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The Next Generation of Campaign Web Sites
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The panel The Next Generation of Campaign Web Sites will be held at 10:00 a.m on Tuesday, April 21st, in Meridian D&E.
Contents |
Description
What real impact has the Obama campaign, social networks and new technologies had on the future of online politics? Find out and see how the traditional campaign web site is evolving and will shape issues, votes and budgets with regards to today (and tomorrow's) political campaigns.
Speakers
- Rob Kubasko - Rob Kubasko has been leading the way in online politics for nearly 15 years. You may not know his name, but you probably have seen or even been inspired by his work. With backgrounds in graphic design and politcal campaigns, Rob founded his first internet agency in 1995. His company's first client was the Bob Dole for President campaign where he pioneered political web based design and several innovations such as customizable user content and electronic postcards. Since then, he has worked on hundreds of political web sites and campaign designs at every level. With the depth of his experience, Rob brings a unique perspective to online politics and the ways in which campaigns create and deliver their message for tomorrow and beyond.
- Don Seymour - Don Seymour is Communications Director for The Freedom Project (FreedomProject.org), a federal PAC that provides assistance to GOP candidates for Congress. Prior to joining The Freedom Project in 2007, Seymour served for several years in Republican Leader John Boehner's (R-OH) office as Press Secretary and then Deputy Communications Director where he aggressively used innovative techniques and new technologies to communicate with voters and the media.
- Matt Lira - Formerly of the McCain Campaign, now working for Eric Cantor
- Nick Schaper - Nick Schaper currently serves as director of new media for House Republican Leader John Boehner. As a part of one of the most active and innovative communications teams on Capitol Hill, Nick focuses on developing new ways to expand the Leader's messaging online while assisting other members of the GOP Conference and their staff in executing effective, forward-thinking media strategies. Nick previously served as director of congressional affairs for Adfero Group, where he helped over 100 members and candidates harness the power of contemporary new media tools. Nick is a graduate of the University of Central Florida where he studied Political Science and Computer Science.
- Mike Krempasky
- Nicco Mele - Nicco Mele is the founder and president of EchoDitto, a leading internet strategy consulting company with offices in Washington DC, New York, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. EchoDitto's clients include the Clinton Foundation , Pax World Mutual Funds, Rosie O'Donnell, the United Nations World Food Programme and Seventh Generation. Mele has broad experience working with emerging technologies and is a considered a pioneer in the social media and Web 2.0 field. As the Internet Operations Director of Gov. Dean's presidential primary campaign in 2003, Mele managed all technical, functional and design aspects of Gov. Dean's national web presence. Mele is a co-founder of GeniusRocket.com, a crowd sourced creative ad agency, and he is a co-founder of ProxyDemocracy.com, an online resource for proxy voting and shareholder resolutions. In December of 2003, Mele was named one of America's "best and brightest" by Esquire magazine. Mele teaches at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and was a Fall 2008 Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University. Mele sits on the board of Democracy 21, a non-partisan campaign finance reform group, founded by Fred Wertheimer, and the Lower East Side Girls Club. He is passionate about modern poetry and Mayan archaeology. His podcasts from Mayan archaeological digs are available here:http://radio.echoditto.com/junglecast
- Sam Graham-Felsen - Sam Graham-Felsen is currently serving as the Director of Content and Research at Blue State Digital. Sam was the Director of Blogging and Blog Outreach for Barack Obama's presidential campaign. He wrote for and oversaw BarackObama.com/blog, the most-viewed page of any presidential campaign's website, worked with key national and state bloggers to promote the campaign's message, and also produced and collaborated on dozens online videos for the campaign.
- Clay Johnson - Clay is Director of Sunlight Labs. Prior joining Sunlight, Clay was one of the four founders of Blue State Digital, the progressive left's premier technology and online strategy firm. This firm, which was born out of the Howard Dean campaign, was also responsible for Barack Obama's Web presence. At Blue State Digital, Clay was responsible for developing the organization's brand and building its initial client roster. He also had a hand at building some of the company's early technical tools. Before joining Blue State, Johnson was the lead programmer for Dean for America in 2004, overseeing the development of grassroots tools like GetLocal, DeanLink and Project Commons. Prior to entering politics, Johnson was a technologist at Ask Jeeves (now Ask.com) where he helped to develop the company's Web syndication product. He also started the first Internet Knowledge Exchange, KnowPost.com, and worked as an entrepreneur-in-residence at a Venture Capital firm, but still claims that he learned the most from his first job -- as a waiter at Waffle House in Atlanta, Georgia.
- Peter Daou - Peter Daou is an Internet strategist who has advised leading political and public policy institutions including the United Nations Foundation, Clinton Global Initiative, AARP, Planned Parenthood, and Nuclear Threat Initiative. In 2004 Peter directed netroots outreach for the Kerry-Edwards campaign. He joined Hillary Clinton's senate reelection campaign as an Internet Adviser and was Sec. Clinton's Internet Director during the 2008 campaign. Peter's site, The Daou Report, which he edited until joining the Clinton campaign, was a popular blog and opinion aggregator. He currently publishes UN Dispatch, a site sponsored by the UN Foundation, covering a range of global issues including human rights, climate change, world health, and foreign policy.
Video
Video from recorded panels will be posted here after the conference.
We still need a volunteer to record this panel. (Set up a tripod; hit "record" - panelists, you can do this, too!) Email Lynn Stinson to volunteer. (Other panels needing volunteers to record video.)
In the meantime, here's video from last year's conference:
Notes and resources
Panelists: Post any link or notes you'd like the audience to have before, during or after your panel.
Audience members: Know any related/relevant points/links? Post them under the "general" section.
From Rob
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From Don
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From Matt
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From Nick
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From Mike
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From Nicco
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From Sam
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From Clay
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From Peter
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General/from discussion
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Discussion
Search for #POLC09 for the Twitter Backchannel
Panel feedback
An audience survey will be in place by Monday to collect instant feedback.




