What is sure is that there is a enough creativity to make something entertaining from this material. We can also be certain the entertainment will be distributed. And it will probably also reach a generation that is difficult to reach. But it is also unpredictable. And it might stifle the discussion entirely. Or a Barack Obama might seize the opportunity because he knows ‘the language’. I am going to watch what happens. But if this initiative gets support and is implemented we might witness a changing event in politics.
(Categories: Wzzup)
Barack Obama (member of the U.S. senate and candidate for the U.S. 2008 presidential election) has a silent but potentially disrupting request to the Democratic National Committee. He has asked to make the Democratic presidential debates available under Creative Commons or in the public domain. In a democracy where media is so important this seems a bold step. Or is this just brilliantly playing the younger generations?
What will happen if it is decided to make this material public? Will it be used to ridicule? Will it be used to examine (and exemplify) current political discussion in ways the general public can participate? Will it be beneficial to another type of politician? Will the creation of alternative online material increase direct and meaningful discussion? If we assume this is a success (whatever the success criteria) what will this U.S. government do? Will it see it’s opportunity? Will it be ‘forced’ to implement such measures?
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God and Gold: Britain, America, and the Making of the Modern World (Vintage)
by Walter Russell Mead
17 customers reviewed this article averaging 4.5
Isbn-13: 9780375713736
A stunningly insightful account of the global political and economic system, sustained first by Britain and now by America, that has created the modern world. The key to the two countries' predominance, Mead argues, lies in the individualistic ideology inherent in the Anglo-American religion. Over the years Britain and America's liberal democratic system has been repeatedly challeged—by Catholic Spain and Louis XIV, the Nazis, communists, and Al Qaeda—and for the most part, it has prevailed....
I think it is safe to say this material will generate positive and negative spin-offs, but all those will be three things:
- Target mainly the young
- Be result of a creative process
- And most important: create a lot of attention. If you support the old marketing wisdom that negative attention, in the end, is also attention and, in the long run, can turn into something positive. Especially with the young generation, who are less put off by failure than older ones (think Kate Moss).
I think it’s a brillant move.
1. What is young? I don’t think it will target the young. My guess would be more like thirty-something apple-loving creatives.
2. I don’t think it will ALL get a lot of attention… just 1% of the efforts made will draw attention
3. This material has ben used before… Obama just wants to legalize its usage… What is the difference… is the licence really the killer-app for creatives to think… well now I’m allowed to use it, let’s get creative?
4. What will this do to the content of the debate?! Will this not further populize and further focus on exterior in stead of interior argumentation?
So, to be short… I like Obama’s move if it is about stating that ‘government’ is part of society and culture and therefor its content is from the people to for the people.
I think it depends on how the material is being offered. I they put it out in the right way…
If they make it easily downloadable and promote to get creative with it, it might work. A good example of a site for their audio is CC Mixter (http://ccmixter.org/), its tagline is DOWNLOAD, SAMPLE, CUT-UP, SHARE. Just put the speeches online and put some music to it.
And what to think of this brillant clip (in Dutch, but you can hear our queen rap - without dubbing!): http://www.burorenkema.nl/2006/09/baas_bea.php