Politics

**Politics** Our essential questions are: Over the course of our research, we have found that there are many different websites that have had a profound effect on politics. Some of these are social networking sites, such as facebook and myspace. Others are websites where citizens can post their opinions, or videos, such as youtube. Some websites come directly from the politicians themselves and are used for campaigning and fundraising. (Tom Tomezsko)
 * **Which websites have affected politics the most? (Period 7 is answering this question)**

With Web 2.0 technology growing at a fast rate, politics has been adjusting accordingly. Recent websites for politicians have been using the latest avalible technology to compete with other websites. Forinstance, Obama's website has a section dedicated to his blog.My personal opinion is that the news sites have affected politics most during the election of 2008. For state of the art tracking of how each candidate is doing in the results. A website [|Five Thirty Eight] is a good web 2.0 tool used during the election. It offers maps, graphs and tables. My family watched either CNN and MSNBC to follow the election on election night. They had plenty of graphs, touch screen displays, and state results. (Jack Haggerty)

During my research I have found many tools that are effective in the presentation of each candidates background and objectives. I think that facebook and twitter are very effective. Many Politicians such as Barack Obama use these websites for campaigning and geting their message out. -Chris B-

__**Candidate's Websites **__

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Political websites made by the candidates themselves have obviously had a big effect on politics over the last few years. These websites are created to get the politician's message out to the public, advertise themselves, and gain funding. The sites are meant to draw in curious voters and inform them on the politicians views and standpoints, thus hopefully persuading them into supporting the politician. Some political websites, such as John McCain's, increase their interest and personalization, by giving users their own accounts, allowing comments to be posted, and allowing users to communicate with each other. Other websites, such as Barack Obama's, increase their appeal, funding, and commercialism by offering campaign related objects, such as cell phone ring tones and allow users to watch videos of his speeches and post their own videos in response (Stafford, Alan). Another major effect of candidate's websites on politics is the funding that they allow. By having a website, a politician largely increases their opportunities for raising campaign funds by offering for users to make online donations, and offering commercial objects. This allows a politician to have a bigger budget for their campaign and get their message even more widespread. (Tom Tomezsko) =====


helpful articles located under further reading.

Facebook and Twitter
====Facebook and Twitter have become key parts to many candidates campaigning. These websites allow candidates to get their message out quickly and get instant feedback from voters such as what they like what they don’t like etc. During the 2008 election Barack Obama used Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and a few other websites such as MyBarackObama.com to get voters to vote for him. Although Barack Obama used these websites to his advantage, John McCain didn’t. “When you look at how President Obama used Twitter and other social networking sites to spread his message, and how it helped boost his campaign, you have to wonder if that somehow cost Senator John McCain the election. McCain didn’t resonate with tech-savvy young people and used social networking sites very little throughout the campaign.” (Duvall, Michael) This might be one of the reasons that he lost the election to Obama but no one can tell for sure. Overall, it is a very good idea to use social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook to campaign. TV commercials work well but social media tools provide instantaneous and immediate feedback resulting in more focused and directed campaigning than TV. -Chris Bonner- ====

Youtube
Politians are all over the internet. Almost all video documention of them has ended up on youtube. This can be helpful or hurtful to each politication. It can be helpful by conveying the message to the politians to his or her followers. It can be hurtful because it might show them as hippocrital. For instance, If a figure says their opinion on immigration laws, there is video proof of it. Even If he trys to change his mind, there is still video of him aying a different thing. After a Obama was elected, he used Youtube as one of his outlets. Once in a while his site will post a 'message from the president or news of the president' Politians on the internet have started some internet 'fads'. Back in January 04, Howard Dean was talking about how he will run his campaign throughtout the country. He got so pumped out from the crowd he let out a 'Dean Scream'. It has been on several websites and internet entertainment sites. Other example would be Obama 'You Lie!' speech or various Bush phrases. -Jack Haggerty-




 * How is web 2.0 changing our ideas about politics? (Period 1 is anwsering this question)

In the articles that I have read, the author explains how using web 2.0 can be beneficial to the government who is using it, but also how it can be harmful to the government. In this article, Todd Weiss, the author, is very bias when he writes about the advantages and disadvantages of using web 2.0 in government. Weiss briefly explains how using web 2.0 in government takes time and money, but his main subject is how web 2.0 is being used in government. Many government officials are feeling the need to start using the new technology, or advance what they already have into better uses of that technology. A quote supporting these ideas is "They use it everyday, that’s their way of communicating. If we don't offer those technologies, they will see us as being in the Dark Ages." (Mary Benner) (She is referring to the townspeople) Michael Gallagher also notes that using web 2.0 in a government is time consuming because it requires two full time IT workers, but that is what the people want.

Onother article that I read talks about how some local governments are using web 2.0 tools to communicate with the townspeople. "The technology toolkit has been expanding rapidly in the last few years, but only the most savvy politicians and government officials have taken advantage of the new devices to save time, money and lives."(Grzeskowiak, page 1) The governments have been using wikis, blogs, facebook, twitter, and youtube to express their laws with the townspeople. Some governments are even using a virtual world where the users create an avatar and the express their thoughts about politics. Some of the governments that are using new technology are Washtenaw County, Michigan; Tucson, Arizona; Rockville, Maryland; and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Wikis and blogs are the main things used by governments. They use these things because they are the best way to express what the government is going to do and people can comment on it.

