YouTube has rapidly become one of the most popular sites on the internet. The ease in which individuals can upload and share video has allowed citizens to share views and ideas with unprecedented ease. Additionally, individuals have greater access to information being spread by sources they may not have seen before. Both individuals and candidates have been using YouTube extensively for the 2008 presidential election. This medium is particularly effective in getting information out to younger citizens, who may not pay attention to traditional news sources, but spend a good amount of time on YouTube. In a series of blog posts, I will be exploring some of the more popular videos being uploaded and discuss the impact they might have on young Americans.
The candidate most involved with YouTube is Senator Barack Obama. Obama has been posting far more videos than other candidates and has had some very popular videos posted about him. While there are certainly many factors involved with Obama’s ability to energize young voters, his campaign’s competence with social media has certainly boosted his numbers in this traditionally apathetic constituency.
One of the most entertaining videos that came out last summer was this one, named “Crush on Obama.” While the video is clearly a joke, it brings out Obama’s youth and good looks, which are both assets in a presidential election. This video currently has over 8 million views.
This next video is titled “Yes We Can.” Created by will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas, this video features a star cast in an inspirational song mirroring one of Barack Obama’s speeches. As of the time of this post, it has been viewed over 14 million times.
This final video is an example of how Obama has used YouTube to respond to widespread criticism. In this case, Obama was attacked because of a clip of his Pastor, Reverend Wright. This now famous speech given on March 18th in Philadelphia has over 5 million views.
Next week I’ll be exploring some of Hillary Clinton’s more famous videos.
The media are calling 2008 “The Year of the Young Voter.” Whatever you want to call it, something is definitely happening. There’s a level of excitement this country hasn’t seen in a long time. We have an opportunity to show the world that students can self-organize, and actually start working toward a common goal. We don’t claim to have the answer, but if you’re interested in giving it a shot, read on.
Your Revolution is here. Imagine the power of a social utility like Facebook, combined with the ability to register to vote instantly online, and a set of dynamic tools designed for activists and organizers. Your Revolution has created a Facebook application which takes advantage of Washington and Arizona’s new online voter registration legislation. The Facebook application allows the user to register to vote in a matter of minutes directly from their profile. (more…)
When discussing how digital media can best support civic engagement among youth, it is important to distinguish between the technical capacities necessary to navigate and manipulate various forms of digital media and the civic skills that allow young people to connect with shared issues. Howard Rheingold offers a helpful starting point with his digital skills curriculum, which attempts to demonstrate how technology can serve as an attractive vehicle for what he calls “public voice.” Public voice, as distinct from private voice, comprises all communicative acts that seek to “inform publics, advocate positions, contest claims, and organize action around issues that [young people] truly care about” (Rheingold, 2008). Positioning public voice within the context of digital media harnesses the latter as a tool to teach young people about the former. Because this specific form of communication does not come naturally to most youth, learning it is presumed to require some direct instruction.
We on the CLO team believe that Howard’s approach shows much promise, but wonder if many of its recommendations are more suited for college students than for teens in high school. (more…)
Considerable research suggests that while schools are still a major predictor of civic engagement, youth do not gain nearly the civic skills we might hope from their experiences at school. Scholars point to a number of reasons for this:
Recent trends in education policy have reduced the time devoted to arts, music, and civic education, in favor of math, reading, and assessment.
A lack of resources often prevents schools from offering programs that enable youth to develop and work on their own civic and political concerns and connect classroom learning with extracurricular activities.
In developing our digital youth commons, Puget Sound Off, we have striven to make it attractive both to already-engaged youth as well as to those who are not yet quite as involved in civic affairs. It is certainly much easier to facilitate the goals and preferred methods of those who come to civic sites knowing what issues they care about and how to address them than it is to convince relatively disengaged teens that civics is worth their time. Nevertheless, we feel that it is essential to probe the limits of what digital media can do not only to encourage preexisting civic instincts, but also to inspire new commitments to community involvement.
To that end, I would like to raise two issues that might bear on a youth civic site’s ability to attract more than just the usual suspects. (more…)
There are many challenges that surround the engagement of youth in the management and editorial components of youth engagement sites. PSO partners are actively discussing different ways we may be able to succeed in this capacity.
We’re currently partnering with other local organizations to get their youth involved in using the PSO site when it launches, and we are running school-year and summer youth content production teams out of the YMCA. We’re simultaneously engaged in an active discussion about how to develop youth governance of the site. We have been discussing different strategies and possibilities for engaging youth in the management and editorial process, and we would love to spark a conversation about recommended approaches to this issue.
Do we keep youth editorial and governance teams separate, or do we combine them into regional youth teams? Are team members elected by the youth who use the site, or do we recruit them through an application process housed in partnering organizations? When and how do we kick off this process? Feel free to weigh in on the discussion!
I find it very interesting how often people believe that social networking sites simply take off on their own, unaided and without any nurturing. I met with an advocacy group that is creating their own social networking site (of course, we all need our own sites since no other social networking sites exist!) They were so very concerned about the functionality of the site - do the buttons work right, is the navigation good, etc. Great, I said, so why exactly do busy people need more friends and if they do, why do they need to be on your site to have them? (more…)
Using the Internet for games, instant messaging, and Myspace is second nature to many young people, yet the medium’s rich civic potential for this tech-savvy demographic remains untapped. In this video (available below the jump), Lance Bennett discusses the potential for digital media to connect young people with public life. (more…)
For six weeks during the summer of 2007, a diverse group of Seattle-area youth collaborated to design, implement, and advertise a web site intended to help connect local young people to civic opportunities and public life. They directed, filmed, and starred in this video PSA (available below the jump), which communicates the site’s purpose via a creative visual metaphor. (more…)
It may have not happened here in the U.S. as much, but yesterday there was a massive protest in many countries around the world against the FARC. Over two million people marched in countries like Venezuela, Peru, Japan, and its epicenter: Colombia.
What’s impressive is that the protest were primarily organized in Facebook, with support of other Internet tools. Interesting as well, is that Facebook has put no effort in being a global platform, yet the connections of its users have made it relevant for many parts of the world. Also, other countries are not as aware of the privacy issues that the platform has had, so while I know of people in the U.S. dropping out of Facebook, it seems that it continues to grow in other parts of the world.
This is a wonderful example of how digital media can mobilize people for social causes. Perhaps an instance to look into and understand how it happened, I’m sure that the model will be replicated. This may be the best example to date of the power of social networking.
