Shook Up
BY Miranda Neubauer | Thursday, March 22 2012
Today's news: A round-up of reactions to Romney Adviser Eric Fehrnstrom's comment about campaigns being like Etch-A-Sketch; Nielsen shares its findings about the demographics of the presidential candidates' online audience; a look at Harry Potter activism; more on Kony 2012; and New York City wants to run its own TLD. Read More
San Francisco, Organizational Hub for a New Class of National Politicos
BY Sarah Lai Stirland | Thursday, March 8 2012
From left to right: Chris Kelly, Christine Pelosi and Fred Davis at Rally's Super Tuesday party. Photo: Rally.
What was unusual about an evening Super Tuesday gathering in San Francisco was that many of the people there aren't working in a startup aimed at making some commercial aspect of life easier, faster and more fun. Instead, they are part of a generation of people with both political and tech savvy, using the web to fundamentally alter politics in general and specific campaigns in particular. For these people, the promise of a networked world and a new, networked politics — where people connecting outside the by-all-accounts-flawed and scandal-fraught party apparatus are starting to make an impact — is coming into focus. And rather than using their knowledge of the technology world to start the next Facebook, they're building a cadre of Silicon Valley companies that work in public affairs — not just non-profits, government, and civic life, but politics and campaigns. Read More
Did Newt Gingrich Lose Florida for Want of a Better API?
BY Nick Judd | Thursday, February 2 2012
Slate's Sasha Issenberg has a great story outlining one narrative about Newt Gingrich's loss in Florida: He inspired a group of tech-savvy volunteers, but gave them no way to plug in to the campaign. Read More