These tools have many benefits and have changed our ideas greatly about politics. Now that politicians are using these tools, we will expect future politicians to use them. If they do not use these tools, they will risk losing the job which they are running for. Now that some people, such as Barrack Obama, have successfully used the new technology to win jobs, I am sure that others will soon follow. (Stephen Bevilacqua)

In many of the articles I have read, it has been very good to use the internet to help with the governement. President Obama was the first internet President and help him win the race, without the internet he would have stood a chance. He used internet website like MySpace, and FaceBook to communicate with all of his supporters and benefactors. In one of my articles, the author praised that now many more politician are now using the internet because it allows people to communicate with the People they want to let in office. Even though Pres. Obama was the first offical internet president, now many more politicans, governers, and senaters to communicate with each other and to write polls on the internet.Also there has been an increase of the amount of people on all of these internet socializing networking sites due to Politicans, and Government Officals using these sites to communicate with one another. Since they are comunticating with everyone, a lot of people have been commenting and write about what is going on in the Senate, House of Rep. and other Political places. In one of the articles I had read many officals have caught other officals "Tweeting" the polls to a vote they had just taken. Now that Officals have began to do this, many people want to join these social networking sites, such as, Tweeter, MySpace, and FaceBook, to see what how certain politician are doing in a specific subject the user wants to look at. (Quinton Jackson)

Barrack Obama would not be where he is today without the use of the internet. The reason he did so well was that he got over $265 millon for donations over the internet so he could keep his campaign going. But all this credit goes to Senator John McCain and the old Vermont Governor Dean Howard who made using the internet known for getting online donations. But not only does this method help Obama make money for his campaign it gets him voters to because of the younger generation. Many voters under the age of thirty use social-networking systems such as myspace or facebook. So Obama started ussing those social-networking systems to get information out about what he was campaigning, hopefully trying to get people to vote for him. Which happened and he became the President of the United Stes. Therefore without the internet Obama probably would not of won the election and he would just be the Governor of Illinois. (Shane Williams)

Obama won this election not mainly from giving speeches; he used the internet to expose himself. By simply making a page on facebook and twitter he can accomplish a lot. “He has over 1.5 million friends on Myspace and Facebook, and he currently has over 45,000 followers on Twitter” (nations, Daniel). The greater part of our nation is active online. He used that to his advantage and took the nation online. He realized that some of our presidents used other sources to campaign. “For Franklin D. Roosevelt, it was radio. For John F. Kennedy, it was television” (Nations, Daniel). Now the Obama is in office, he claims he will continue to stay posted on facebook and myspace to keep the citizens updated. (Chris O'Leary)



**Works Cited **  Duvall, Michael. "The Effects of Twitter on Politics." //WebDoctus//. 16 Nov. 2009. Web. 04 Jan. 2010. . West, Jackson. "Social Media Meets Politics: Pols Chasing Publicity Find Web Waters Welcoming: Business/Tech/Real Estate: SFAppeal." //SFAppeal: San Francisco's Online Newspaper//. 12 May 2009. Web. 04 Jan. 2010. .

nation, daniels.//How Barack Obama Is Using Web 2.0 to Run for President//. About, 2008 .web <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> Regan, Tom. "Web's effect on politics: big bucks, big turnout, and big scandals.(Internet and politics: dissecting Barack Obama's presidential campaign)." //<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">The Christian Science Monitor. //<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> (June 19, 2008): 25. //<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Student Resource Center. Web. // <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> 8 Dec. 2009 <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"><span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">[|http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T004&prodId=SRC-] <span style="display: inline !important; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">[|2&docId=CJ180286668&source=gale&srcprod=SRCC&userGroupName=phil72249&version=1.0]  <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">.

Weiss, Todd R. "State, local governments slow to tackle web 2.0; Manpower and budget constraints often hold back public-sector IT projects. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">//<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Computerworld. // <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 132%; text-align: left;"> 42. 26 (June 23, 2008):8 Dec. 2009[|http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=SRC]-2&docId=A181085087&source=gale&srcprod=SRCC&userGroupName=phil72249&version=1.0. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;"> =<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 17px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 32px; text-align: left;"> = = = =<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Jennifer, Grzeskowiak. "Taking on Technology." EBSCO host, 2008-2009. Web. Nov. & dec. 2009. <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid =8&sid=d6f07d56-c7aa-4402-9267-c25873002f10%40sessionmgr12&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=36075115#db=f5h&AN =36075115>. = <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">

I have found that these sites have also helped me answer my essential questions: <span style="display: inline; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">__[|http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=7&sid=848e24cb-ee81-4a32-bb87-f4ef1d50c7b1%40sessionmgr113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h]<span style="display: inline; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"> [|&]<span style="display: inline; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; text-align: left;"> [|AN=36075115] http://moyawatson.com/2008/11/12/web-meets-politics-web-20-summits-a-wrap/ <span style="border-collapse: collapse; display: inline; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">[|http://searchhttp://www.feedforall.com/influence-of-technology.htm.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=34468067&site=ehost-live]<span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">  __
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Further Reading **<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">http://find.galegroup.com/srcx/infomark.do?contentSet=IAC-Documents&docType=IAC&type=retrieve&tabID=T004&prodId=SRC-2&docId=CJ180286668&userGroupName=phil72249&version=1.0&source=gale > ||

Stephen Bevilacqua 1st Period Shane Williams 1st Period Chris O'Leary 1st Period Quinton Jackson 1st Period Jack Haggerty 7th Period Tom Tomezsko 7th Period Chris Bonner 7th Period