Hey everybody; it’s me again.  I am here to make another contribution to the independent thought forum that is “ITEmpowersU.com”. I think yall remember me saying that I wanted to discuss the various tech stances that the candidates want to institute.  In my last post I discussed a bit of the direction that Mr. McCain wanted to move America in – I liked it - minus the big emphasis on globalization. 

So what does Obama say about the direction he will take America in with Technology?  Well, Obama has five pillars to his tech policy; over the next few days I am going to post about the three I am most interested in:

• Create a transparent and connected democracy.
• Encourage a modern communications infrastructure.
• Employ technology to solve our nation’s most pressing problems.

Today we are going to talk about his intentions to create a transparent and connected democracy.  Barack says that we should “open up the government to our citizens” to make it more transparent.  Barack believes that the marriage between government and special interest groups have impeded progress in America by shifting access to privileged information, which should be available to the public, to certain groups who have benefited from policies created for their corporate gain.  Barack wants us to have access to much of the same information as special interest groups so that we can be empowered to make positive changes in our communities.

Another way that Barack will create transparency is through e-sources like Websites and blog.  Barack wants to provide the common citizen access to knowledge on the sometimes secret deals that occur in Washington.  Under Barack the public will have access to information about   grants, contracts, earmarks and other transactions that otherwise would not be available to it.

My three cents

I like his idea to create more transparency. I think that openness can foster honesty,  but is it possible to be too transparent .  In my personal opinion, I don’t think all information should be for all people.  I do think that the government can do it’s shady dealings but I do know that what one uneducated citizen might see as a shady dealing today might actually provide jobs for a community some years down the road.  If left to the well intentioned, whistle blowing citizen those jobs might never be created.  Sometimes things done under conver can end up for the common good – buuuuuut usually not – I’m playing devil’s advocate.  Let me know what yall think.

News Corp’s MySpace has been officially sanctioned by the Commission on Presidential Debates to launch MyDebates.org, scheduled to debut later today; one more example of the power of both technology and the internet today.

“MySpace will launch ‘MyDebates.org’ – a new website which will house online tools to promote deeper levels of political engagement with viewers at home. Visitors to the site will have the option of downloading a personalized application which, during the debates, will stream the television event live from the embed location (e.g. within a blog, social network, or website). The application will also provide users with an on-demand playback functionality as well as issue-based tracking, allowing users to track a candidate’s stance on issues they care about throughout the live stream. The full functionality will be available in the days leading up to the first Presidential debate on Friday, September 26.”

While the upcoming election was already set to be a landmark event in allowing bloggers to podcast from the national conventions now thanks to MySpace the rest of the general public have the power to communicate with the candidates live and in real time… if they have a computer and broadband access. 

So that’s right, for those of you out there with high speed internet and the ability to watch streaming video, you too can ask Barack Obama what Oprah is really like or ask John McCain what Jesus was really like… 

No, but seriously, the internet, webcams, podcasts, and you in the online community are going to play a huge role in the upcoming elections.  If there was ever a more undeniable example of the power of technology I for one am completely unaware of it.

Who would have thought just 8 years ago that today, in 2008, the fate of the United States could rest on who has more friends on MySpace, but I guess the bigger question is… who will Tom vote for?

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.